The Weserstadion witnessed one of the most bizarre goals in its history. A long throw-in from Uwe Reinders was deflected into the FCB goalkeeper Jean-Marie Pfaff’s own goal. SPORT1 looks back.
Uli Hoeneß watched the 1982 World Cup matches in Spain relaxed and with a satisfaction that only someone who has done the right thing feels. And more so than others.
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After the opening match, everyone is raving about the Belgian team that beat world champions Argentina 1-0, and about their goalkeeper, who drove Maradona and Kempes to despair: Jean-Marie-Pfaff! The first star of the World Cup is a Bayern player, because Hoeneß signed the goalkeeper from SK Beveren for one million DM before the tournament.
The whole of Munich believes that the goalkeeping problem has been solved once and for all, so let’s focus on the others.
Then comes August 21st, the start of the season in Bremen. That Saturday in the far north has little to do with summer, the first autumn breezes are already blowing along the Weser. In the 44th minute, Bremen’s national player Uwe Reinders throws the ball in a high arc into the penalty area, where it bounces up again in front of Pfaff.
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First throw-in goal in Bundesliga history
The wind makes him unpredictable. Nevertheless, there is a lot of intention behind it, as Reinders 2013 dfb.de said, “I wanted to throw the ball to Rudi Völler, who would then pass it into the middle. And then three others would throw themselves at the ball like bulls. We practiced this in training just like other standards.”
But only one player gets to the ball, and he would have preferred never to do so. Obstructed by Klaus Augenthaler and Bremen’s Norbert Siegmann, Pfaff only reaches the ball with his fingertips. He can’t stop it.
It was a fatal touch, because it was the first throw-in goal in Bundesliga history to be valid. It decided the game. His coach Pal Csernai was furious: “That is the worst goal we have conceded in the last three years.” Pfaff regretted it: “It was a moment of misfortune. Just as I was about to grab the ball, the wind blew it back up.”
Pfaff: “The goal was positive for me”
A few weeks later, he is already taking it all in his stride: “The goal was positive for me. It was repeated ten times on television, which is how I became famous.”
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Not just him. The fans who saw it 100 percent associate Uwe Reinders with the throw-in goal,” said the Bremen player happily. “And of the younger fans who never saw it, 50 percent say: That was the guy with the throw-in goal!”
The fact that the later promotion coach of Hansa Rostock was essentially reduced to this never bothered him: “We all played football to become famous and to do something that people would remember. I succeeded in doing that.”
Pfaff blames Augenthaler for the goal
At a meeting with Pfaff, he learns that he is not aware of any guilt, even 30 years later. “He has long since accepted it, but still does not accept that it was his fault. He blames Klaus Augenthaler, who hindered him,” reports Reinders.
There is only one other time in the Bundesliga where a throw-in goal is scored, and that is even more strange. Again for Werder Bremen, this time in Stuttgart – only it is the work of two Stuttgart players.
On September 30, 2018, Borna Sosa scored the first throw-in own goal in history when his goalkeeper Ron-Robert Zieler was surprised by his action and let the ball slip under his sole.
Reinders: “Rummenigge is still angry with me”
As in Reinders’ case in 1982, the goalkeeper is officially the “goal scorer” – something Reinders never quite understood. The stadium announcer called him “and that was me too.”
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Unfortunately, statistically speaking, this is not the case. This is why the goal was excluded from the shortlist for goal of the month, which it had already made.
“Then the ARD and regretted that they could not include own goals in the selection,” reported Reinders: “If you ask me, Bayern definitely had something to do with it. They wanted to protect their new goalkeeper. But I annoyed them often enough later on. Kalle Rummenigge is still angry with me today when he sees me.”
