The left wing ended his career in Uerdingen.
If these days – exactly on August 7th – the 80th birthday of Siegfried „Siggi“ Held is celebrated, this happens throughout Germany. The left winger, who is known to be taciturn off the pitch, made no fewer than 442 first division appearances (72 goals) between 1965 and 1981, plus 41 senior internationals (five goals).
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In the last of these 442 games, he wore the blue and red jersey of the Uerdinger. 0:4 from Uerdinger’s point of view ended the game at FC Bayern Munich on June 13, 1981, with which Held said goodbye to the Bundesliga stage at the age of almost 39. While Munich celebrated another German championship title, this game marked the second Uerdinger first division relegation.
In autumn 1979, when Uerdingen had just been promoted to the Bundesliga for the second time, his name circulated – the 37-year-old kicked for Prussia Munster in the second division – around the Grotenburg as a possible reinforcement. “If he can help us, then he should come, no matter how old he is,” said the then captain Paul Hahn Held’s obligation.
And he could help. With his calm way of playing, he quickly became the darling of the audience. Stephanie Jacobs describes himself as a football muffle. “But I can still hear the long-drawn-out Siiiggiii calls that echoed through the Grotenburg as soon as he had the ball,” says the 59-year-old. She grew up in Krefeld and now runs the Museum of Writing in Leipzig, and she was a regular at home games with her group of teenagers. At the end of the 79/80 season, Uerdingen celebrated relegation, which the team had hardly believed possible. With the words, “An old hero leads Uerdingen to stay up”, the anniversary book of the KFC orders overwritten the chapter of this season.
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Which is probably also due to the care of Captain Hahn. “At the time, I had an apartment in Krefeld and we often ate lunch together and then took a midday rest in this apartment before the second training session. I always made coffee for him,” reports Hahn from the men’s flat share.
With Borussia Dortmund born in Freudenthal in the Czech Republic, won the European Cup Winners’ Cup in 1966. Held is still active as a brand ambassador for this club today. In the Bundesliga he coached the FC Schalke, Dynamo Dresden and the VfB Leipzigas national coach the selections of Island, Malta and Thailand.
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