Hamburg (dpa) – Perhaps the best-known photo of Uwe Seeler was taken in London. It shows the striker of the German national team leaving the grass of Wembley Stadium with his head hanging down after losing the 1966 World Cup final against England.
Seeler, who died on Thursday at the age of 85, was the captain of the German team that conceded the famous Wembley goal in the 1966 final and lost the so-called “game of the century” to Italy in the 1970 semifinals. Accordingly, after his death, not only German, but also international football mourns the idol of the Hamburger SV striker.
“The news of Uwe Seeler’s death affects us all deeply,” said World Association President Gianni Infantino. “He is one of the greatest legends in German football. His achievements and records will not be forgotten. He was not only a great striker, but also a model of humility and down-to-earthness.”
The newspapers in Italy remembered above all the “game of the century” in 1970. “It’s one of the best European strikers of all time,” wrote the football bible “Gazzetta dello Sport”. The British newspaper “The Guardian” described Seeler with the words: “Before the elegant and technical era of Franz Beckenbauer, he represented the traditional strengths of German football: strength, high morale, commitment and an indomitable will to win.”
Seeler successful in four World Championship tournaments
These international awards are all the more remarkable because in his career, Seeler never won the world championship title and never won an international competition with his HSV. “If I’ve been to four world championships, I would have liked to win the title once. But I wasn’t lucky, »he said himself. Along with Miroslav Klose, Pelé and Cristiano Ronaldo, Seeler is one of only four players to have scored at least one goal in four World Cup tournaments.
And the honorary captain of the German national team also managed something else: he stands more than any other player for football, which many wish for back. For down-to-earthness, loyalty and loyalty to the club.
Inter rejected million offer
In 1961 he received an offer worth millions from Inter Milan – and rejected it. Inter coach Helenio Herrera negotiated with Seeler for three days – and was shocked at the end. He confessed that he had never seen anyone give up so much money. In times of a completely overheated transfer market, in which clubs are being bought by sovereign wealth funds and oligarchs and their millions are fueling the professional business, something like this is hardly imaginable.
“Uwe will always remain in our hearts. An unmistakable football legend and a great person!” wrote national player Thomas Müller on social networks. «Uwe Seeler was a great idol. And certainly not just from a sporting point of view, »said former HSV player, manager and trainer Felix Magath on «Focus Online». “He was a special person from whom you could learn a lot. He will leave a very big void. I’m incredibly sad. We missed each other as players at HSV by a couple of years. I am very grateful to him for many things.”
It was Magath who gave Hamburger SV eleven years after Seeler’s career end the biggest success in the club’s history to date: the final victory in 1983 in the European Cup against Juventus Turin. Magath also never left HSV, at least as a player. However, coach Magath was fired at HSV in 1997 under President Seeler. Only then did he move to Bremen, Frankfurt, Stuttgart, Munich, Wolfsburg, Schalke and Berlin.
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