Uwe Seeler

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Uwe Seeler
Uwe Seeler 1968 (cropped) .jpg
Uwe Seeler (1968)
Personnel
birthday November 5, 1936
place of birth Hamburg ,  German Empire
size 170 cm
position striker
Juniors
Years station
1946-1953 Hamburger SV
Men's
Years station Games (goals) 1
1953-1972 Hamburger SV 476 (404)
1978 Cork Celtic 1 00(2)
National team
Years selection Games (goals)
1953-1954 Germany U18 10 0(15)
1958 Germany U23 1 00(0)
1954-1970 Germany 72 0(43)
1 Only league games are given.
In honor of Uwe Seeler , a bronze sculpture of his right foot was placed in front of the Volkspark Stadium.

Uwe Seeler (born November 5, 1936 in Hamburg ) is a former German soccer player . During his playing days he was considered one of the best center strikers in the world. Seeler played his entire career at Hamburger SV and is considered one of the club's most important players. In the 1963/64 season he was the first top scorer in the Bundesliga . As captain of the German national team , he was runner- up in 1966 and came third at the 1970 World Cup .

Because of his services to German football, the DFB made him the second player to be honorary captain of the national team in 1972 . Seeler has been an honorary citizen of his hometown since 2003 .

youth

Uwe Seeler was born in Hamburg as the third child of Anny and Erwin Seeler and is the younger brother of Dieter Seeler . He came from a family of athletes, because even his father, who earned his living as a dock worker, was one of the most popular footballers in the Hanseatic city from the 1920s to the 1940s. Since he last played for Hamburger SV , the father registered his sons Uwe and Dieter in 1946 with HSV to play football. After graduating from primary school in Hamburg-Eppendorf, Uwe Seeler completed an apprenticeship as a forwarding agent in Hamburg from 1952 . During this time he also worked in the field in the port .

Career in the club

Since 1946 the young Uwe played in the youth department of the HSV, the largest sports club in the Hanseatic city. There he played for the senior team for the first time on August 5, 1953 at the age of 16 in a friendly against Göttingen 05 . From July 1954, thanks to a special permit from the DFB, he was permanently eligible to play in the league team ( Oberliga Nord ). In his first competitive game on August 1, 1954, he scored four goals in the NHV Cup game against league rivals Holstein Kiel (final score 8: 2). The strong center forward also scored his first league goal right away on his first appearance on August 29, 1954, making it 2-0 in the game against VfB Oldenburg (final score 3-0). So Seeler was immediately the undisputed regular player in the storm center of the Hanseatic League and it was soon impossible to imagine the team without it. His hit rate was phenomenal and as a regular top scorer in the Oberliga Nord (1956: 32 goals; 1957: 31 goals; 1959: 29 goals; 1960: 36 goals; 1961: 29 goals; 1962: 28 goals) he underpinned his reputation as the best center forward in Germany . The HSV dominated its regional association and was nine times in a row north German league champions from 1955 to 1963. In 1957 and 1958 he was in the final of the German championship with his team , but had to admit defeat twice and be content with the title of runner-up. At the end of the 1959/60 season, Hamburger SV again reached the final of the German championship and met 1. FC Cologne there . After two goals by Seeler, HSV celebrated their third title win 3-2 in the club's history and Seeler himself had finally won an important title. In the same year he was voted Germany's Footballer of the Year for the first time and was widely considered to be one of the best strikers in Europe.

In 1961, Seeler received a lucrative offer from Italy's top club Inter Milan , which offered him 1.2 million D-Marks - at that time one of the highest transfer fees ever - and set the fans in an uproar. His long-time friend Adi Dassler offered Seeler to take over the Adidas representation for northern Germany in order to persuade him to stay in Hamburg. Seeler renounced the move and stayed in his hometown, where his supporters cheered the decision. In 1961, Seeler received his nickname "Uns Uwe" following a cup game against Burnley FC , which, unusual for the time, was broadcast in full on television. HSV had lost the first leg with 1: 3, but were able to win the second leg in Hamburg 4: 1, which triggered a national response. The Frankfurt journalist Richard Kirn wrote that Seeler was now "our" Uwe for all of Germany. The form, which was then translated into Low German and abbreviated, developed into Seeler's nickname in the following years. In 1963 he won the DFB Cup with HSV . In the 3-0 win in the final over Borussia Dortmund , Seeler scored all goals, making him the first player to score three goals in the cup final.

Uwe Seeler in the final of the European Cup Winners' Cup in 1968.

In the 1963/64 season, HSV was included in the newly founded Bundesliga and, after the last successes, was also considered a favorite for the championship. However, while the team finished in a disappointing sixth place in the end, star striker Seeler was unstoppable and secured the title of the first Bundesliga top scorer with 30 goals . As an expression of his strong performance, Seeler was named Germany's Footballer of the Year for the second time in 1964 . In February 1965, Seeler's career seemed to be over when he tore an Achilles tendon in the Bundesliga match in Frankfurt . But six months later he was back on the pitch, with a special shoe that Adi Dassler had handcrafted and laced at the back, and soon found his way back to his old level of performance. However, HSV did not have a sporting heyday in these years and regularly ended up in the middle of the league. But Seeler remained loyal to the club and was second in the scorers list behind Gerd Müller in the 1968/69 season with 23 goals . Internationally, however , the Rothosen caused more sensation when they reached the final of the European Cup Winners' Cup in 1968 (HSV, as the DFB Cup finalist from 1967, played in this competition because final opponent FC Bayern Munich as defending champion of the European Cup also still played participated once), but lost 2-0 to AC Milan without a chance. It was supposed to be Seeler's last final. In May 1972 "Uns Uwe" resigned from active sport with a game by HSV against a world team.

He interrupted this resignation once more when, at the request of the sporting goods manufacturer Adidas , with whom he was professionally connected, he played a guest appearance at the Cork Celtic in the Irish first division on April 23, 1978 . According to his own statements, Seeler was not aware that it was a point game because he was not aware that guest players could also be registered for point games in the Irish league. In the 2-6 defeat by Shamrock Rovers , he scored both goals.

Career in the national team

Uwe Seeler (1966)

Seeler was part of the premiere team of the A-Juniors U18 team , which won 3-2 over Argentina on March 31, 1953 in Liège - on the occasion of the tournament of this age group, which was held for the first time by FIFA . In addition to Seeler, striker and Matheus also met. Seeler played ten times in this selection and scored 15 goals, including 4 goals on April 11, 1954 in Wuppertal in a 6-1 win over Saarland. When he became aware of the qualities of the young striker, national coach Sepp Herberger appointed him to the senior national team on October 16, 1954 , in which Seeler made his debut at the age of only 17 in a 3-1 defeat against France . Seeler's breakthrough to international top star came at the 1958 World Cup in Sweden , where he formed the storm together with Helmut Rahn and Hans Schäfer . In the group matches against Argentina and Northern Ireland he scored one goal each. The end for Germany came in the semifinals against Sweden , with Seeler injured and unable to take part in the game for third place against France. "There are undoubtedly far better players in terms of play," Herberger later admitted, "but nobody has the talent like Uwe Seeler to achieve so much effect in a confined space against the strongest guard." This year he also came once for the U23 national team used when he was successful with this on February 26 in Wuppertal 4-1 against the national team of Belgium.

In 1961, Seeler wore the captain's armband for the first time in the game against Denmark . In this game, the only 1.68 m tall striker managed a hat trick with three header goals in a 5-1 win . As with HSV, he had now risen to become a fighting role model and leading player in the national team. At the 1962 World Cup in Chile, Seeler was the German team's great hope for a storm. Germany were sovereign group winners, whereby Seeler contributed with two goals. But disappointment followed in the quarter-finals when Germany was eliminated after a 1-0 defeat against Yugoslavia and was able to travel home. After the World Cup, team captain Hans Schäfer resigned from the national team and from then on, Seeler was the new captain as the previous deputy.

After his severe Achilles tendon injury in 1965, Seeler got fit again in good time and the captain shot his team with the goal of a 2-1 victory over Sweden at the 1966 World Cup finals in England . At the World Cup, the German team showed strong performances, which was also due to the new national players Franz Beckenbauer , Wolfgang Overath and Sigfried Held . Germany became group winners, and Seeler contributed the decisive goal to the 2-1 victory over Spain . In the quarter-finals, Uruguay was swept 4-0 off the pitch (a Seeler goal to 3-0 in the meantime). In the semifinals, the Soviet Union was beaten 2-1, and Seeler and his team were in the World Cup final against hosts England . In the legendary final at Wembley Stadium, Germany lost 2: 4 afterwards and became vice world champion. The image of the German captain who sneaks out of the square with bowed head after the final whistle has become famous. It was often written that this photo was taken after the first half while walking into the dressing room, as Seeler himself maintained for a long time. The reason given was the music band on the field, but this was also on the pitch after the final whistle, as can also be seen in the TV recording. Uwe Seeler himself now also featured in his autobiography Thank You, Football! found that the photo was taken after the game ended. Despite the final defeat, Seeler was named one of the best players of the entire tournament.

In 1968, Seeler announced his resignation from the national team, but gave in to the insistence of coach Helmut Schön and returned to the team, the national coach wanted to add more international experience to the team through Seeler's commitment. At the World Cup tournament in Mexico in 1970 , the 33-year-old played as the lagging top behind Gerd Müller . The effort of the reappointed captain should pay off; in the group stage he scored goals against Morocco and Bulgaria . The entire team benefited from his experience. In the quarter-finals against defending champions England, he probably scored the strangest goal of his international career when he steered the ball into the goal with the back of his head shortly before the end to equalize 2: 2 (final score 3: 2 n.V. for Germany). In the semifinals, the DFB selection was eliminated in a dramatic game ("game of the century ") 3: 4 afterwards against Italy and took third place after a 1: 0 against Uruguay. Despite his age, he was one of the “discoveries” of the World Cup and, like in 1966, delivered an outstanding tournament. For example, both Müller goals in the extension of the semi-finals at the 1970 World Cup against Italy were preceded by a winning header duel by Seeler.

With his last, the 72nd international match against Hungary on September 9, 1970, he surpassed Paul Janes ' record , which had stood since 1942. He held the record until November 24, 1973, when it was outbid by Franz Beckenbauer. He scored 43 goals, his last being the 2-2 in the quarter-finals against England at the 1970 World Cup. He has the best goal rate of all German players with more than 70 international matches. Seeler took part in the world championships in 1958, 1962, 1966 and 1970 and was used there in a total of 21 international matches. He managed to enter himself on the list of goalscorers at all 4 World Cup tournaments, an achievement that apart from himself only Pele, Miroslav Klose and Cristiano Ronaldo achieved. Seeler succeeded in this in the 56th minute of the game against Morocco by equalizing 1-1, Pelé in the 59th minute in Brazil's game against Czechoslovakia. Seeler was the first player to play more than 20 World Cup games. His record was only surpassed in 1998 by Lothar Matthäus .

After the end of the career

In the mid-1980s, Uwe Seeler was the owner of the sportswear company uwe seeler moden . The photo shows the label in a white men's shirt.

After his time as an active athlete, Seeler worked successfully as the owner of a company that sells sportswear and as a representative for Adidas (an activity that he had been doing since 1961 through the agency of Sepp Herberger and for which he worked around two days a week around 1970 At that time he was also the owner of a gas station.)

In addition, he works in various voluntary positions, including in the context of the traditional Uwe Seeler team, a team with more than 60 former professionals who play around 10 to 15 friendship and benefit games annually in varying compositions .

Uwe Seeler also got involved with the Augsburg charity football team Datschiburger Kickers , which is committed to fundraising for charitable purposes.

From 1995 to 1998, Seeler was President of HSV . Although he himself was not accused of any dishonesty, he could not prevent other officials from damaging the reputation of the association with dubious deals during this time. In 2003 he published his autobiography Thank You, Football! .

Uwe Seeler lives in Norderstedt near Hamburg.

Appearances in public and perception of the same

Imprint of the hands in the Bremer Lloyd Passage
Uwe Seeler at the Day of Legends 2016

In public, Seeler is mostly seen as a down-to-earth, sincere, straightforward and uncomplicated person. In addition to his sporting fairness - he received only one expulsion from the field in his long career or a red card from 1970  - and his rejection of the sensational offer in 1961 for the then very high sum of 1.2 million D-Marks to Inter Moving to Milan , his ties to his homeland also contributed, as he has lived next to the former HSV soccer training ground for decades.

In 1971 Uwe Seeler had a short guest appearance in the film Willi will the child rock with Heinz Erhardt and Hannelore Elsner . He played himself in the process. On April 10, 2005, he took over the position of "Tortoise" in a guest appearance at Dittsche . Since 2008, Seeler has been involved as a step-maker for the Tom Wahlig Foundation, which is committed to the research and healing of spastic spinal paralysis . In the episode 273 Unwritten Laws of the TV series Großstadtrevier , set in Hamburg and broadcast in spring 2009 , Seeler played himself.

Even decades after the end of his active career, Seeler is one of the most popular athletes in Hamburg, which was expressed in the award of honorary citizenship to him in 2003. He was the first athlete to receive this award.

On August 24, 2005, a bronze replica of his right foot donated by the Hamburg entrepreneur Andreas Maske (Maske AG) was unveiled. This sculpture, which costs 250,000 euros, stands in front of the HSV stadium, weighs around four tons, is 5.15 meters wide, 3.50 meters high and shows his various injuries from tireless efforts.

His popularity is also expressed in the term "Uns Uwe" (Low German for "our Uwe"), which is widespread for him.

In 2013 Uwe Seeler took over the sponsorship of the Malente sports school, which is now called Uwe-Seeler-Fußball-Park .

Nobel laureate Otto Hahn , although hardly interested in football, was one of those contemporaries who valued Uwe Seeler personally and who showed him great respect for his modesty. This is also evident in a traditional and proven anecdote from 1964:

“When Hahn in Lindau, surrounded by people, was busy handing out autographs, he turned to some young people with a smile: 'You're in luck. Otherwise they cost me 5 marks; I'm doing it for free today. Or do you want to exchange 3 Otto Hahn for 1 Uwe Seeler again? '"

Uwe Seeler Prize

In 1986 the Hamburg Senate donated the Uwe Seeler Prize on the occasion of his 50th birthday . At that time, Seeler refrained from hosting larger celebrations. Instead, the youth departments of football clubs of the Hamburg Football Association are given 5,000 euros each year.

Personal

Seeler has been married to Ilka since February 18, 1959, whom he met at a New Year's Eve ball in 1953, and has three daughters and seven grandchildren. His grandson Levin Öztunali (* 1996) is also a professional footballer and has been playing for 1. FSV Mainz 05 since 2016 .

Seeler's father Erwin and his older brother Dieter were also soccer players, u. a. at HSV.

Former MP Hans-Joachim Seeler was Seeler's second cousin. His sons, Christian Seeler , former director of the Ohnsorg Theater , and Joachim Seeler , former member of the Hamburg Parliament , are thus Uwe Seeler's third degree nephew.

Achievements and Awards

Success with the national team

  • Vice World Champion 1966 in England
  • Third place in the 1970 World Cup in Mexico
  • World Cup fourth in 1958 in Sweden

Success with HSV

Personal achievements

Awards

Uwe Seeler in 2008 as the 16th honorary captain of Rickmer Rickmers among other honorary captains

literature

  • Robert Becker: Uwe Seeler and his golden goals . Copress, Munich 1991, ISBN 3-7679-0363-6 .
  • 100 years of German football (special issue of the Kicker sports magazine ), Nuremberg 1999.
  • Uwe Seeler: Thank you, football! - My life. Rowohlt-Verlag, Reinbek 2003, ISBN 978-3-498-06375-7 (also as audio book on 1 CD, audio book Hamburg, Hamburg 2003, ISBN 3-89903-133-4 )
  • Uwe Seeler: This is my life in: Our Uwe special edition of the Hamburger Morgenpost for the 80th birthday of Uwe Seeler, Hamburger Morgenpost Verlag GmbH, Hamburg 2016, pages 28–47

Web links

Commons : Uwe Seeler  - Collection of images, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ a b “We don't need individualists”. Spiegel, June 8, 1970, accessed January 19, 2017.
  2. ^ Match report in the Hamburger Abendblatt dated August 6, 1953, p. 7
  3. ↑ Match report in: Sport Magazin . Issue 31A / 1954 of August 2, 1954, p. 9
  4. ↑ a b Barbara Smit: Three stripes against Puma . Campus, 200, p. 57 u. 107.
  5. ↑ a b Broder-Jürgen Trede: When Seeler became "Uns Uwe". Spiegel.de, March 15, 2011, accessed on May 29, 2020 .
  6. ↑ Uwe Seeler - Matches and Goals in Bundesliga. In: rsssf.com. (English)
  7. ↑ Seeler wears a diamond in his heart. In: fifa.com.
  8. ↑ The day on which Uwe Seeler celebrated his farewell. In: mopo.de.
  9. ↑ Kicker Almanach 1987 - p. 137 ISBN 3-7679-0245-1 .
  10. ↑ A Picture and Its Story: The Tragedy of Wembley. In: Stern . July 2, 2008.
  11. ↑ Football legend Seeler: I'm laughing at the Wembley goal today. In: Spiegel Online . May 28, 2012.
  12. ↑ DER SPIEGEL: Tax havens: The secret companies of German celebrities in the Bahamas - DER SPIEGEL - Economy. Retrieved May 22, 2020 .
  13. ↑ Our step-makers. (No longer available online.) In: hsp-info.de. Tom Wahlig Foundation, archived from the original on July 27, 2009 ; Retrieved January 19, 2017 .
  14. ↑ Unwritten Laws. In: daserste.de. Retrieved June 29, 2018.
  15. ↑ The spirit of Malente: The Uwe Seeler football park of the SHFV. In dfb.de. Retrieved June 13, 2016.
  16. ↑ Dietrich Hahn (Ed.): Otto Hahn - Erlebnisse und Wissens , Econ Verlag, Düsseldorf / Vienna 1975, p. 249. ISBN 3-430-13732-2 .
  17. ↑ Uwe Seeler turns 75, many problems for his birthday, Focus , November 4, 2011.
  18. ↑ spiegel.de
  19. ↑ Abendblatt.de
  20. ↑ Why Joachim Seeler came to the citizenry after all.
  21. ↑ immobilien-zeitung.de
  22. ^ Zoff at the Bundesliga club: Seeler rejects HSV honorary presidency in Spiegel Online on March 13, 2013.
  23. ↑ fifa.com: "Seeler is honored as a" legend of sport ""
  24. ^ "Legende des Sports 2013: Uwe Seeler" In: deutscher-sportpresseball.de.
  25. ↑ Uwe Seeler: Award for life's work. In: promilounge.de. August 22, 2016. Retrieved August 22, 2016 .
  26. ↑ Eleven football legends and a coach icon ( Memento from November 23, 2018 in the Internet Archive )
personal data
SURNAME Seeler, Uwe
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Us Uwe (nickname)
BRIEF DESCRIPTION German soccer player and manager
DATE OF BIRTH November 5, 1936
PLACE OF BIRTH Hamburg , German Empire