Uwe Seeler

Uwe Seeler (German pronunciation: [ˈuːvə ˈzeːlɐ]; born 5 November 1936) is a German former footballer and football official. As a striker, he was a prolific scorer for Hamburger SV and also made 72 appearances for the West German national team. Usually regarded as one of the greatest players in German football history,[2] in 2004 he was named one of FIFA's 125 greatest living players by Pelé. He was the first football player to be awarded the Great Order of Merit of the Federal Republic of Germany. His grandson, Levin Öztunalı, is also a professional footballer.

Uwe Seeler
Seeler in 2016
Personal information
Date of birth (1936-11-05) 5 November 1936
Place of birth Hamburg, Germany
Height 1.69 m (5 ft 7 in)[1]
Playing position(s) Striker
Youth career
1946–1953 Hamburger SV
Senior career*
Years Team Apps (Gls)
1953–1972 Hamburger SV[1] 476 (404)
1978 Cork Celtic 1 (2)
Total 477 (406)
National team
1953–1954 West Germany U-18 10 (15)
1954–1970 West Germany 72 (43)
* Senior club appearances and goals counted for the domestic league only

Playing career
Uwe Seeler on a 1988 Paraguay stamp

Club career

Seeler followed in his father's footsteps as a player for Hamburger SV, making his first team debut in 1954 in a DFB-Pokal match, aged just under 18, scoring four goals (8–2 vs. Holstein Kiel). In later years, despite tempting offers from Italian and Spanish clubs, he remained loyal to Hamburg, working on a second career as a merchant besides playing football.

Seeler was a gifted, powerful, and prolific striker who, among other things, was most of all renowned for his leadership, consistency, overhead kicks, and aerial ability.[3] He scored 137 times in 239 Bundesliga games, 43 times in 72 international games for the German national team, and 21 times in 29 European club tournament games. He was captain of both his club team and the national team for many years. He and his club won the German championship in 1960 and the DFB-Pokal in 1963. He was top scorer of the first Bundesliga season in 1963–64 and German Footballer of the Year in 1960, 1964 and 1970. During the 1960–61 season, Seeler, alongside his brother Dieter, helped to lead Hamburger SV to the semi-finals of the European Cup, where they narrowly missed out on the final against Benfica, losing out to Barcelona in a play-off match. During the 1967–68 season, Seeler also helped Hamburg to reach the final of the European Cup Winners' Cup, finishing the competition as top scorer, only to lose out to AC Milan.[4]

In 1978, he and his former teammate Franz-Josef Hönig played for Cork Celtic F.C. in a one-off sponsored event. Seeler had ended his active playing career in 1972.[5] However, this match turned out to be an official League of Ireland one and Uwe scored twice.[6] Thus, his overall record of goals scored in league and championship matches adds up to 446 (HSV 444,[7] Cork Celtic 2). His 404 goals in German Oberliga and Bundesliga league games is a record that stands as today, his 406 goals in league games overall making him the second-best German goalscorer behind Gerd Müller.[8]

International career

Seeler participated in the same four FIFA World Cups as Pelé did: 1958, 1962, 1966, and 1970. Of those West German World Cup teams, the 1966 side reached the final, where they controversially lost to host nation England 4–2 in extra time.[9] In 1958, the German team finished in fourth place; in 1970 the West German team finished in third after being eliminated by European rivals Italy in the semi-finals, following a closely fought 4–3 extra-time loss, a match often referred to as the "Game of the Century".[4] Possibly Seeler's most important international goal came in the previous round, a backward second-half header against England which tied the score 2–2, a game West Germany went on to win 3–2.

Although Seeler never won a World Cup (his involvement as a player in the tournament started four years after West Germany won their first World Cup (1954) and ended four years before they won their second (1974)), he had a prolific career in the tournament; he was the first player ever to appear in 20 World Cup matches (he retired with 21 matches played, tied for third all-time); the first ever to score in four World Cups (beating Pelé by only a few minutes), and the first player to score at least two goals in each of four World Cups (matched in 2014 by his compatriot Miroslav Klose). He also ranks third in all-time minutes played in World Cups, with 1980, behind Paolo Maldini and Lothar Matthäus. In total, he scored 9 goals across the four World Cups in which he played, as well as 3 goals in World Cup Qualifying matches; he scored 43 times in 72 international appearances between 1954 and 1970.[10] A photo of a dejected Seeler leaving the field having just been defeated in the 1966 World Cup Final was voted as Photo of the Century by kicker magazine.[11]

Career after football

He had a two-and-a-half-year tenure as president of Hamburger SV, which began in 1995, and ended in resignation due to a financial scandal, for which he took responsibility. Seeler, however, was not himself implicated in the irregularities.

Recognition
A monument of Seeler's right foot located outside Volksparkstadion

Seeler was a tremendously popular player due to his fairness and modesty and is still widely called Uns Uwe (West Low German: Our Uwe) in Hamburg and the surrounding area. The DFB (German FA) made him the second honorary captain of the German national team in 1972 (the first being Fritz Walter). In 2003, he became an honorary citizen of his hometown Hamburg; the first time the honor was bestowed on a sportsman.[12] That year he also published his memoirs Danke, Fußball (Thank you, football), released as an English version in 2009. 2005 saw the unveiling of a giant monument in front of the HSV stadium depicting his right foot.

Filmography

Seeler has appeared in a cameo role in the popular 1972 Heinz Erhardt comedy Willi wird das Kind schon schaukeln (English title: Willi Manages the Whole Thing), playing himself. In this film, a manager called Jungborn (Erhardt) is managing a football club. In the end, his club makes a spectacular signing: Seeler himself. Everybody in the club is jubilant, but Jungborn is puzzled and asks "who the devil is that guy?".

Career statistics

Club

Ref.[13]

Club Season League German
Champ'ship[lower-alpha 1]
Division AppsGoalsAppsGoals
Hamburger SV1954–55Oberliga Nord 262851
1955–56 293253
1956–57 263142
1957–58 242242
1958–59 272945
1959–60 2636713
1960–61 232968
1961–62 282824
1962–63 283262
1963–64Bundesliga 3030–
1964–65 1914
1965–66 2311
1966–67 2310
1967–68 3012
1968–69 3323
1969–70 3017
1970–71 259
1971–72 2611
Total 4764044340
Cork Celtic1977–78League of Ireland 12–
Career total 4774064340
  1. Before the Bundesliga, the national champion was determined in a series of knock-out games after the domestic league ended.

International

[14]

Germany national team
YearAppsGoals
195430
195500
195610
195700
195895
195956
196054
196165
196272
196333
196434
196511
1966127
196731
196810
196930
1970105
Total7243

Honours

Club

Hamburger SV[4]

International

West Germany[4]

Individual

Literature
  • Becker, Robert: Uwe Seeler und seine goldenen Tore. Copress, München 1991, ISBN 3-7679-0363-6
  • Seeler, Uwe: Danke, Fußball! – Mein Leben. Rowohlt-Verlag, Reinbek 2003, ISBN 978-3-498-06375-7 (auch als Hörbuch auf 1 CD, Hörbuch Hamburg, Hamburg 2003, ISBN 3-89903-133-4)

References
  1. "Seeler, Uwe". nationalfootballteams.com. Retrieved 6 May 2011.
  2. Stokkermans, Karel (30 January 2000). "IFFHS' Century Elections". RSSSF. Retrieved 14 October 2013.
  3. "Seeler: Germany legend, Hamburg icon". FIFA.com. 20 June 2013. Retrieved 14 October 2013.
  4. "Uwe SEELER" (in Italian). storiedicalcio.altervista.org. Retrieved 4 January 2015.
  5. "The story of how Germany's 500-goal sensation came out of retirement to score at Turner's Cross". The 42. 29 December 2017. Retrieved 22 August 2019.
  6. "Seeler trägt Raute im Herz". Fifa.com (in German). FIFA. Retrieved 14 July 2015.
  7. Tore, Punkte, Spieler – Die komplette HSV-Statistik. Göttingen. 2008.
  8. "Seeler: Germany legend, Hamburg icon". FIFA.com. Retrieved 4 January 2015.
  9. "The most controversial goal-line incidents: England vs. Germany, 1966". The Independent. Retrieved 4 January 2015.
  10. "Uwe SEELER". Retrieved 4 January 2015.
  11. "Die Tragödie von Wembley". stern.de (in German). 2 July 2008. Retrieved 11 October 2018.
  12. "Hamburgische Ehrenbürger" (in German). State Chancellery. Retrieved 13 August 2008.
  13. Arnhold, Matthias (2 November 2007). "Uwe Seeler – Matches and Goals in Bundesliga". rsssf.com. Retrieved 4 April 2013.
  14. Mamrud, Roberto (2 November 2002). "Uwe Seeler – Goals in International Matches". RSSSF. Retrieved 4 November 2012.
  15. Leme de Arruda, Marcelo (20 October 2015). "FIFA XI´s Matches - Full Info". RSSSF. Retrieved 4 November 2015.
  16. "Bundesliga Historie 1969/70" (in German). kicker.

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