Günter Netzer is a great German football legend. Shortly before his 80th birthday, he was a guest on the WDR podcast “Einfach Fußball”. Netzer gave many dazzling insights into his life in an unusually open and detailed way.
Netzer will be 80 years old in September 2024. The highly gifted player celebrated his great successes in the early to mid-1970s: German champions in 1970 and 1971, European champions in 1972, DFB Cup winners in 1973 and, crowned, world champions in 1974. After moving to Real Madrid, the “Footballer of the Year” celebrated in 1972 and 1973 two Spanish championships and cup victories.
Substitution in the cup final
The first pop star in the Bundesliga made headlines because of his long hair and the sometimes great freedom that his club Borussia Mönchengladbach and his coach Hennes Weisweiler gave him.
But when Netzer announced his move to Real Madrid in 1973, the relationship between star and coach deteriorated. It culminated in Netzer’s idiosyncratic behavior in the 1973 cup final. When Weisweiler did not let Netzer play from the start, the spectators increasingly vehemently demanded that Netzer be substituted. “The spectators whistled their fingers sore,” Netzer said to Sven Pistor and Constantin Kleine on the WDR2 podcast “Einfach Fußball”.
Weisweiler wanted to bring in the popular director for the second half. But Netzer refused the substitution: “I have to assume that Hennes Weisweiler: He wanted to celebrate his personal triumph if we lost the game.” But in the power struggle with the coach, Netzer remained stubborn: “Berti Vogts only told me that recently: I even left the dressing room, I didn’t even know that anymore.”
The game against 1. FC Köln went into extra time and only then did Netzer come into the game: “I’ll play now,” he said to the coach and substituted himself, so to speak. Shortly afterwards, Netzer scored the winning goal and made Gladbach cup winners.
“I hated the conditioning coach”
Netzer, who enjoyed the greatest respect as a playmaker not only in Germany but throughout Europe, was not considered the hardest worker. “I hated the conditioning coaches like no other person in the world,” said Netzer on WDR2, “I hated the Real Madrid conditioning coach the most. He was the Yugoslavian champion over 1,500 meters. That was absolute hell.”
“And the worst thing was: Paul Breitner,” who was under contract with the Spaniards at the same time. “Breitner always ran away from the front. He was the fittest player in Europe and didn’t take me into account.”
Günter Netzer, Sportschau, May 8, 2024 9:33 p.m
“Grateful and humble”
Netzer was not only very successful as a footballer, but later also as a media entrepreneur and as a TV expert. His retirement in 1977 at the age of 32 was followed by his time as manager of Hamburger SV.
“I can’t do that,” said Netzer when he called from Hamburger SV, who asked him whether he wanted to become a manager at the Hanseatic League. “I wanted to do the stadium newspaper because it was terrible.” In Mönchengaldbach, Netzer published the stadium newspaper “Fohlenecho”. “After some consideration, the president agreed on the condition that I become manager.”
Under Günter Netzer, Hamburger SV celebrated the most successful period in the club’s history. The manager brought in Branko Zebec and Ernst Happel as coaches. Under them, HSV became German champions three times and even won the European Cup in 1983 (predecessor competition to the Champions League).
“I’m not only grateful, but also humble,” said family man Netzer, looking back on his career and his “three or four lives,” “but ten years ago I gave up all my lives except the real one.”
Günter Netzer, Sportschau, May 8, 2024 9:33 p.m