Uwe Seeler is 85: This is how “Uns Uwe” became an icon

Uwe Seeler turns 85
This is how “Uns Uwe” became an icon

“I think the best thing in life is to be normal. That’s how I am and that’s how I want to stay.” This is what someone says about himself, whose enormous popularity is based on exactly this attitude: to be normal. Uwe Seeler, who led the German national soccer team as captain in the legendary World Cup final on the Wembley lawn in 1966, is 85 years old today.

“Uns Uwe” was born on November 5, 1936, his father probably put his footballing talent in his cradle: Erwin Seeler (1910-1997) was also a striker and until the 1940s one of Hamburg’s most popular footballers – the However, there were no major successes. But he and mother Anny (1913-1994) should have burst with pride by 1954 at the latest. The 17-year-old Uwe had already played for eight years in the youth of the Hamburg sports club before his sponsor Günter Mahlmann (1908-1975) sent him to HSV head coach Martin Wilke (94).

Delivered from the start

Seeler used his chance immediately: In his first league game, the Bundesliga did not exist at the time, he scored the interim 2-0 in a 3-0 win against VfB Oldenburg. Three weeks earlier he recommended himself with four goals in the 8-2 cup derby win against Holstein Kiel. This trend was to continue: in the following years in the upper league, Seeler never stopped scoring, between 1954 and 1962 he scored 267 goals in 237 appearances.

One who recognized this potential early on was national coaching icon Sepp Herberger (1897-1977). Immediately after the World Cup triumph in Bern in 1954, Herberger nominated the 17-year-old Seeler for the senior national team. On his debut in October 1954, however, he remained goalless in a 3-1 draw against France. The young striker made his breakthrough during the 1958 World Cup in Sweden: Seeler formed the attack together with DFB legends Helmut Rahn (1929-2003) and Hans Schäfer (1927-2017). In the group games against Argentina and Northern Ireland he scored one goal each, but injured himself in the semi-final against hosts Sweden, which is why he could not take part in the game for third place against France.

Confidence of the national coach

But Uwe Seeler, who had always distinguished himself on and off the pitch with his fighting spirit, soon recovered and met again as he wanted. National coach Herberger continued to rely on the young attacker, about whom he once said: “There are undoubtedly far better players in terms of play. But nobody has the talent like Uwe Seeler to achieve so much effect in a confined space against the strongest guard.” That did not escape the attention of the experts in Italy either, at that time Serie A was the first league that attracted international stars with a lot of money. The fact that Seeler turned down Inter Milan’s 1.2 million D-Mark offer in 1961 and opted for “our little house, our families and our secure future” made him a folk hero. So it was only logical that in 1961, Seeler appeared for the first time as captain of the German national team. In his first game with the bandage on his arm, Seeler scored three times in a 5-1 win against Denmark – the 1.68-meter-tall striker scored all three goals with his head.

For the 1962 World Cup in Chile, however, the regular captain Hans Schäfer returned to the team. Only after the World Cup, in which Seeler again scored two goals in the group stage, but could not prevent the 0-1 in the quarter-finals against Yugoslavia, Seeler finally became captain of the national team. And as such, he led the German team into one of the most legendary games in German football history: The 1966 World Cup final in England is still unforgotten today, and the outcome is known. Thanks to the Wembley goal, with which Geoff Hurst (79) made himself immortal in Great Britain, Uwe Seeler was denied the world title.

(Almost) nothing to regret

At the same time, Seeler was as accurate as ever in everyday life in the league. In the Bundesliga, newly founded in 1963, he did not get beyond disappointing positions in midfield with his HSV, but secured the first top scorer in the newly founded league with 30 goals. In 1966, Seeler wanted to resign from the national team for the first time, but at the urging of national coach Helmut Schön (1915-1996) he hung on for a few more years. On September 9, 1970, with his last international match, he became a record German national player – it was his 72nd appearance for the DFB. Franz Beckenbauer (76) overtook him three years later, the current record is held by Lothar Matthäus (60) with 150 games in the DFB dress. In May 1972, Seeler said goodbye to club football with a game against a world team. With shouts of “Uwe! Uwe! Uwe!” He was carried on shoulders from the Hamburg Volksparkstadion. His record for Hamburger SV: 404 goals in 476 games.

Uwe Seeler then retired from football and founded the Seeler-Moden company, where he sold sporting goods. A good 20 years after the end of his career, he was persuaded to make a HSV comeback and became president of his heart club. He held the office between 1995 and 1998, one of the few decisions that he looks back on with little happiness: “I have no regrets in life, but once or twice I should have listened to my wife: We actually didn’t have a swimming pool in our home Have to build a house; and Ilka advised me against accepting the presidency at the time. “

Uwe, stay with us

On his 85th birthday, Uwe Seeler can look back on a life that has made him an idol nationally and internationally. Not only because of his goals, “Uns Uwe” became the second honorary captain of the DFB in 1972 and an honorary citizen of Hamburg in 2003, but because of his down-to-earth manner and attitude.

However, because his health has been troubling him for several years, people are worried. So he had to cancel all appointments in his birthday week, said his wife Ilka, with whom he has been married for 62 years, to the sports information service at the beginning of the week: “He is not feeling well. The situation is not critical, but the doctor has insisted on him advised to take it easy. ” On the occasion of its special day, the Erste and NDR television presented the documentary “Uwe Seeler – One of us: The football legend turns 85” about Seeler’s life and career, which is available until February 2, 2022. In the end, Seeler was grateful and satisfied with his life: “I think we should be calm and relaxed and enjoy what we have. And how long is written in the stars. Nobody knows.”

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