Which players are considered the 10 Greatest German players in history? The obvious ones were Rummenigge, Gerd Mueller, Beckenbauer..... How about Klinsman, Matthaeus and Sammer???
I checked the DFB site (German FA). Out of all the players that every played for the NT, here are my picks. I picked them because they were consistently good: Klaus Allofs Franz Beckenbauer Andreas Brehme Paul Breitner Karlheinz Förster Jupp Heynckes Paul Janes Oliver Kahn Manfred Kaltz Jürgen Klinsmann Jürgen Kohler Pierre Littbarski Felix Magath Sepp Maier Lothar Matthäus Gerd Müller Günther Netzer Wolfgang Overath Helmut Rahn Karlheinz Rummenigge Matthias Sammer Karlheinz Schnellinger Toni Schumacher Bernd Schuster Uwe Seeler Uli Stielike Toni Turek Rudi Völler Fritz Walter ___________________ Under Consideration: Oliver Bierhoff (not because he was a good player, but because he scored goals) Rainer Bonhof Hans-Peter Briegel Dixie Dörner Klaus Fischer Andy Möller Joachim Streich Berti Vogts
Fritz Walter Uwe Seeler Franz Beckenbauer Gerd Müller Sepp Maier ( although i really hate this stupid guy...) K.H. Rummenigge Lothar Matthaeus Rudi Völler Jürgen Klinsmann Matthias Sammer
1. Beckenbauer 2. Gerd Mueller 3. Lothar Matthaeus 4. Oliver Kahn 5. Karlheinz Rummenigge 6. Uwe Seeler 7. Rudi Voeller 8. Fritz Walter 9. Klaus Allofs 10. Littbarski / Juergen Kohler (tie)
It's really difficult to compare soccer players over the years as the game changed dramatically. All you seriously can compare is the value of a player for the times they played in. My pick: 1 Fritz Walter 2 Franz Beckenbauer 3 Gerd Müller 4 Uwe Seeler 5 Lothar Matthäus 6 Oliver Kahn 7 Karlheinz Rummenigge 8 Rudi Völler 9 Bernd Schuster 10 Günther Netzer
Simple reason for my pick: after several great seasons in the club, Kahn now proved his value at the WC, where he had a very big influence in reaching the final. Maier's teams always were better and would have had success with a different goalie as well.
I did only know Meier by reputation. Kahn does deserve to be rank up there with him after WC Finals. Surpringly, i heard of most of the players listed by Syncope. The names I don't know were: Jupp Heynckes(know him as a coach) Paul Janes Helmut Rahn Toni Turek Karlheinz Schnellinger Joachim Streich Dixie Dörner I myself rated Klinsmann very high. I guess he is so and so among Germans.
Re: Re: 10 Greatest German Players? It's really difficult, I agree... *sigh* But it's still fun arguing Why is Bernd Schuster so higly rated? He was a key player for Germany in winning Euro 1980, but otherwise...sure, he won several titles with Barca in Spain, but no European Cup during that time... Isn't he more of an example of a player whose individual talent and skill was almost always bigger than his value for a TEAM? Regarding the disruptive force he seemed to be for his clubs in quite a few cases, when his time at a team ended there? Compare it with Matthias Sammer...also a man without whom a Euro (96) would have won by a different team. But he had arguably the less competent team comrades than Schuster in 1980. He also won national championships with Stuttgart and Dortmund and the Champions League in 97. Is his pedigree much worse than Schuster`s? I don't want to argue that Sammer should be in the Top 10, I just don't see why Schuster should be so high. And before Netzer?? Here goes the same...winner of Euro 1972, although here it's the other way round: he had even better teammates than Schuster. ^^
In 2000, when the DFB celebrated his 100th anniversary, the Association of German sports journalists, who are voting for the Football Player of the Year every year, too, did a vote about the same question. Their result: 1. Franz Beckenbauer 2. Fritz Walter 3. Gerd Müller 4. Uwe Seeler 5. Lothar Matthäus (this was before Euro 2000 ^_-) 6. Günter Netzer 7. Wolfgang Overath 8. Fritz Szepan 9. Jürgen Klinsmann 10. Peter Ducke
My top ten: Franz Beckenbauer Jurgen Klinnsman Gerd Muller Lothar Matthaus Bernd Schuster Rudi Voller Karlheinz Rummenigge Gunther Netzer Oliver Kahn and for the future...Michael Ballack
Re: Re: Re: 10 Greatest German Players? Don't know. Sammer was mainly living by his will. He was not the player with the greatest skills, but a great team leader. I decided different as the player types Schuster and Netzer are different, with soccer playing skills that are unique in German soccer. Schuster treating the ball was simply sensational and no other German had such a career in Spain, which has to be higher rated than a career in Germany only I think. Netzer has a big plus - similar as Walter or Beckenbauer - for his time after and during the career, hardly others did that much for soccer. Consider that Netzer had an own insurance firm, a bar he was serving in and I think also a marketing firm DURING his career. And today with holding the TV rights he's incredibly influential - of course hand in hand with great analysing on TV nowadays. I know that latter things don't belong to the evaluation of the greatest players, but to cut it short: Sammer was too much work and not enough skills for the top 10.
1. Gerd Müller 2. Uwe Seeler 3. Fritz Walter 4. Günther Netzer 5. Sepp Maier 6. Franz Beckenbauer (No, skill isn't my only criteria) 7. Rudi Völler 8. Berti Vogts 9. Litti 10. Helmut Rahn 11. Lothar Ulsaß 12. Jimmy Hartwig (i should end my list here before people start laughing at me)
Hartwig deserves a mention for this goal alone: [ame=www.youtube.com/watch?v=64sHg_kmWAs]Jimmy Hartwig[/ame]
The greatest 10? Almost impossible to do. I posted an all time German XI a while ago. Whatever, for the hell of it (inspired by that all time XI)... 1.) Franz Beckenbauer 2.) Gerd Müller 3.) Fritz Walter 4.) Lothar Matthäus 5.) Uwe Seeler 6.) Günther Netzer 7.) Wolfgang Overath 8.) Paul Breitner 9.) Sepp Maier 10.) Berti Vogts The 4 'Ehrenspielführer' (Beckenbauer, Seeler, Walter, Matthäus) have to be in this list, I tried to be as unbiased as possible, otherwise Littbarski would top the list. Only the first spot is undisputable I guess, the rest is really impossible to say. If it only was up to talent, 'flawed geniuses' like Schuster or Libuda would make that list, for example, unfortunately their national team careers were rather short.
Only players that I have seen play (basically no pre-1960s players): 1. Franz Beckenbauer 2. Gerd Müller 3. Uwe Seeler 4. Karl-Heinz Rummenigge 5. Lothar Matthäus 6. Wolfgang Overath 7. Günter Netzer 8. Jürgen Grabowski 9. Klaus Fischer 10. Paul Breitner/Jupp Heynckes/Berti Vogts/Bernd Schuster etc.
According to a ZDF poll from May 2006 (part of the series "Unsere Besten"), the top 10 looks this way: http://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Unsere_Besten#Unsere_Besten_.E2.80.93_Fu.C3.9Fballer 1. Beckenbauer, Franz 2. Müller, Gerd 3. Ballack, Michael 4. Walter, Fritz 5. Seeler, Uwe 6. Netzer, Günter 7. Matthäus, Lothar 8. Maier, Sepp 9. Klose, Miroslav 10. Klinsmann, Jürgen CLICK FOR THE TOP 100 Gute N8
I think the first 3 spots are indisputable. The only thing about Walter is that I don't know that much about his actual football skills - are they deserving of a top 10 ranking?
Walter was very skilled. I have only watched a few matches of that era myself, so it's difficult to compare. But various European clubs, including Inter and Atletico, were interested in him back then (he prefered to stay in Kaiserslautern), offering him ridiculous money. They wouldn't have done so if he wasn't an exceptional footballer.