The All-Time Greatest Bundesliga Players II

You Had Me Going For a Minute, Dead Fingers

Thanks for setting this up this way. I was going to do it myself but you saved me the trouble. With that invite from you I will continue; I hope people aren't too confused by the switch.

 

I Need Forum Help Again

To continue to do in this thread what I did in the last one I will need to be able, as before, to quote previous posts by other members, but I can't see how to do that. How do I do it?

 

Those Player Club Listings

"Generally, I decided only two list two clubs at most for each player to not waste too much space. Many players played for 4 or more clubs it would have destroyed the design of the ranking a bit thus I only listed the important ones."

I wasn't criticizing your choice to go with a maximum of two club listings in the player data. I just thought it would be something of interest to add additional clubs where appropriate. Just trying to perform a small service if I can for whatever it's worth.

 

Manfred Burgsmueller Revisited

After I posted about Burgsmueller I found out he was a placekicker in the World League of American Football from 1996 to 2002 with Rhein Fire winning titles in 1998 and 2000. It's just my opinion but I think Manni was used as something of a travelling circus act. That's sad for a former player of his stature.

 

Back to Kevin Keegan

"He wasn't used as a center forward by HSV - in his first Hamburg season (77-78), Fredi Keller had that job. Keegan played more as a right winger (with Volkert on the left), but basically a more free-roaming role than that of a classic winger. From 1978 to 1980 Hrubesch was the center forward and Keegan perfected his role as the free-roaming forward who had licence to play anywhere up front as he wished (similar to Rummenigge)."

Fussballdaten.de puts Keegan in midfield. It looks there like Willi Reimann played on the wing opposite Georg Volkert in 1977-78, at least.

 

Fussballdaten's Gallery

"Initially I planned to use fussballdaten's gallery as my source but they disallowed any linking to BigSoccer after a while."

The gallery at Fussballdaten.de for whatever reason is very incomplete. After around 1978 or 79 the pics stop until much more recent seasons. I would like to know what that is all about and if anyone there plans to fill in the numerous gaps.

 

Wolfgang Rolff, Again

"He was one of Hamburg's best players during the mid-1980s. His 1982-83 season was superb for a player of his kind. His job was not to score goals. A player like him is hard to judge based on statistics."

What do you mean when you say a player of his kind in reference to Wolfgang Rolff? What type of player was/is his kind?

 

Martin Max

Rank #36
Martin MAX (M’Gladbach, TSV 1860)
*7 August 1968, Germany, center forward
1 International appearance [2002], 0 goals
396 Bundesliga appearances [1989-2004], 126 goals
German Cup winner 1995
Bundesliga Top Scorer 2000, 2002

It's curious that he won both of his individual goalscoring titles without scoring at least 20 times on either occasion. He did notch 20 tallies, though, with Rostock in 2003-04.

 

Michael Preetz

Rank #37
Michael PREETZ (Düssledorf, Hertha BSC)
*17 August 1967, Germany, center forward
7 International appearances [1999-2000], 3 goals
256 Bundesliga appearances [1986-2003], 91 goals
Bundesliga Top Scorer 1999

Clearly his best years were with Hertha Berlin. When he won the goalscoring title in 1999 he saved the best for last, scoring a hat trick in a 6:1 win vs. HSV. Only 2 of his goals that year came on penalties.

 

Oliver Neuville

Rank #34
Oliver NEUVILLE (Leverkusen, M’Gladbach)
*1 May 1973, Germany, forward
64 International appearances [1998-2006], 9 goals
288 Bundesliga appearances [1997-2006], 89 goals
Bundesliga runner-up 2000, 2002
German Cup beaten finalist 2002

It looks like Neuville is at his best when paired with another legitimate goalscoring threat. He gets goals and assists, something apparently not seen very often in Bundsliga play. Since he is still active his ranking should go up, I imagine.

 

Ronald Worm

Rank #35
Ronald WORM (Duisburg, Brunswick)
*7 October 1953, Germany, center forward
7 international appearances [1975-1978], 5 goals
380 Bundesliga appearances [1971-1985], 119 goals
German Cup beaten finalist 1975

Alex, you should have something to say about this player. It doesn't look like his Bundsliga career was anything out of the ordinary but somebody with the national team must have seen something in him to call him up. Five goals in seven games for his country isn't too bad.

 

Frank Mill

Rank #31
Frank MILL (M’Gladbach, Dortmund)
*13 July 1958, Germany, center forward
17 International appearances [1982-1990], 0 goals
387 Bundesliga appearances [1976-1996], 123 goals
Bundesliga runner-up 1992
German Cup winner 1989
German Cup beaten finalist 1984

I remember a lucky Mill goal when the opposing keeper stumbled while taking a goal kick and Mill was there to take advantage of the ensuing miskick and slide the ball home for the easy score. Only his first season with Dortmund was good; before that he had several decent seasons with Moenchengladbach. He also played in the Bundesliga for Essen at the beginning and Duesseldorf at the end.

 

Herbert Waas

Rank #32
Herbert WAAS (Leverkusen, Hamburg)
*8 September 1963, Germany, forward
11 International appearances [1983-1988], 1 goal
247 Bundesliga appearances [1982-1990/1991-1992/1994-1995], 74 goals

Waas had some respectable seasons with Leverkusen. His lone season with Hamburg only seems worth mentioning for statistical purposes. The only thing he was able to accomplish with his last Bundesliga club Dresden was to get caught up with many of his teammates in that club's 1994-95 relegation and financial fiasco which resulted in Waas and many other players being unloaded by the Dynamo management.

 

Hannes Loehr

Rank #28
Johannes LÖHR (Cologne)
*5 July 1942, Germany, left wing/right wing/center forward
20 International appearances [1967-1970], 5 goals
381 Bundesliga appearances [1964-1978], 166 goals
Bundesliga Champion 1978
Bundesliga runner-up 1965, 1973
German Cup winner 1968, 1977, 1978
German Cup beaten finalist 1970, 1971, 1973
Bundesliga Top Scorer 1968

It certainly looks like he had a good career topped off by that 1967-68 season. Once I started following the Bundesliga, however, his good years were behind him and he was down to only eight appearances and a single goal in Cologne's 1977-78 championship season.

 

Jupp Heynckes

Rank #29
Josef HEYNCKES (M’Gladbach, Hannover)
*9 May 1945, Germany, left wing/center forward
39 International appearances [1967-1976], 14 goals
369 Bundesliga appearances [1965-1978], 220 goals
Bundesliga Champion 1971, 1975, 1976, 1977
Bundesliga runner-up 1974, 1978
German Cup winner 1973
Bundesliga Top Scorer 1974, 1975

Certainly one of the Bundesliga's all-time great goalscorers. In Moenchengladbach's 12:0 pounding of Dortmund at the end of the 1977-78 season he scored the first, second, fifth, seventh and tenth goal for his club. Retiring as a player after that 18 goal season makes me wonder if he could have stayed in the league a little longer.

 

Ebbe Sand

Rank #24
Ebbe SAND (Schalke)
*19 July 1972, Denmark, forward
66 International appearances [1998-2004], 22 goals
214 Bundesliga appearances [1999-2006], 73 goals
Bundesliga runner-up 2001, 2005
German Cup winner 2001, 2002
German Cup beaten finalist 2005
Bundesliga Top Scorer 2001

Sand had that one good season and two more that were okay with Schalke but all that happened in the first three of the seven total seasons that he spent with the club. I wonder what made his form drop off after his earlier successes.

 

Fredi Bobic

Rank #26
Fredi BOBIC (Stuttgart, Dortmund)
*30 October 1971, Germany, center forward
37 International appearances [1994-2004], 10 goals
285 Bundesliga appearances [1994-2005], 108 goals
Bundesliga Champion 2002
German Cup winner 1997
Bundesliga Top Scorer 1996

He also played in the Bundesliga with Hannover(2002-03)and Hertha Berlin(2003-05). No team in his career, however got more out of him than VfBStuttgart. I have a vague memory of a suspension he got but I can no longer recall the circumstances.

 

Fritz Walter(the Younger)

Rank #21
Fritz WALTER (Mannheim, Stuttgart)
*21 July 1960, Germany, center forward
348 Bundesliga appearances [1983-1994/1996-1997], 157 goals
Bundesliga Champion 1992
Bundesliga Top Scorer 1992

The younger Walter made a cameo appearance - 3 games - with Bielefeld in his final Bundesliga season of 1996-97. His first club, Waldhof Mannheim, must have sorely missed him after he transferred to Stuttgart. It was lucky for Waldhof that Schalke and Homburg were so bad in 1987-88 or the Mannheim 35 team goals that season would have gotten them relegated instead of one of the other 2 teams.

 

Karlheinz Riedle

Rank #22
Karl-Heinz RIEDLE (Bremen, Dortmund)
*16 September 1965, Germany, center forward
42 International appearances [1988-1994], 16 goals
207 Bundesliga appearances [1986-1990/1993-1997], 72 goals
Bundesliga Champion 1988, 1995, 1996
German Cup beaten finalist 1989, 1990

His Bundesliga career started with Blau-Weiss Berlin in the 1986-87 season. After his first three seasons in the league he seemed not to do much but injuries apparently reduced his playing time in the later years and he did come up big with those 2 header goals in the 1997 Champions Cup Final vs. Juventus.

 

Roland Wohlfarth

Rank #23
Roland WOHLFARTH (Bayern, Duisburg)
*11 January 1963, Germany, forward
2 International appearances [1986-1989], 0 goals
287 Bundesliga appearances [1981-1982/1984-1997], 120 goals
Bundesliga Champion 1985, 1986, 1987, 1989, 1990
Bundesliga runner-up 1988, 1991, 1993
German Cup winner 1986
German Cup beaten finalist 1985
Bundesliga Top Scorer 1989, 1991

All of his Bundesliga success came with Bayern. In his last 3 league seasons with Bochum he failed to score and didn't see that much action(15 total games in those 3 years with VfL). Duisburg for him must have served merely as a preparatory session for the league.

 

Bum-Kun Cha

Rank #20
Bum Kun CHA (Frankfurt, Leverkusen)
*22 May 1953, South Korea, forward
121 International appearances [1972-1977/1986], 55 goals
308 Bundesliga appearances [1978-1989], 98 goals
German Cup winner 1981

Another tricky name with more than one version in circulation. His Bundesliga career began with Darmstadt(one game)in the 1978-79 season. From all appearances he had a fairly solid career in the league.

 

Toni Polster

Rank #15
Anton POLSTER (Cologne, M’Gladbach)
*10 March 1964, Austria, center forward
95 International appearances [1982-2000], 44 goals
181 Bundesliga appearances [1993-1999], 90 goals

Polster had a solid Bundeliga career. I wasn't happy to see him transfer from Cologne to Moenchengladbach but at least that move wasn't enough to save the latter club from relegation.

 

Stephane Chapuisat

Rank #16
Stéphane CHAPUISAT (Uerdingen, Dortmund)
*28 June 1969, Switzerland, forward
103 International appearances [1989-2004], 21 goals
228 Bundesliga appearances [1990-1999], 106 goals
Bundesliga Champion 1995, 1996
Bundesliga runner-up 1992

I wonder if Chapuisat was good enough to play up front both inside and outside. The latter in particular would have come in handy for Dortmund when Riedle was out injured.