Let’s cut the next cake: from left - Bayern president Wilhelm Neudecker, Franz Beckenbauer with wife Brigitte, and the star of 1954 World Cup Fritz Walter. The Kaiser displays fashionable jacket to make the party brighter.
Love birds? Not really – publicity stint rather. Sepp Maier at the Oktoberfest, having a beer with one of the best German alpine skiers Christa Zechmeister. The table is littered with football photos which Maier must sign and give away.
The seemingly endless party looking so fine and jolly in print was unable to hide growing discontent and outright trouble. The first scandal occurred immediately after winning the World Cup: the German Federation invited the national team to a celebratory reception. But the suits in the Federation were old and conservative – wives and especially girlfriends were not invited. Breitner, Muller, and Hoeness (if memory serves me correctly) were outraged and stormed out to celebrate elsewhere. Breitner made his opinion known to the press, which was hardly surprising, for he was well known critic of everything. Muller, however, was usually keeping his mind to himself and his bitter outburst was more serious news. Disgusted Muller announced that he was quitting the national team. The whole subject of women was torny: invitations were selective and arbitrary, rubbing players in the wrong way – Frau Beckenbauer was invited, but not Frau Muller. Unmarried players felt entirely discriminated against, for girlfriends were not invited at all. Parties had little to do with football, yet, the matter who can attend and who cannot official functions played destructive role in dividing the team.
Gerd Muller’s announcing that he does not want to play for West Germany anymore opened a problem of replacements – so far, the West Germans were able quietly and methodically to change aging players with new ones. There was no fuss over Seeler, Haller, and Schnellinger few years back – but then there were Beckenbauer, Muller, Netzer, already with huge reputations and experience. Now the situation was different
and Beckenbauer’s warning was actually right: replacement loomed as a megaproblem, for there were no obvious newcomers. The emotional announcement of Muller aggravated the problem by making it public and focusing entirely critical scrutiny on a process normally kept away from public view.
Eventually, it became known that Muller did not decide to quit out of the blue – he told Schon before the World Cup started that it was his last tournament. Muller felt tired, playing too many games in a year, and national team duty was too much. He was no longer young. The original announcement was fine – every player has to step down some time and Schon, alerted in advance, had time for quite search of replacement. But it was also a classic problem: how to replace a megastar? It is never painless and easy, for practically every new candidate pales in comparesment. There is always reluctantcy to call somebody else… and in the case of Muller it was even worse: was it possible at all to replace the best goalscorer in the world? Numbers alone tell differently – Gerd Muller is still unique in the history of football: he scored more goals for the national team than the games he played. Pele and Maradona don’t come even close to his average. And his manner of playing was also unique, so… perhaps fielding him a little longer… perhaps only in important games… perhaps not asking him to help in defense… which was not a solution after all, but just depending on Muller. But he said ‘no’. And he was not alone, so let’s see who was gone after the World Cup.
Only one player was not a problem: Hottges. The iron full back was not a starter since 1972, serving as reserve for Bertie Vogts. He appeared only once at the World Cup finals and only as a substitute. He exited quietly largely because Vogts was great and young enough. Grabowski also announced his retirement from the national team – looks like he and Muller told Schon early and the general public learned later. By itself, Grabowski’s retirement was not big deal – he was getting old and after three World Cups not only he felt it was time to call it a day. The trouble was that he left the team along with Muller and suddenly there was no centre-forward at all, the position was empty. And not only this one, but the whole attacking line – Erwin Kremers was gradually benched after 1972 and was just unused reserve at the World Cup. Jupp Heynckes lost his place during the World Cup as well and somehow never played strongly for the national team again – the second best goalscorer in the Bundesliga at the time failed to score for West Germany and obviously not a replacement for Muller. Attack was in trouble, and, unfortunately, not only the attack – Overath seemingly retired from the national team as well, for he did not play for West Germany after the World Cup. A new whole opened… for Netzer was the same age as Overath. Even with Beckenbauer in the team, there was a need of a playmaker in midfield and there was none. Schon and Netzer hardly tolerated each other anyway, but now a truce was impossible – aging Netzer was not in good form and reluctant to play, which made him more erattic than ever. After a struggle to a 1-1 tie against Greece in Dusseldorf on October 11, 1975 Netzer announced that he was no longer to play for West Germany. He was joined by his teammate in Real Madrid Paul Breitner – perhaps the only player able to step into playmaker’s shoes. Both appeared only twice after winning the World Cup – in Sofia, against Bulgaria, April 27, 1975 and then against Greece in October. Both matches were sluggish disgrace of football, ending 1-1, and the flamboyant moody stars were not willing to take it anymore: both severely criticized the way German football was organized and said that they don’t want to be part of it. Half of the team was gone… key positions were empty. Uli Hoeness was not available either, for he was struggling with injuries, which eventually cut his career short.
Instead of continuation of winning formula by quiet replacement of player now, another later, a third in a year, Schon had practically to build a new team – which was not the concept he had, and readjusting proved difficult. Schon was unable to revolutionize his own thinking and start from scratch – instead, he tried to continue his original concept, which increasingly appeared more as an chaotic patchwork than visionary rebuilding. Almost a full squad of players were introduced to the national team – W. Seel, R. Geye, K. H. Korbel, J. Pirrung, B. Dietz, R. Seeliger, B. Nickel, E. Kostedde, M. Ritschel, U. Kliemann, E. Beer, D. Danner, F. Keller, U. Stielike, B. Gersdorff, M. Kaltz, R. Kargus, R. Worm, H. Bongartz, K. Toppmoller, and finally – at the European Championship final – Dieter Muller. Most of them were strikers and nobody a playmaker – showing scary deficit of talent, for the best part of the new national players were not exactly young and not really stars, but rather well established second-stringers. Good for smaller clubs, but never attracting the interest of Bayern or Borussia. Many names, but they did not last longer than a match or two.
Infusing new blood – B. Gersdorff and E. Beer in the friendly with Austria. The new blood was rather stale… Beer was 28 years old, for instance.
The rollercoaster was largely good for trivia… for the first time a black player donned German jersey.
Erwin Kostedde on snow… well, he was not ‘black’ – strictly speaking, he was mulatto, born in Germany, so snow was not a challenge to him. Born in 1946, Kostedde had checkered career so far – starting with SC Preussen (Munster), and moving to MSV Duisburg, Standard (Liege, Belgium), and Kickers (Offenbach), before joining Hertha (West Berlin) for 1974-75 season. There were more clubs to follow… including a new spell with Standard (Liege) and a spell in France. Big star he never was – the fact he played for so many clubs, but rarely longer than a season, suggests clearly he was not born to be a great footballer. But he scored plenty, including the Bundesliga goal of the season in 1974. His inclusion in the German national team suggests desperation, not improvement. It also suggests a crisis and absence of talent, for Kostedde debuted when 29 years old – Gerd Muller, born one year before Kostedde, already felt too old to play for Germany. As for lasting impressions… one may safely say the new striker made none: he played a grand total of 3 matches, scoring no goals.

Group 8 was originally seen as the easiest group – West Germany, Bulgaria, Greece, and Malta. Two non-entities and half dead Bulgaria – and the World Champions. Even prediction was pointless. It was the group not to be commented… it was so clear: West Germany casually will qualify and only then one should be looking.
It turned out differently. Very differently, in fact, although the development was not based on great football and fun. Malta was not to be counted at all, but so was Greece – the Greeks were expected to beat Malta and lose from both Bulgaria and West Germany. Bulgaria was still considered superior to Greece, but not a challenge to the Germans. The final table was made at the moment of the draw. Then games started…
Bulgaria was in big crisis – the disgrace at the World Cup alarmed and outraged everybody concerned with football in Bulgaria. The usual way of dealing with disappointments was a call of ‘massive change’, typically amounting to making a new team. At least in words – in reality, it was always a chaos: new players, old players, different coaches, but no visible program in place. Unfortunately, the Bulgarians were unable to really evaluate the state of football in the country: it was considered that only the squad at the World Cup was getting old and lame. The true picture became clear when the qualifications for the European championship started: things were worse than imagined. In short, Bulgarian football in the 1970s was in a big crisis – there were not really good players emerging. The pool of talent was terribly short. The slap in the face came Greece: instead of easy win, Bulgaria struggled to win a point in Sofia – 3-3, and the Greeks played better. At the end, the only wins Bulgaria got were against Malta and the ‘best’ match was the home against West Germany. Bulgaria finished third.
Greece was the surprise team: neither Bulgaria, nor West Germany managed to win against the Greeks. However, Malta did – the only points Malta got, a surprise on its own.
Greece, surprising even themselves: left to right: A. Glezos, K. Eleftherakis, H. Terzanidis, S. Sarafis, Y. Delikaris, T. Palas, Y. Firos, K. Iosifidis, A. Andoniadis, P. Ikonomopoulos, D. Papaioanou.
A great team they were not, but a beginning – certainly. From 1975 the progress of Greek football was getting steady and increasingly visible. The first real fruits were come in few years time, but the first steps were made by this squad – players already having experience and confidence with Panathinaikos. Olympiakos was improving as well; the impact of foreign players was good for Greek football; some players were well known, if not considered big stars, around Europe – Andoniadis, Ikonomopoulos. Younger players were eager to follow in the steps of the Greek stars – Domazos was increasingly challenged by others and finding that he had no longer a guaranteed place in the national team. Glezos, Eleftherakis, Papaioanou, and especially Delikaris were getting well respected in Europe. Greece was no longer a weakling, a donor of points to others – and it happened during the qualifying stage for the 1976 European championship. Greece was still not strong enough to go ahead, but it was getting close. A team on the rise.
1.WEST GERMANY 6 3 3 0 14- 4 9
2.Greece 6 2 3 1 12- 9 7
3.Bulgaria 6 2 2 2 12- 7 6
4.Malta 6 1 0 5 2-20 2
At the end it mattered not who ended second and who third – the World Champions quilifyed, as expected. The final table looks neat: the Germans did not lose a match; scored most goals; received least - no problem, clear domination. But the table misleads.
The line-up for the home game with Malta on February 28, 1976: left to right: Beckenbauer, Maier, Schwarzenbeck, Heynckes, Wimmer, R. Worm, Holzenbein, B. Dietz, E. Beer, U. Stielike, Vogts.
Strange names? Well, against Malta – nothing strange: just an opportunity to try new candidates. And rightly so – the new Germans won 8-0. As they should… except closer look brings questions: before this match, their last in the group, the Germans scored only 6 goals in 5 games against inferior teams. Greece scored more… and had equal points. It was this match with Malta to save West Germany from disgrace and to create a final record which looks great on paper. The reigning World Champions barely qualified for the second round and were ridden by troubles during the campaign. They did not play a single good game! Experiments with the squad were not real experiments, but almost desperate efforts to make somewhat strong team – and the experiments were failing.
It all started at the end at the 1974 World Cup – when Franz Beckenbauer voiced a heavy warning. German football was on the verge of crisis, he said. There were no new bright players and there was a need of radical change in training methods and vision in order of producing stars. What German football was making was sameness: mass production coming out of a factory. Beckenbauer’s criticism was discarded – it was party time and what could be wrong in a country just winning a World Cup? Let’s go for the beer and the cake… we are best!
Cake and beer. It was normal after all – if one is not celebrating conquering the world, then what? Joyous months of countless celebrations and receptions. Everybody happy, posing for the next photo.
Schon cuts the cake. Hoeness, Muller, and Maier behind looking not picture-perfect happy.

Group 7. Although DDR was much talked about during 1974 World Cup, the team was not seen as potential winner of the group – if there was to be any fight for the first place, it was to be between France and Belgium. And it was not to be between two strong teams, but between two weak ones – France was shaky, trying to build competitive squad and so far failing. Belgium was in decline, with stars getting older and declining. New great players were seemingly absent. However, Belgium always performed better than expected in major tournaments – at least the fighting spirit of the ‘Red Devils’ did not diminish. DDR and France did not disappoint the pundits predicting gloom for the two countries. At the end, Iceland benefited most – the outsiders ended with unbelievable 4 points.
1.BELGIUM 6 3 2 1 6- 3 8
2.East Germany 6 2 3 1 8- 7 7
3.France 6 1 3 2 7- 6 5
4.Iceland 6 1 2 3 3- 8 4
France, struggling to build a team – and failing so far. But a skeleton of a team to make strong impression was already shaping. So far nothing… the team losing 1-2 at Leipzig on October 12, 1975 to East Germany: top, left to right: Tresor, Adams, Janvion, Bracci, Batheney, Baratelli.
Bottom: Rocheteau, Gallice, Michel, Guillou, Emon.
In a few years almost the same guys were to be praised – did not look possible in 1975.
When in doubt, choose Belgium – aging or not, they delivered. Rarely scoring goals, rarely receiving goals, pinching a point here, a point there, and advancing. Always collected, no ups and downs. Not exactly entertaining by 1975, but – first in the group. This is the team capturing 2-1 win over France in Brussels on October 12, 1974: top, left to right: G. van Binst, E. van den Daele, J. Verheyen, H. Broos, M. Martens, C. Piot.
Bottom: W. van Moer, R. Lambert, Francois vander Elst, J. Teugels, P. van Himst.
Some players were seemingly forever representing Belgium – van Himst, Piot, van den Daele. By 1975 they were judged over the hill and hardly capable of big surprise. It was a team seen in need of massive change, but new blood was not available. Dark years were envisioned for the Devils… especially when van Moer was heavily injured.

Group 3. Yugoslavia and Sweden were expected to compete for the first place, but expectations failed: Yugoslavia quickly took the lead and Sweden finished third. Easy group for the ‘plavi’.
1.YUGOSLAVIA 6 5 0 1 12- 4 10
2.Northern Ireland 6 3 0 3 8- 5 6
3.Sweden 6 3 0 3 8- 9 6
4.Norway 6 1 0 5 5-15 2
Yugoslavia vs Sweden, September 6, 1975: top, left to right: B. Oblak, O. Petrovic, I. Buljan, D. Muzinic, I. Surjak, J. Katalinski.
Bottom: D. Vabec, J. Jerkovic, F. Vladic, Dz. Hadziabdic, D. Dzajic.
It was all about depth – after the Word Cup a whole bunch of players went abroad, but there were plenty more eager to don blue shirts and get famous. Transition was smooth and none lacked experience and confidence. For the first time Yugoslavia included ‘real professional’ player in the squad – Branko Oblak, playing for Schalke 04 in West Germany. The rest of the team above was soon to go to Western European clubs as well, but so far they aimed at the European cup. Strong team, but traditionally moody.
Group 6. It was easy to predict the winners: USSR. The rest of the group were weaklings. The only question was were the Soviets any good – and they were not that great.
1.SOVIET UNION 6 4 0 2 10- 6 8
2.Ireland 6 3 1 2 11- 5 7
3.Turkey 6 2 2 2 5-10 6
4.Switzerland 6 1 1 4 5-10 3
USSR clinched the first place only a point above Republic of Ireland – not a sign of supremacy.
This line-up was used in both matches with Switzerland in 1975: left to right: Muntyan, Troshkin, Onishchenko, Lovchev, Zvyagintzev, Buryak, Konkov, Blokhin, Veremeev, Rudakov, Fomenko.
With Lobanovsky at the helm, team USSR was practically Dinamo Kiev. There was an ‘extreme’ , when Lobanovsky fielded only Kiev players, including the reserves, but the ‘modified’ selection (after protests and criticism) was hardly different: only Lovchev (Spartak Moscow) and Zvyagintzev (Shakter Donezk) were not from Dinamo and Zvyagintzev was eventually transferred to Kiev. So, the sensational Cup Winners Cup and Supercup winners in 1975. And the European player of the year. A team to make waves and shake Europe? Hmm… it was a team to start and end qualifying campaign with losses – 0-3 to Irelnad and 0-1 to Turkey. Scoring was a problem. Domination too… USSR rather fought its way than outplaying weaker opponents. At the end, the unconvincing performance of the national team fueled further the controversy clouding Dinamo Kiev’s success: how come the same players were so powerful in the club and so helpless in the national team? But as far as the national team was concerned, it did not look like USSR was a contender.

Going up? There were ephemeral and long lasting candidates in 1975, but my observations will be reserved for a team almost everybody missed to notice back then. Let’s take a look at competition in progress, for the unnoticed team belongs to it – the 1976 European Championship. So far – preliminary rounds, beginning further back, in 1974. Qualification round robin groups rarely get full attention – they are spread in more than two years and generally attract close interest only among immediate participants. Big overall observations are largely speculations on the ‘greatest”. And who were – are 0 the greatest? Italy, (West) Germany, Holland (finally), England (by habit), Spain (stubbornly), USSR (always ‘may be’). The usual suspects. Forget the rest until the quarterfinals. 1976 was to be the last European championship in ‘classic’ format: after preliminary groups, 2-legged direct elimination in the quarterfinals, and semifinals and finals in one country and one ‘sudden death’ matches.
The qualifying stage seems weird today, for we are conditioned to careful ‘presellecting’ and no longer to random draws. From contemporary point of view, the 8 qualifying groups back in 1974 were… uneven. There were some ‘light’ groups and some very ‘heavy weight’ ones, quite against ‘reason’: Holland, Poland, and Italy were to fight for one spot, but in the same time there was a group consisting of Wales, Austria, Hungary, and Luxembourg. The second and third finishers at the World Cup together when there was group of fading teams, to say the least… no wonder a whole lot of preliminary matches were hardly noticed. No wonder that some group winners were either already predicted, or did not really matter who qualified. Non-eventful groups… them first.
Group 2: Luxembourg were ‘certain’ team – to end last. Among the other three countries, it was expected Hungary and Austria to put some fight for the first place, neither very good at the time. And because of their decline Wales finished first – hardly a trong team set to disturb European status quo. What is there to say? Hungary and Austria were worse than thought.
1.WALES 6 5 0 1 14- 4 10
2.Hungary 6 3 1 2 15- 8 7
3.Austria 6 3 1 2 11- 7 7
4.Luxembourg 6 0 0 6 7-28 0
Wales in 1975: bottom, left to right: A. Griffiths, B. Flynn, W. D. Davies, R. Thomas, J. Mahoney.
Top: D. Smallman, T. Yorath, M. Page, L. Phillips, J. Roberts, J. Toshack.
Surprise winners – or heroic ones. Wales going ahead with confidence, but it was not a team expected to advance further. Similar to Northern Ireland, Wales was spirited team without enough high caliber players. Most of the choices were playing in lower divisions. There were hardly any stars. Toshack and Yorath were not enough to make the team real contender. Lovely team, adorable underdogs, but also the team to be eliminated at the ¼ finals.

Going down in 1975? Leeds United, surely. Missing one more opportunity in Europe, banished from European football after the riot of their fans in Paris, winning nothing. It was steady downhill to oblivion after that.
‘Super Leeds’ banner and Allan Clarke showing the League Cup to the fans in 1974. Nothing like that in 1975, so it is symbolic picture, showing the backs of the players. As if exiting already. Contrary to the banners, Leeds were only almost great… judging by their record. And the party was over.

Departing – the other inevitable side of football. Karl-Heinz Schnellinger hung his boots after the end of the Bundesliga season. Another bit of the 1960s stepped down, quite literally with the relegation of his last club. Born in 1939, Schnellinger ammased impressive biography: one of the best central-defenders or libero during the 60s, he somewhat slipped out of attention with the turn of the decade. He was nicknamed ‘Volkswagen’ for his unassuming, dependable kind of game. Never out of form, never flashy, yet he always delivered – and he delivered mostly in Italy.
Volkswagen for Milan, where the German spent most of his career.
He started in 1959 with 1. FC Koln and won the West German championship (before the Bundesliga) in 1962. In 1963 he moved to AC Mantova (Italy), but clearly was not to stay in a modest club – AC Roma got him next year and after one-year spell in Rome, he became rosonero and stayed with Milan for almost 10 years (1965-74). And he won a plenty – twice champion (1962 with 1.FC Koln and in 1968 with AC Milan), 4 Italian Cups – AC Roma, 1964 and three with AC Milan (1967, 1972, 1973). In 1969 he won the European Champions Cup with AC Milan, followed immediately by winning the Intercontinental Cup. Add two Cup Winners Cups – 1968 and 1973. That’s on club level.
As a national team player, he was not so successful and it was not his fault really – perhaps he was just unlucky to play between the two greatest generations of West German football – too young to be among the World Champions of 1954 and too old to grace the European Champions of 1972 and the World Champions of 1974. But… he played at fours World Cup finals - 1958, 1962, 1966, and 1970. One of the still few players of such achievement. He played 47 matches for West Germany and scored 1 goal.
Getting ready for his last World Cup. The leam starting the friendly against Romania in April, 1970: left to right: Wolfgang Overath, Sepp Maier, Karl-Heinz Schnellinger, Franz Beckenbauer, Wolfganf Weber, Erich Maas, Helmut Haller, Horst Hottges, Gerd Muller, Jurgen Grabowski, Berti Fogts. Kaiser Franz still in midfield – not yet moved to defense, where the Volkswagen reined supreme. The 1970 World Cup was worthy ending for the great player – he scored his first and only goal for the national team against Italy. West Germany eventually lost the match, but the clash is still considered one of the best games ever played.
How bitter to lose to a teammate? Schnellinger swapped jerseys with another Milan player – Gianni Rivera. Against each other, Rivera won… but together they still had to win an international cup. Alas, nothing with West Germany – Schnellinger was called for the last time in 1971 – there was iron duo already in place (Beckenbauer and Schwarzenbeck) and there was no more place for Karl-Heinz.
He left AC Milan in 1974 and returned to West Germany, tasting the Bundesliga for the first time.
Swan song… Schnellinger joined Tennis Borussia (West Berlin), newcomers to the Bundesliga. Both the club and its new captain were debutantes. TeBe did not have competitive squad and Schnellinger was not able to save the club from relegation alone. Perhaps his last season was bitter… perhaps not: people forget that many superstar played their final seasons in small clubs and lower divisions (Bobby Charlton, for instance).
Captaining TeBe against the yet future champions Borussia Moenchengladbach and trying to prevent deadly Jupp Heynckes from scoring. Left of Schnellinger is hopeless goalie Birkenmeier. Difficult last season in the cold both symbolically and literally struggling with the snow. After TeBe went down, Schnellinger retired from football. Didn’t like the snow? May be… Birkenmeier went to play in the USA and Schnellinger returned to Italy and settled as a businessman.
Hats off to the great player – he ended his career modest as ever, as a true Volkswagen. And as a true Volkswagen he captured hearts.