The "Kaiser," the "Bomber" and the "Boss" are among the first members of the new German football Hall of Fame. The vote, however, was overshadowed by one member's Nazi past.
Image: picture-alliance/dpa
Advertisement
The German Football Museum has announced its top 11 players in the museum's newly formed Hall of Fame.
Sports journalists from across Germany voted on the entries. The football legends on the list included:
Goalkeeper Sepp Maier
Defenders Franz "Kaiser" Beckenbauer, Andreas Brehme and Paul Breitner
Midfielders Fritz Walter, Lothar Matthäus, Matthias Sammer and Günter Netzer
Strikers Gerd "The Bomber" Müller, Uwe Seeler and Helmut "Boss" Rahn
Sepp "Chef" Herberger, the legendary coach of the German national team that won the 1954 World Cup in Switzerland, was the top choice among coaches
"The jury wrestled with each name," museum director Manuel Neukirchner said Thursday. "In the end, we were able to unite the most outstanding players of each generation in this team."
Everything about the legendary leather ball can be found in the German Football Museum in Dortmund. Directly opposite the main station is the place of pilgrimage for football fans and those who want to become one.
Image: picture-alliance/dpa/M. Hitji
A 60-year-old soccer ball
This ball earned its scuffs in nominally neutral Switzerland in a Cold War World Cup matchup between the West Germans and Hungary. All three German national teams - East, West and the Saar Protectorate - were forced to sit out the 1950 Cup following World War II, so 1954 marked the reunited West Germany's return to international competition - and West Germany's first world championship.
Image: picture-alliance/dpa/R. Vennenbernd
All about the ball
It took 36 million euros ($41 million), 800 tons of steel and nine years from concept to completion. The German Football Museum (DFM) will add a splash of national tricolor to otherwise drab downtown Dortmund.
Image: Imago/H. Blossey
1954: The first of four world championships
The Bern miracle pays tribute to the men who brought Germany's first World Cup home from neighboring Switzerland in 1954 - and also serves to show how much the body types of footballers have changed over the decades.
Image: DFM
Conspicuous absence
Halftime comes early at the museum. Aside from the front-and-center artifacts - including the official luggage of the men's team - more serious history on the flanks details football under the Third Reich and the former socialist German Democratic Republic. Highly successful, but not pictured: women's football.
Image: DFM
Planet football
Four meters (13 feet) in diameter, this giant illuminated football serves as the German Football Association's icon to itself and the national team that it has cobbled together. Oohs-and-ahhs footage of German glory plays on the giant ball's surface. Even those concerned by the indoctrinating allure of national team sports will enjoy it.
Image: picture-alliance/dpa/R. Vennenbernd
Treasure chest of trophies
A bit of a let-down after two action-packed films that feature the saves and shots that brought German football its most recent world glory, the trophy room displays replicas of the fruits of the national team's international conquests.
Image: picture-alliance/dpa/R. Vennenbernd
Rest, but no relief
Once one enters the exhibition space, there is no place to sit and tune out the museum's multimedia. You can park it for a bit on these attractive-looking stadium-style seats, but you'll have to ride a slow-spinning carousel and watch slapstick moments from German football history screen on the walls.
Image: DFM
Games inspired by the game
Do your football instincts match up against the preprogrammed questions and answers on this series of consoles? Probably, but this most interactive bit of the museum is worth a visit all the same.
Image: DFM
8 images1 | 8
The first round of players had to have ended their careers by 2013. Winners of the 2014 World Cup were therefore ineligible for consideration, but the museum plans to expand the Hall of Fame in the future.
The Hall of Fame is set to become a permanent exhibition at the museum in the western city of Dortmund.
The museum is expected to announce the first 11 entries into a female Hall of Fame next year, on the 30th anniversary of the female national team's victory at the 1989 European Championship.
