UWE SEELER
Hamburg, 1953-1972
The 1963 West German Cup Final was 30 minutes old when Hamburg left winger Gert Dörfel briefly looked up to scan Borussia Dortmund’s box. He saw a player in a Hamburg shirt near the penalty spot, being closely marked by a defender who was towering above him. Excellent. Dörfel knew this was a good scoring chance if he could deliver a half-decent cross.
And that’s because the forward was one Uwe Seeler, fearsome in the air despite his lack of height. Several years later, in a documentary about Seeler’s career, Bobby Charlton remembered how, after being beaten by Hamburg in a pre-season friendly during the ’50s, he stood in Manchester United’s dressing room and asked: “Who was that small guy upfront? And why was he out-jumping our tall defenders?”
He could do that because he combined upper-body strength with excellent timing and sheer willpower. A good example of his aerial skills came in that 1963 final, when Dörfel’s cross sailed in on the half-hour. Dortmund’s defender, his eyes on the ball, grabbed Seeler by the arm, while the goalkeeper came off his line to collect the cross. Yet Seeler wriggled free and somehow made contact while he was sandwiched between two opponents. The ball flew into an open net to hand Hamburg the advantage.
Barely two minutes later, Dörfel raced down the left flank once again. Another cross, and another Seeler header for 2-0. The celebrations were exuberant, as despite the club’s long and proud history, Hamburg had never previously won the cup. What’s more, they had certainly not gone into this final as the favourites, because just a few weeks earlier Dortmund had been crowned the final West German champions under the old system of regional divisions followed by a series of play-offs. Not long after this cup final had concluded in Hanover, a nationwide and professional league would finally be introduced: the Bundesliga.
It is no exaggeration to say that Seeler himself was a major reason behind this crucial restructuring of the German game. Two years earlier, in April 1961, Inter’s coach Helenio Herrera had travelled over to Hamburg to offer a lucrative contract to the forward. Seeler was 25 years old at the time and being paid 500 marks per month as a semi-pro – roughly £900 in today’s money. Herrera offered him a signing-on bonus of half a million marks and an annual salary of 155,000 marks. Seeler weighed up his options for two days, before informing a gobsmacked Herrera that he would rather stay with his hometown club. Loyalty to Hamburg played a key role in his decision, but Seeler also knew he would be banned from the national team if he decided to turn professional. His decision was widely celebrated and almost instantly saw him transform from a local hero to national icon known as ‘Our Uwe’, making him one of the few players afforded a warm reception wherever he went. But how many other top players could German football expect to be as down-to-earth as Uwe Seeler in turning down foreign riches? The episode convinced even the sceptics that it was finally time for German football to become fully professional.
The new league, the Bundesliga, would prove to be highly competitive – and perhaps too competitive for Hamburg. Until Seeler hung up his boots in 1972, the club would fail to finish higher than fifth. He was also denied silverware with the national team, being on the losing side in the 1966 World Cup Final at Wembley and the 1970 semi-final. But he did win two trophies during his 19 years in Hamburg’s colours – the championship in 1959-60 and that cup final in 1963.
Speaking of which, six minutes from the end, Seeler found the target with a powerful shot from eight yards to make the final scoreline 3-0. It was the first time that someone had scored a hat-trick in a German cup final.