On April 16, the Bundesliga team Frankfurt officially released a sad news that German football legend Bernd Herzenbein died in the company of his family on Monday local time at the age of 78.
Helzenbein has played for the Bundesliga team Frankfurt for a long time. From 1969 to 1981, he played 524 games for Frankfurt, scoring 212 goals and 37 assists. Among them, in the Bundesliga, Herzenbein scored 160 goals in 410 games, and was the top scorer in the club’s history.
During his time in Frankfurt, Helzenbein led the team to win the German Cup three times in 1974, 1975 and 1981. In addition, he also led the team to win the title of the UEFA Cup in the 1979-80 season.
Herzenbein’s famous battle was in the 1974 World Cup final. In the match between the Netherlands and West Germany, Herzenbein, the left-winger, broke through in the 25th minute to help the team create a penalty, and Breitner helped West Germany score a penalty. After that, the morale- boosted West Germany team was overtaken by Ged Mueller and finally won the World Cup championship trophy.
Another highlight of Herzenbein was the final of the 1976 European Cup. He received a corner kick in the 89th minute to help the German team equalize the score and drag the game into overtime. Although the German team lost the penalty shootout and failed to defend the title, Herzenbein became the oldest goal scorer in the European Cup final at the age of 30 years and 103 days, until the record was broken by Bonucci in 2021.
After retiring, Helzenbein briefly served as an assistant coach. Since 1988, he has served as the vice president of the Frankfurt Club. In 1996, after the team fell into the Bundesliga, Helzenbe resigned due to blame. In 2004, Herzenbein returned to Frankfurt and served as a sports consultant and chief scout in Frankfurt.
Herzenbein is the third member of the World Cup champion of Germany who died this year. At the beginning of this year, German football emperor Beckenbauer passed away at the age of 78. In February, Bremer, one of the troikas, died unexpectedly at the age of 63.