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Horst Eckel, the last surviving member of the 1954 World Cup championship team in West Germany, has passed away. He is 89 years old.
The German Football Association said Eckel died on Friday. It does not give the cause of death.
Eckel is one of only two West German players in each game, because the team defeated the pre-match favorite Hungary 3-2 in the final and completed the “Miracle of Berne”.
Team captain Fritz Walter is another. Walter was a teammate of Eckel’s Kaiserslautern and a mentor to the then 22-year-old midfielder. He was the youngest player on the West German team. The victory of the World Cup marked the country’s return to the international football scene after World War II. The German team could not participate in the 1950 championship.
“As a team player, he is very good,” former Kaiserslautern player and coach Otto Rehagel said at Eckel’s 85th birthday celebration in 2017.
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In November 1952, in a friendly match with Schalke, the national team coach Sepp Herberger, who played for Kaiserslautern, discovered that Eckel played for West Germany for the first time. Eckel scored two goals and was recommended by Walter, thanks to his teammate’s tireless running on the right.
“He can run like a greyhound,” Walter told Herberg.
The name has always existed. Eckel was called the “grey dog” because of his small size and willingness to run. This characteristic helped Kaiserslautern to win two league titles in the early 1950s. He usually plays right back or right midfielder, but can also play a more central role.
Eckel continued to play 32 games for West Germany, and the moment of victory in the 1954 World Cup final arrived. The German Football Association paid tribute to Eckel on Friday for marking Hungarian midfield organizer Nandor Hidegkuti as “withdrawing from the game.”
60 years later, Eckel recalled: “Heberg told us exactly what we must do, what the team must do, and then he said,’Go out, play your game, and win.’
The team was welcomed when returning from Switzerland. This is the country’s first World Cup champion.
“Only when we returned to Germany by train and saw the excitement of the road and the city, we knew that we were the real world champions,” Eckel said.
For the 22-year-old Eckel, the success of the World Cup has not changed much. He earns 320 German marks ($76 at the time) from Kaiserslautern every month and needs another job to survive.
According to reports, Bristol City’s offer for Eckel is 20 times his earnings in Kaiserslautern, but there is no doubt that he will leave the club.
“I know no one will understand why I don’t move today. But I don’t play football for money. I just want to be a good player, nothing more,” Eckel told Kicker Magazine in 2017. “I will even spend money to play for Kaiserslautern.”
Eckel has always been a fan of Kaiserslautern. When he was young, he used to ride a bicycle 30 kilometers (19 miles) to watch the team game. According to 11 Freunde magazine, he watched through a hole in the fence because he did not have the money to buy a ticket.
Eckel had already played for his hometown club SC Vogelbach when he was 15 years old. His goal as a striker won people’s attention. He signed with Kaiserslautern at the age of 17 and joined his idol, Walter, who soon brought the young Eckel under his wing.
Then he won the league championship in 1951 and 1954. Before moving to SV Röchling Völklingen, Eckel played 214 times for Kaiserslautern from 1949 to 60.
Eckel has remained humble and down to earth throughout his football career. His amiable manner made him deeply loved by his teammates, opponents and fans.
“He always emphasized the importance of unity in the team, this kind of humanity and friendship,” said former Kaiserslautern striker Miroslav Klose.
Eckel is always happy to talk about the 1954 World Cup, especially those who were not there at the time.
“Today, when young people came to me, elementary school students came to me and said,’You know, I am XX.’ This is a great thing,” Eckel said on his 85th birthday. “It makes me a little proud.”
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