For the 1974 world champion Wolfgang Overath, the founding of the Bundesliga was a stroke of luck for German football.
“It was the Bundesliga that put football so much in the spotlight in our country. Its founding was the decisive step on this good path. Because the enthusiasm for the Bundesliga is still huge today,” said the 79-year-old, who will be there at the end of September 80 years of age, in an interview with the magazine of the German Football League (DFL).
The Bundesliga “really pushed the players forward and shaped them so that they were able to develop their personality much better than before,” emphasized the three-time World Cup participant.
Until then, little was known about the top five divisions. On the other hand, the Bundesliga made football interesting for the entire Federal Republic, “the national team also benefited from it. In my opinion, we had the best time of our national team at the World Cups in 1966, 1970 and 1974 – with the runner-up World Cup in England, third place in Mexico and winning the title at the home World Cup,” mused the long-time midfield star of 1. FC Köln, who came on 24 August 1963 as a 19-year-old for the Billy Goats in the 2-0 win at 1. FC Saarbrücken and scored a goal scored
For Overath, Beckenbauer is the outstanding Bundesliga player
For Overath, the outstanding Bundesliga player in history was “Kaiser” Franz Beckenbauer (Bayern Munich and Hamburger SV): “To this day, Franz Beckenbauer is the face and the outstanding personality of the Bundesliga for me – not just as a person, but as a member By far the best player we’ve ever had in Germany.”
Overath knows that he owes a lot to football in the Bundesliga. “In retrospect, it was the best thing that could have happened to me. Football opened all doors for me! And gave me the opportunity to turn my biggest hobby into my job from the start of the Bundesliga,” explained Overath, who later also became a club President of 1. FC Köln.