German football mourns Klaus Täuber. The former Schalke 04 and Bayer Leverkusen attacker died on Saturday (07/01/2023) at the age of 65. This was announced by the Gelsenkirchener, but they did not give any information about the cause of death.
Täuber, who was nicknamed “Boxer” because of the same date of birth as Muhammad Ali and his robust style of play, played more than 100 Bundesliga games in the 1970s and 80s. In 1988 he won the UEFA Cup with Leverkusen. He scored a goal on penalties in the final against Espanyol Barcelona.
In the Bundesliga, Tauber also played for 1. FC Nuremberg. Born in Erlangen, however, he was always a Schalke player at heart. “I would have preferred to have won the European Cup with Schalke,” the Royal Blues quoted the attacker as saying. Tauber no longer wanted to leave the club, but he had to.
Schalke needed money from Tauber’s sale
“I would never have left, not for 100,000 marks more. But the club had to sell players, so I went to Leverkusen,” he said. With his brothers Jürgen and Stephan, Täuber is still the only trio of brothers to have played in the Bundesliga.
In 137 games in the upper house he scored 51 goals, in the 2nd division he was successful 89 times in 197 games. Due to a serious spinal injury, Tauber had to end his career early shortly after winning the UEFA Cup with Leverkusen.