New additions for the best of the best in German football: a jury of sports journalists chose Philipp Lahm, Karl-Heinz Rummenigge and Bernd Schuster as new members of the “Hall of Fame”.
The “Hall of Fame” of German football has been expanded to include three sporting greats. 2014 soccer world champion Philipp Lahm and 1980 European champions Karl Heinz-Rummenigge and Bernd Schuster are now part of the legendary listing.
A 30-strong jury with leading sports journalists in the country chose the ex-professionals in the glorious selection, as the German Football Museum in Dortmund announced on Friday.
Philipp Lahm is the second world champion from 2014 to enter the “Hall of Fame” after Miroslav Klose. The former full-back was eligible for the first time after the end of the five-year period since the end of his career this year. “I didn’t know that I was ready for a museum, but I’m particularly happy about this extraordinary award,” said Lahm about the “incredible honor” for him.
As captain, the 38-year-old led the German national team to the World Cup in Brazil in 2014. He won eight German championship titles with FC Bayern Munich and in 2013 achieved the triple of championship, DFB Cup and Champions League.
Rummenigge now in two countries in the “Hall of Fame”
Karl-Heinz-Rummenigge, who was also active at Inter Milan and Servette Geneva during his career as a professional footballer, was also successful with the Munich team. The striker became European champion with the German national team in 1980 and captained them to the World Cup finals in 1982 and 1986.
“Having already been inducted into the Italian Hall of Fame in May, I am all the more pleased that this honor has also been bestowed on me in my home country. It’s really nice when you’re called the ‘youngest newcomer’ again “, said Rummenigge about the award.
He and Bernd Schuster were the first players from the 1980 European Championship to be inducted into the Hall of Fame in the German Football Museum. “If you live abroad for more than 30 years like me, you run the risk of being forgotten. I have never lost sight of my homeland in all the years in Spain, on the contrary. I have always felt like Germany’s ambassador to Spain and I am therefore very proud of this award,” said Schuster.
Schuster, now 62, played for FC Barcelona for eight years, winning one league, three cups and one European Cup Winners’ Cup before signing for arch-rivals Real Madrid. In 1990, the midfielder moved to city rivals Atletico Madrid. He was the first footballer ever to play for all three major Spanish clubs in the course of his career.
Awarded in 2023 in the German Football Museum
“The nominees have earned their place in the Hall of Fame with outstanding performances over a long period of time. Nevertheless, the selection was difficult as always in view of so many top-class players that German football has produced,” said museum director and jury chairman Manuel Neukirchner .
This means that 47 football greats now belong to the “Hall of Fame”, which started in 2018 with the founding team. The five former soccer players Christa Kleinhans, Bärbel Wohlleben, Anne Trabant-Haarbach, Ariane Hingst and Nadine Angerer were already included in the selection in July. The official tribute and admission of Lahm, Rummenigge and Schuster will take place next year in the German Football Museum in Dortmund.