He was the ultimate centre-forward, scoring goals with every part of his body. Above all, Uwe Seeler was a decent person who knew his place.
Oh man, Uwe is dead, can that be? The football god could have waited a while before bringing him home, this decent man, this loyal soul, this incomparable center forward, this sufferer from the decline of the Hamburg sports club, to which he had given golden times. Hamburg will cry, every footballer’s heart that is not made of stone must be touched. Germany mourns one of its best, most honest, most modest.
In 1958, a long time ago, I saw him play for the first time. World Cup in Sweden. I was eight years old, grew up on the soccer field, I can still say the team line-up and the results anyway. Uwe was 22 years old, one of the youngest, along with the incomparable playmaker Fritz Walter, 38 years old. And then the disgraceful game against Sweden in the semi-finals, Juskowiak flies off the field, pushed by Hamrin. From the dream of defending the title! What an injustice! My faith in God must have died that day.
The opposite of the emperor
Uwe had integrity. Uwe didn’t go abroad, where you could already earn good money back then. He could have gone to an Italian club like Albert Brülls or Horst Szymaniak, but no, he remained the Hamburger that he was, was signed over to a gas station, that’s all he wanted and didn’t need anymore. He remained modest, lived an unexcited life with his Ilka. He was the ideal post-war German who didn’t aim high, lived in a terraced house, ordered from the mail-order catalog and kept the couch worn out, after all, it was a part of him. Throughout his life, Uwe was the biggest supporter of his club with the diamond.