Günter Netzer

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Günter Netzer (born September 14, 1944 in Mönchengladbach) is a former German football player and manager currently working in the media business and as a TV commentator.

[edit] Career as a player

Netzer played for the 1. FC Mönchengladbach from age eight before changing to city rival Borussia Mönchengladbach in 1963 at age nineteen. He turned Bundesliga professional in the 1965-66 season, the same year he was called upon to play for the German national side for the first time.

Netzer continued playing for the foals of Borussia until 1973. In his 230 matches for them, he scored 82 goals. With them he won the German Championship in 1970 and 1971 and the German Cup in 1973. The final was a famous match against the 1. FC Köln in which he started as a sub and went onto the pitch only in extra time, on his own authority, simply telling the coach "I'll go and play now" while removing his tracksuit. He then went on to score the winning goal on his second contact.

In 1973, he went to Real Madrid, playing there until 1976, winning the Spanish Championship in 1975 and 1976 and the Spanish Cup in 1974 and 1975. In 1976, he joined Grasshoppers Zürich where he finished his career in 1977.

He played for the West Germany national team 37 times from 1965 to 1975, scoring six goals and playing a vital role in the country's victory in the European Championship in 1972. He also appeared very briefly (for 21 minutes against East Germany) in the World Cup in 1974, during which time the goal was scored against his team.

Netzer was the iconic playmaker and is considered one of the best midfielders of all times, gaining a lot of attention with his long passes and pushes from deep within his own half of the pitch. Apart from his superior ball skills, his natural authority made him the undisputed leader of his team. As a player for Borussia Mönchengladbach, he enjoyed a lot of licence from the management and the coach Hennes Weisweiler, even off the pitch.

[edit] Career as a manager

After his career as a player in 1978 Netzer offered the Hamburger SV to publish their stadium magazine. Their president, Paul Benthien, agreed on the condition that he also became general manager. He spent eight successful years in Hamburg, during which time he completely transformed the HSV's team, managed to sign on famous coaches like Ernst Happel and later Branko Zebec, and led the club to three Bundesliga titles (1979, 1982, 1983) as well as the European Cup in 1983. The years with Günter Netzer are today considered the most successful period in HSV history.

[edit] Media businessman and football expert

After the end of his playing career, Netzer also founded an advertising agency in Zürich, Switzerland, where he continues to live today. He used to deal in TV rights and is currently executive director of the Swiss sports rights managing agency Infront Sports & Media AG.

Apart from that, he works as a reporter and football expert on TV. For his work with German TV channel ARD as a football expert in cooperation with host Gerhard Delling, commenting on games of the German national team, both received a Grimme award in 2000.

Despite their frequent arguments on TV, which they have developed into a kind of iconic skit, Netzer and Delling are supposedly close friends - after all, Netzer was Delling's Best man at his wedding in May 2003.

It was Delling's and Netzer's harsh criticism of the German national side's poor performance that triggered Rudi Völler's famous eruption of September 6, 2003 immediately after the international match against Iceland. The then German national coach showered Netzer with abuse in a live TV interview after the goalless draw in Iceland.

	West Germany squad - 1974 World Cup Champions (2nd Title)
1 Maier | 2 Vogts | 3 Breitner | 4 Schwarzenbeck | 5 Beckenbauer | 6 Höttges | 7 Wimmer | 8 Cullmann | 9 Grabowski | 10 Netzer | 11 Heynckes | 12 Overath | 13 Müller | 14 Hoeneß | 15 Flohe | 16 Bonhof | 17 Hölzenbein | 18 Herzog | 19 Kapellmann | 20 Kremers | 21 Nigbur | 22 Kleff | Coach: Schön