Horst Blankenburg

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Horst Blankenburg (born July 10, 1947) is a former German football (soccer) player, who played as a sweeper. He is best known for the time in the beginning of the 1970s, during which he played for Ajax Amsterdam and won the European Cup three times and the Dutch championship and the KNVB Cup twice. In 1976, he won the German Cup with Hamburger SV. He was never selected for the German national team.

Horst Blankenburg's career began with him playing for VfL Heidenheim; his professional career began at 1. FC Nürnberg under Max Merkel in the 1967/68 season. Nürnberg won the Bundesliga in that season, even though his contribution consisted of only 13 games, none of them league matches. He then transferred to Wiener Sportclub in Vienna for 45,000 German marks, where he managed to impress.

After the season, he switched to TSV 1860 München for 100,000 German marks. In that season, he had 31 appearances and even scored one goal, but his team was relegated, so he moved on to Ajax Amsterdam in the Netherlands, where he would stay for 5 years until 1975. There he won the European Cup 3 years in a row between 1971 and 1973. He became Dutch champion in 1972 and 1973 and won the Dutch cup in 1971 and 1972.

He played together with Johan Cruyff, Johan Neeskens, Ruud Krol, and Arie Haan. His coaches at Ajax were Rinus Michels - who designed the famous Dutch offside trap around Blankenburg and Velibor Vasovic - and Stefan Kovacs. Blankenburg was never selected for the German national team, one of the reasons being is that the outstanding Franz Beckenbauer fulfilled the role of libero there at the time.

In 1975, Blankenburg returned to Germany to play for Hamburger SV. Under Kuno Klötzer, he won the German Cup in 1976 and the UEFA Cup Winners' Cup in 1977, although he didn't get to play in the final against RSC Anderlecht. In the end, he couldn't assert himself at the club - during his second season at the club he only played 13 league matches, so he transferred at the end of that season to Neuchâtel Xamax in Switzerland. He finished his career playing for Chicago Sting and from 1981 for SC Preußen Münster.

In 1982, he played for the amateur side Hummelsbütteler SV, where he played amonst others with forward Georg Volkert, with whom he had shared the field during his time with Nürnberg and Hamburg.

Now Horst Blankenburg lives in Hamburg and regularly plays for the Uwe Seeler-Traditionself, a squad of ex-professionals around the legendary former Hamburg player which features frequently in charity matches.