Josef "Sepp" Herberger (28 March 1897 – 28 April 1977) was a German
football player and manager. He is most famous for being the manager of the
West German national team that won the
1954 FIFA World Cup
The 1954 FIFA World Cup was the fifth edition of the FIFA World Cup, the quadrennial international football tournament for senior men's national teams of the nations affiliated to FIFA. It was held in Switzerland from 16 June to 4 July. Switzer ...
final, a match later dubbed ''
The Miracle of Bern'', defeating the overwhelming favourites from
Hungary
Hungary ( hu, Magyarország ) is a landlocked country in Central Europe. Spanning of the Carpathian Basin, it is bordered by Slovakia to the north, Ukraine to the northeast, Romania to the east and southeast, Serbia to the south, Cr ...
. Previously he had also coached the
Breslau Eleven
The Breslau Eleven (german: Breslau-Elf) was the name given to the Germany national football team who defeated Denmark 8–0 at Hermann-Göring-Sportfeld in Breslau, Nazi Germany (now Wrocław, Poland) on 16 May 1937. Coached by Sepp Herberger, t ...
, one of the greatest teams in German football history.
Early life and career
Born in
Mannheim
Mannheim (; Palatine German: or ), officially the University City of Mannheim (german: Universitätsstadt Mannheim), is the second-largest city in the German state of Baden-Württemberg after the state capital of Stuttgart, and Germany's ...
, Herberger grew up in a poor, Catholic family of farmers, which moved to Mannheim in order to work in the local
Saint-Gobain glass factory.
He later played three times for the German football team between 1921 and 1925 before becoming assistant to
Otto Nerz
Otto Nerz (21 October 1892 – 18 April 1949) was a German footballer player and manager and the first head coach of the Germany national team between 1923 and 1936.
Nerz was born in Hechingen, Province of Hohenzollern, son of a rope shopkee ...
in 1932. Herberger succeeded him as national coach after Germany's uninspired loss to
Norway
Norway, officially the Kingdom of Norway, is a Nordic countries, Nordic country in Northern Europe, the mainland territory of which comprises the western and northernmost portion of the Scandinavian Peninsula. The remote Arctic island of ...
in quarter finals at the
1936 Olympics 1936 Olympics may refer to:
*The 1936 Winter Olympics, which were held in Garmisch-Partenkirchen, Germany
*The 1936 Summer Olympics
The 1936 Summer Olympics (German language, German: ''Olympische Sommerspiele 1936''), officially known as the ...
. After the war, he had a short spell as interim coach with
Eintracht Frankfurt, before being recalled as national team coach in 1950. He remained the position until 1964, when he was succeeded by
Helmut Schön. He died of
pneumonia
Pneumonia is an inflammatory condition of the lung primarily affecting the small air sacs known as alveoli. Symptoms typically include some combination of productive or dry cough, chest pain, fever, and difficulty breathing. The severit ...
in
Weinheim-Hohensachsen (
de), aged 80.
1954 World Cup win, "The Miracle of Bern"
Hungary was the overwhelming favourite to win the 1954 World Cup. Its legendary ''
Golden Team'', also known as the ''Mighty Magyars'', had not lost a match in four years. They were the reigning
Olympic Champion and had won the
Central European International Cup in 1953. Once the World Cup started, Hungary had been dominant, outscoring their opponents 17–3 in their two group games while West Germany had been outscored 9–7. In their match against each other, Hungary had won 8–3. The final was played in heavy rain. Hungary scored an early goal and minutes later doubled their lead. Germany pulled one back within two minutes, and equalized eight minutes after that. Hungary had more chances the rest of the way, but was unable to score. West Germany scored with six minutes left in the match to win 3–2. Among Herberger's moves credited with helping the team in the final are: fielding a below strength and largely out-of-position team in the first match against Hungary, to disguise the team's strengths; giving
Fritz Walter defensive help, so he could concentrate his energies on attacking; and instructing his team to attack the Hungarian
penalty area from the wings, instead of down the middle.
References in popular culture
Three of Herberger's popular sayings are quoted in the beginning of the 1998 film ''
Run Lola Run''. The first is at the very beginning of the film (''Nach dem Spiel ist vor dem Spiel'', "After the game is before the game"). Then after a series of intentionally confusing and seemingly innocuous statements and character introductions, a simple minded security guard utters the phrase "Der Ball ist rund und das Spiel dauert 90 Minuten", which is a commonly used amalgamation of two separate famous quotes.
The 2003 film, ''
The Miracle of Bern'', following Herberger and his team's path to victory in the 1954 World Cup, also features a number of these quotations including the amalgamation of two of the above, "The ball is round and the game lasts for 90 minutes" (''Der Ball ist rund und das Spiel dauert 90 Minuten'').
Controversy
Herberger joined the
Nazi Party
The Nazi Party, officially the National Socialist German Workers' Party (german: Nationalsozialistische Deutsche Arbeiterpartei or NSDAP), was a far-right political party in Germany active between 1920 and 1945 that created and supported t ...
in 1933. His nomination to the
Germany's Sports Hall of Fame in 2008 caused some criticism because of his Nazi past.
Coaching record
Honours
As a player
VfR Mannheim
*
South German Championship: 1925
As a manager
West Germany
*
FIFA World Cup
The FIFA World Cup, often simply called the World Cup, is an international association football competition contested by the senior men's national teams of the members of the ' ( FIFA), the sport's global governing body. The tournament has ...
:
1954
Events
January
* January 1 – The Soviet Union ceases to demand war reparations from West Germany.
* January 3 – The Italian broadcaster RAI officially begins transmitting.
* January 7 – Georgetown-IBM experiment: The fir ...
Individual
*
Berlin-Britz Manager of the Decade (1950s)
*
World Soccer 20th Greatest Manager of All Time: 2013
Filmography
* ''
The Big Game'' (1942)
References
External links
*
Sepp Herberger at the Germany's Sports Hall of Fame (in German)
{{DEFAULTSORT:Herberger, Sepp
1897 births
1977 deaths
1938 FIFA World Cup managers
1954 FIFA World Cup managers
1958 FIFA World Cup managers
1962 FIFA World Cup managers
Al-Wasl F.C. managers
Association football forwards
Commanders Crosses of the Order of Merit of the Federal Republic of Germany
Eintracht Frankfurt managers
Expatriate football managers in the United Arab Emirates
FIFA World Cup-winning managers
German football managers
German footballers
German Roman Catholics
German sports executives and administrators
Germany international footballers
Germany national football team managers
Deaths from pneumonia in Germany
Nazi Party members
People from the Grand Duchy of Baden
Recipients of the Silver Laurel Leaf
Footballers from Mannheim
SV Babelsberg 03 managers
SV Waldhof Mannheim players
Tennis Borussia Berlin managers
Tennis Borussia Berlin players
VfR Mannheim players
West German football managers
West German footballers
Association football coaches