Jürgen Grabowski (7 July 1944 – 10 March 2022) was a German

footballer A football player or footballer is a sportsperson who plays one of the different types of football. The main types of football are association football, American football, Canadian football, Australian rules football, Gaelic football, rugby ...

. He played for

Eintracht Frankfurt Eintracht Frankfurt e.V. () is a professional sports club based in Frankfurt, Hesse, Germany. It is best known for its football club, which was founded on 8 March 1899. The team is currently playing in the Bundesliga, the top tier of the Germa ...

. He became European champion in 1972 and world champion in 1974. Grabowski is considered the greatest Eintracht Frankfurt player ever.

Biography

Grabowski was born in

Wiesbaden Wiesbaden () is a city in central western Germany and the capital of the state of Hesse. , it had 290,955 inhabitants, plus approximately 21,000 United States citizens (mostly associated with the United States Army). The Wiesbaden urban area ...

. Grabowski, originally a forward, then later an

attacking midfielder A midfielder is an outfield position in association football. Midfielders may play an exclusively defensive role, breaking up attacks, and are in that case known as defensive midfielders. As central midfielders often go across boundarie ...

or a winger, started his career with SV Biebrich 1919 and FV Biebrich 1902 of

. In 1965 he joined

. With this team he won the German Cup in 1974 and 1975 and the

UEFA Europa League The UEFA Europa League (abbreviated as UEL, or sometimes, UEFA EL), formerly the UEFA Cup, is an annual football club competition organised since 1971 by the Union of European Football Associations (UEFA) for eligible European football clubs. ...

in 1980. Injury prevented him from participating in the 1980 UEFA Cup finals. In European Cup competitions he made 40 appearances and scored nine goals. He played 44

caps Caps are flat headgear. Caps or CAPS may also refer to: Science and technology Computing * CESG Assisted Products Service, provided by the U.K. Government Communications Headquarters * Composite Application Platform Suite, by Java Caps, a Ja ...

for the West Germany national team and scored five goals. He was a member of the squad that finished second in the

World Cup A world cup is a global sporting competition in which the participant entities – usually international teams or individuals representing their countries – compete for the title of world champion. The event most associated with the concept i ...

tournaments of 1966, when he did not play. In Mexico

1970 Events January * January 1 – Unix time epoch reached at 00:00:00 UTC. * January 5 – The 7.1 Tonghai earthquake shakes Tonghai County, Yunnan province, China, with a maximum Mercalli intensity of X (''Extreme''). Between 10,000 and ...

, Grabowski was called the best substitute in the world. In the game against Italy, Grabowski hit the cross to defender

Karl-Heinz Schnellinger Karl-Heinz Schnellinger (born 31 March 1939) is a German former footballer who played as a defender. An athletic and hard-tackling player, with a strong physique, he was nicknamed the "Volkswagen" for his continuity of performance, both in qu ...

. The German professional, who played for an Italian club, scored the equalizing goal in the last second. The semi-final game was lost 4–3 after extra time. In 1972, he became European champion. Grabowski was also participant at the 1974 FIFA World Cup in Germany. In 1974, he scored in West Germany's 4–2 win over Sweden in the second round. On his 30th birthday, he and his Eintracht teammate

Bernd Hölzenbein Bernd Hölzenbein (born 9 March 1946) is a German former professional footballer who played as a striker or winger. At international level, he was a member of the West German team that won the World Cup in 1974. Hölzenbein is best known fo ...

became world champions on 7 July 1974 at the

Munich Olympic Stadium Olympiastadion () is a stadium located in Munich, Germany. Situated at the heart of the '' Olympiapark München'' in northern Munich, the stadium was the main venue for the 1972 Summer Olympics. The original capacity was maximally and officiall ...

. His career ended in 1980 after he was injured by

Lothar Matthäus Lothar Herbert Matthäus (; born 21 March 1961) is a German football pundit and former professional player and manager. After captaining West Germany to victory in the 1990 FIFA World Cup where he lifted the World Cup trophy, he was awarded the ...

. For a short time he was manager of Eintracht Frankfurt. Grabowski was honorary captain of Eintracht. Grabowski lived in

Taunusstein Taunusstein () is the biggest town in the Rheingau-Taunus-Kreis in the ''Regierungsbezirk'' of Darmstadt in Hessen, Germany. It has 30,068 inhabitants (2020). Geography Location Taunusstein lies roughly 10 km northwest of Wiesbaden and abo ...

, Hesse. In his last years, he was a dialysis patient. He died in Wiesbaden on 10 March 2022, at the age of 77.

Honours

Eintracht Frankfurt *

UEFA Cup A cup is an open-top used to hold hot or cold liquids for pouring or drinking; while mainly used for drinking, it also can be used to store solids for pouring (e.g., sugar, flour, grains, salt). Cups may be made of glass, metal, china, clay ...

: 1979–80 *

DFB-Pokal The DFB-Pokal ( is a German knockout football cup competition held annually by the German Football Association (DFB). Sixty-four teams participate in the competition, including all clubs from the Bundesliga and the 2. Bundesliga. It is considered ...

: 1973–74, 1974–75 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 ha ...

: 1974 *

UEFA European Championship The UEFA European Football Championship, less formally the European Championship and informally the Euro, is the primary association football tournament organised by the Union of European Football Associations ( UEFA). The competition is conte ...

1972 Within the context of Coordinated Universal Time (UTC) it was the longest year ever, as two leap seconds were added during this 366-day year, an event which has not since been repeated. (If its start and end are defined using mean solar tim ...

Individual * ''

kicker Kicker or The Kicker may refer to: Sports * Placekicker, a position in American and Canadian football * ''Kicker'' (sports magazine), in Germany * Kicker, the German colloquial term for an association football player * Kicker, the word used i ...

Bundesliga The Bundesliga (; ), sometimes referred to as the Fußball-Bundesliga () or 1. Bundesliga (), is a professional association football league in Germany. At the top of the German football league system, the Bundesliga is Germany's primary footba ...

Team of the Season: 1966–67, 1969–70, 1970–71, 1971–72, 1972–73, 1973–74, 1974–75, 1977–78 * 3 December 2014

Hessian Order of Merit The Hessian Order of Merit (german: Hessischer Verdienstorden) is a civil order of merit, and the highest award of the German State of Hesse. The order was established 1 December 1989. Criteria The order is presented by the Minister-President of ...

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Grabowski, Jurgen 1944 births 2022 deaths Sportspeople from Wiesbaden German footballers Footballers from Hesse Association football midfielders Germany international footballers Germany under-21 international footballers FIFA World Cup-winning players UEFA European Championship-winning players UEFA Cup winning players 1966 FIFA World Cup players 1970 FIFA World Cup players 1974 FIFA World Cup players UEFA Euro 1972 players Bundesliga players FV Biebrich players Eintracht Frankfurt players German football managers Eintracht Frankfurt managers West German footballers

Biography

Honours

References

Further reading

External links