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 lea ...

. He played for

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

. He won gold medals playing for the

West Germany national football team The Germany national football team () represents Germany in men's international Association football, football and played its first match in 1908. The team is governed by the German Football Association (''Deutscher Fußball-Bund''), founded ...

that won the European championship in 1972 and the FIFA World Cup in 1974. Grabowski is considered the greatest Eintracht Frankfurt player ever.

Biography

Grabowski was born in

Wiesbaden Wiesbaden (; ) is the capital of the German state of Hesse, and the second-largest Hessian city after Frankfurt am Main. With around 283,000 inhabitants, it is List of cities in Germany by population, Germany's 24th-largest city. Wiesbaden form ...

West Germany West Germany was the common English name for the Federal Republic of Germany (FRG) from its formation on 23 May 1949 until German reunification, its reunification with East Germany on 3 October 1990. It is sometimes known as the Bonn Republi ...

. Grabowski, originally a forward, then later an

attacking midfielder In the sport of association football, a midfielder takes an outfield position primarily in the middle of the pitch. Midfielders may play an exclusively defensive role, breaking up attacks, and are in that case known as defensive midfielders. ...

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 (UEL), usually known simply as the Europa League, is an annual association football, football club competition organised since 1971 by the UEFA, Union of European Football Associations (UEFA) for eligible European footb ...

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 Java ...

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 name is ...

tournaments of

1966 Events January * January 1 – In a coup, Colonel Jean-Bédel Bokassa takes over as military ruler of the Central African Republic, ousting President David Dacko. * January 3 – 1966 Upper Voltan coup d'état: President Maurice Yaméogo i ...

, 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 1970 Tonghai earthquake, Tonghai earthquake shakes Tonghai County, Yunnan province, China, with a maximum Mercalli intensity scale, Mercalli ...

, Grabowski was called the best substitute in the world. In the game against Italy, Grabowski hit the cross to defender Karl-Heinz Schnellinger. 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 The 1974 FIFA World Cup was the 10th FIFA World Cup, a quadrennial Association football, football tournament for men's senior national teams, and was played in West Germany (and West Berlin) between 13 June and 7 July. The tournament marked the ...

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 became world champions on 7 July 1974 at the Munich Olympic Stadium. His career ended in 1980 after he was injured by

Lothar Matthäus Lothar Herbert Matthäus (; born 21 March 1961) is a German association football, football pundit and former professional player and manager. He captained Germany national football team, West Germany to victory in the 1990 FIFA World Cup and was ...

. 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 of Darmstadt (region), Darmstadt in Hessen, Germany. It has 30,068 inhabitants (2020). Geography Location Taunusstein lies roughly 10 km northwest of Wiesbaden and abou ...

Hesse Hesse or Hessen ( ), officially the State of Hesse (), is a States of Germany, state in Germany. Its capital city is Wiesbaden, and the largest urban area is Frankfurt, which is also the country's principal financial centre. Two other major hist ...

. 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 The asterisk ( ), from Late Latin , from Ancient Greek , , "little star", is a Typography, typographical symbol. It is so called because it resembles a conventional image of a star (heraldry), heraldic star. Computer scientists and Mathematici ...

: 1979–80 *

DFB-Pokal The DFB-Pokal (), also known as the German Cup in English language, English, is a German knockout Association football, football cup competition held annually by the German Football Association (DFB). Sixty-four teams participate in the competiti ...

: 1973–74, 1974–75 West Germany *

FIFA World Cup The FIFA World Cup, often called the World Cup, is an international association football competition among the senior List of men's national association football teams, men's national teams of the members of the FIFA, Fédération Internatio ...

: 1974 *

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

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 Solar time, ...

Individual * '' kicker''

Bundesliga The Bundesliga (; ), sometimes referred to as the Fußball-Bundesliga () or 1. Bundesliga (), is a professional association football league in Germany and the highest level of the German football league system. The Bundesliga comprises 18 teams ...

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

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Grabowski, Jurgen 1944 births 2022 deaths Footballers from Wiesbaden German men's footballers Men's association football midfielders Germany men's international footballers Germany men's under-21 international footballers UEFA European Championship–winning players UEFA Europa League–winning players FIFA World 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 men's footballers

Biography

Honours

References

Further reading

External links