Manfred Burgsmüller

Manfred Burgsmüller

Personal information
Date of birth	(1949-12-22) 22 December 1949
Place of birth	Essen, West Germany
Height
Position(s)	Striker / Midfielder
Youth career
0000–1967	VfB Recklinghausen
1967–1968	Rot-Weiss Essen
Senior career*
Years	Team	Apps	(Gls)
1968–1971	Rot-Weiss Essen	12	(0)
1971–1974	Bayer Uerdingen	101	(80)
1974–1976	Rot-Weiss Essen	64	(32)
1976	Bayer Uerdingen	7	(1)
1976–1983	Borussia Dortmund	224	(135)
1983–1984	1. FC Nürnberg	34	(12)
1984–1985	Rot-Weiß Oberhausen	50	(36)
1985–1990	Werder Bremen	115	(34)
Total		607	(330)
International career
1975–1978	West Germany B	8	(8)
1977–1978	West Germany	3	(0)
*Club domestic league appearances and goals

Manfred "Manni" Burgsmüller (born 22 December 1949 in Essen) is a retired German footballer who played mainly as a striker – he could occasionally operate as a midfielder.

He appeared in 447 Bundesliga games over the course of 17 seasons, mainly for Borussia Dortmund and Werder Bremen, scoring 213 goals. After retiring professionally in his 40's, he played as a kicker in American football.

Football career

During his early career, Burgsmüller played in two different spells for local Rot-Weiss Essen and Bayer Uerdingen alike. In his first stint with the latter club, in the regional leagues, he scored 29 goals in two separate seasons, followed by 22. After failing to score initially for Essen, he returned in 1974 and netted an average of 16 per year.

In October 1976, Burgsmüller left Uerdingen for Borussia Dortmund (where he fielded almost exclusively as a midfielder, but where he also had the most productive years of his career individually, never netting fewer than 15 goals in the Bundesliga). In the 1980–81 campaign, he scored a career-best – in division one – 27 goals, helping the North Rhine-Westphalia side finish in seventh position, and ranking second in the goalscorers' chart, just two behind Karl-Heinz Rummenigge who played for champions FC Bayern Munich.

After one sole season with 1. FC Nürnberg, Burgsmüller moved to the second level with Rot-Weiß Oberhausen. In his first year, he was crucial as the team narrowly avoided relegation, scoring 29 times and being crowned Torjäger, with 12 goals more than the next player.

Burgsmüller started the next season in scoring fashion, netting seven times in only 15 matches. In November 1985, at nearly 36, he returned to the first division, signing for SV Werder Bremen where he would achieve team success: he scored in his first game, a 2–1 win at Borussia Mönchengladbach, adding two in his third, a 6–0 home routing of VfB Stuttgart, and totalling 13 in only 20 matches for the campaign, as Werder finished second; during his spell, the veteran appeared in 115 league games with 34 goals, being an important attacking element in the conquest of the 1988 league title.

Burgsmüller retired at almost 41, also having appeared three times for West Germany, in friendlies comprised in a three-month span. His debut came on 16 November 1977, in a 4–1 win with Switzerland.

After football

Burgsmüller made a comeback in NFL Europe in 1996, being Rhein Fire's kicker from 1996 to 2002, becoming the oldest professional American football player in history, at age 52. He also won two World Bowls, in 1998 and 2000.

Honours

• Bundesliga: 1987–88
• DFB-Pokal: Runner-up 1988–89, 1989–90

External links

• Manfred Burgsmüller profile at Fussballdaten
• Manfred Burgsmüller at National-Football-Teams.com
• Worldfootball profile

Sporting positions
Preceded by Lothar Huber	Borussia Dortmund captain 1979–1983	Succeeded by Rolf Rüssmann