By Germany’s national football, which is considered a powerhouse team, has produced some of the greatest players in football history. Germany has so far won four World Cups and three European Championships. This goes on to show that they are indeed a world-class team and that sometimes winning is only possible if you have strong and talented individuals. So today, we’ll discuss the best 7 German football players to have existed.
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Franz Beckenbauer
Franz Beckenbauer is regarded as one of the best football players of all time. Beckenbauer, whose primary position is central defender, was able to play as a midfielder as well. In modern times, the role of the sweeper or libero is credited to the German legendary player.
Some of his notable accomplishments include being two times European Footballer of the year, making 103 appearances for West Germany, and showing his exceptional form in three FIFA World Cups and two European Championships.
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Fritz Walter
Fritz Walter is considered one of Germany’s finest players. He has an award named after him, which was previously received by the finest German players Mario Gotze and Toni Kross.
Walter, who was born in Kaiserslautern remained loyal to his hometown club and spent most of his career at 1. FC Kaiserslautern. He played for the team for more than two decades. He along with his squad won the German football championship during the season 1950–51 and 1952–53. Walter netted a staggering 357 goals in 364 matches for his club Kaiserslautern.
He captained the West German squad in 1954 and eventually, took his squad to the World Cup final, where they defeated Hungary 3-2 with a magnificent goal by Helmut Rahn.
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Gerd Muller
Gerd Muller famously known by his nickname “Der Bomber” given by German football fans for his power to obliterate defenses, Muller blasted 365 goals for Bayern out of 427 appearances – a pace of 0.85 goals in a single game. Muller, who is widely recognized for his stability, mighty shot, and agility, is also Germany’s second-highest goal scorer with a high 68 goals, who is just behind Miroslav Klose (71 goals), despite having appeared for 75 lesser games.
As of now, Muller is both Bayern and the Bundesliga’s all-time goalscorer in history. The German talented player also has the most hat tricks for his country (8). During 1974 and 2006, Muller also held the most number of World Cup goals – 14 but the record was eventually smashed by Brazil’s legendary player Ronaldo.
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Miroslav Klose
The German striker Miroslav Klose is a genius player who smashed the record of Ronaldo Nazario in the World Cup 2014 scoring 16 World Cup goals surpassing the Brazilian after crushing Gerd Muller’s tally as Germany’s all-time top scorer. It is tough to see an excellent striker like him netting goals as if it’s nothing.
Klose is typically regarded as one of his era’s greatest strikers and holds the record for most FIFA World Cup goals. His footballing career with the national team is far more accomplished compared to his club career.
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Sepp Maier
Over the past years, Germany is widely known for producing some of the best goalkeepers. We have so far witnessed Oliver Kahn, Jens Lehmann, and Manuel Neuer donning the #1 jersey but when it comes to the international level, none of them has come up to Maier’s level.
His skills as a goalkeeper are so insanely good that the Germans lifted the World Cup trophy in 1974. Maker was truly a vital part of the squad that led to winning the European Championship two years earlier.
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Lotthar Matthaus
Arguably, Lotthar Matthaus is seen as one of the greatest German football players of all time. Marthaus capped the national team 150 times and also including lifting the World Cup trophy in 1990 and Euro Cup in 1980 and finishing as a runner-up for the World Cup in 1982 and 1986.
Matthaus was a stellar midfielder who led his national squad to defeat Argentina with the then-Argentine ace Diego Maradona at the World Cup in 1990. Matthaus’ leadership in that match is something that can be glorified where he notched four goals as well.
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Bastian Schweinsteiger
After his outstanding appearance in the 2014 Brazil World Cup final over Argentina, Bastian Schweinsteiger signed his name in German football history as one of the best German football players of all time.
Schweinsteiger initially began as a winger but slowly shifted into a central midfielder. He spent about 13 years playing for Germany’s football club Bayern Munich’s first-team squad and was regarded as one of the finest midfielders across those years.
Some of his accomplishments include being an eight-time winner of Bundesliga trophies, finishing 17 campaigns with 500 matches for Bayern, and scoring 68 goals.
