Horst Eckel

FUNERAL OF BERN

German World Cup winner Horst Eckel has died aged 89, the last surviving member of the 1954 World Cup winners. In 1954, the West German side managed to come from 2-0 down to beat the highly fancied Hungary team to win the World Cup. The Miracle of Bern revitalised German football after the war, and was credited with providing a national pride which showed in the sudden improvement in the German economy, from bankrupt in the early post-war years to its current role as one of the strongest in the world. A passing midfielder, Eckel was pivotal to his team and also played in the 1958 World Cup, which he didn’t win. At club level, he spent 11 years with Kaiserslautern. After retirement, he became a teacher. At this point, the obligatory reference to doping during the 1954 final would usually come up, but instead, I’ll just point to the fact it was also raining like hell that day and the German side, unlike the Hungarians, had grips in their boots. He was picked by four teams including Alternative Observations and Sudden Death.

Horst Eckel
8 February 1932 – 3 December 2021
4 teams