 Höttges at the1970 FIFA World Cup | |||||||||||||||||||||||
| Personal information | |||||||||||||||||||||||
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| Full name | Horst-Dieter Höttges | ||||||||||||||||||||||
| Date of birth | (1943-09-10)10 September 1943 | ||||||||||||||||||||||
| Place of birth | Mönchengladbach, Germany | ||||||||||||||||||||||
| Date of death | 22 June 2023(2023-06-22) (aged 79) | ||||||||||||||||||||||
| Place of death | Bremen, Germany | ||||||||||||||||||||||
| Height | 1.76 m (5 ft 9 in) | ||||||||||||||||||||||
| Position(s) | Sweeper,full-back | ||||||||||||||||||||||
| Youth career | |||||||||||||||||||||||
| Blau-Weiß Dahl | |||||||||||||||||||||||
| Rheydter SV | |||||||||||||||||||||||
| –1960 | Borussia Mönchengladbach | ||||||||||||||||||||||
| Senior career* | |||||||||||||||||||||||
| Years | Team | Apps | (Gls) | ||||||||||||||||||||
| 1960–1964 | Borussia Mönchengladbach | 30 | (0) | ||||||||||||||||||||
| 1964–1978 | Werder Bremen | 420 | (55) | ||||||||||||||||||||
| 1979–1980 | Werder Bremen amateurs | 14 | (2) | ||||||||||||||||||||
| SC Oberbecksen | |||||||||||||||||||||||
| International career | |||||||||||||||||||||||
| 1963–1964 | West Germany U23 | 3 | (0) | ||||||||||||||||||||
| 1965–1974 | West Germany B | 2 | (0) | ||||||||||||||||||||
| 1965–1974 | West Germany | 66 | (1) | ||||||||||||||||||||
Medal record
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| *Club domestic league appearances and goals | |||||||||||||||||||||||
Horst-Dieter Höttges (10 September 1943 – 22 June 2023) was a German professionalfootballer who played as asweeper orright-back.[1] Having started his career with hometown clubBorussia Mönchengladbach, he spent most of his career withWerder Bremen. He made 420 Bundesliga appearances for Werder Bremen, a club record for outfield players, scoring 55 goals and helped the club win the Bundesliga title in the1964–65 season, his first at Werder Bremen. At international level, he representedWest Germany from 1965 to 1974, amassing 66 caps and scoring 1 goal. He was part of the West Germany squads that won the1974 FIFA World Cup and theUEFA Euro 1972.
Born inMönchengladbach, Höttges began playing football at local sides Blau-Weiß Dahl and Rheydter SV before joiningBorussia Mönchengladbach at the age of 17. After three years in the youth of Mönchengladbach he was taking part for them in theirRegionalliga West campaign of 1963–64 with Mönchengladbach managerHennes Weisweiler feeling Höttges' way of playing was not what he was looking for and thedefender was forced to move on.
Ahead of the1964–65 season Höttges signed withBundesliga teamWerder Bremen and enjoyed immediate success underWilli Multhaup at theWeser-Stadion, ending up winner of the Bundesliga title with Werder at the end of the same season.
This outstanding success with Werder Bremen was a key for thefull-back to be called up byHelmut Schön for theWest Germany national team already in 1965, a time when his toughness in tackling duels earned him his "Eisenfuß" (iron foot) nickname. Although Werder Bremen could not recopy the success of 1965, and became rather a relegation battler than a title chaser, Höttges remained loyal to them and served in the Bundesliga until 1978, scoring 55 goals in his 420 appearances for the North German side.[2] As of July 2023, he holds the club record number of Bundesliga appearances for outfield players.[3] His commitment to a half-a-day employment as sales representative for a manufacturer of sports goods forced him to hang up his boots that summer. Höttges put job before club, unwilling to give up his business, and got named "Ehrenspielführer" (honorary captain) due to his career efforts by Werder Bremen.
On 13 March 1965, Horst-Dieter Höttges debuted forWest Germany in a friendly against Italy (1–1) atHamburg'sVolksparkstadion. Hamburg's Volksparkstadion was also the place where he won the last of his sixty-sixcaps for West Germany during the memorable first round defeat at the hands ofEast Germany in the1974 FIFA World Cup.[4] The defeat of the West Germans in the politically and emotionally exaggerated match led coach Helmut Schön to significant changes in his line-up and limiting Höttges to a bench role was one of those. It resulted in the defender's subsequent retirement from international football after the1974 FIFA World Cup final West Germany won against their Dutch opponents.[5] His first of altogether three World Cup participations Höttges enjoyed in 1966 as part of the runner-up squad of West Germany in England. He was further a member of the squad for the1970 FIFA World Cup (third-place finish) and was a starter for his country in theUEFA Euro 1972 final against inBrussels on 18 June. He and his teammates beat theSoviet Union that day to win Germany's first UEFA European Football Championship trophy.
Later on Höttges showed up for some time on amateur level forBad Oeynhausen's SC Oberbecksen and TSV Achim, a club in a village nearBremen, where he settled down. He was partly coaching that club in an honorary capacity in the 1990s.
Höttges died from complications of dementia on 22 June 2023, at the age of 79.[6]
| Club | Season | League | DFB-Pokal | Europe | Other | Total | ||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Division | Apps | Goals | Apps | Goals | Apps | Goals | Apps | Goals | Apps | Goals | ||
| Borussia Mönchengladbach | 1963–64[1][2] | Regionalliga West | 30 | 0 | 1 | 0 | – | – | 31 | 0 | ||
| Werder Bremen | 1964–65[1] | Bundesliga | 29 | 1 | 0 | 0 | – | – | 29 | 1 | ||
| 1965–66[1] | 31 | 5 | 3 | 0 | 4 | 2 | – | 38 | 7 | |||
| 1966–67[1] | 30 | 3 | 4 | 2 | – | – | 36 | 11 | ||||
| 1967–68[1] | 33 | 9 | 0 | 0 | – | – | 33 | 9 | ||||
| 1968–69[1] | 31 | 6 | 2 | 0 | – | – | 33 | 6 | ||||
| 1969–70[1] | 31 | 3 | 3 | 0 | – | – | 34 | 3 | ||||
| 1970–71[1] | 22 | 1 | 1 | 0 | – | – | 22 | 1 | ||||
| 1971–72[1] | 28 | 3 | 8 | 1 | – | – | 36 | 4 | ||||
| 1972–73[1] | 29 | 3 | 7 | 2 | – | 4[a] | 0 | 40 | 5 | |||
| 1973–74[1] | 31 | 6 | 4 | 2 | – | – | 35 | 8 | ||||
| 1974–75[1] | 31 | 6 | 4 | 0 | – | – | 35 | 6 | ||||
| 1975–76[1] | 30 | 4 | 1 | 0 | – | – | 31 | 4 | ||||
| 1976–77[1] | 32 | 2 | 3 | 0 | – | – | 35 | 2 | ||||
| 1977–78[1] | 32 | 3 | 4 | 4 | – | – | 36 | 7 | ||||
| Total | 420 | 55 | 44 | 11 | 4 | 2 | 4 | 0 | 472 | 68 | ||
| Werder Bremen amateurs | 1979–80[2] | Amateur Oberliga Nord | 14 | 2 | – | – | – | 14 | 2 | |||
| Career total | 464 | 57 | 45 | 11 | 4 | 2 | 4 | 0 | 517 | 70 | ||
| National team | Year | Apps | Goals |
|---|---|---|---|
| West Germany | 1965 | 8 | 0 |
| 1966 | 12 | 0 | |
| 1967 | 6 | 0 | |
| 1968 | 5 | 0 | |
| 1969 | 6 | 1 | |
| 1970 | 10 | 0 | |
| 1971 | 1 | 0 | |
| 1972 | 7 | 0 | |
| 1973 | 8 | 0 | |
| 1974 | 3 | 0 | |
| Total | 66 | 1 | |
Werder Bremen
West Germany
Individual
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| International | |
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| National | |
