Birthday boy of the month 2: Bernd Schuster turns 65

Bernd Schuster was born in Augsburg on 22.12.19 59. His first club as a teenager was local side SV Hammerschmiede. From that time there was an anecdote that a former groundsman told us when we had a Pokal game in Augsburg in 1993. Bernd was always the first person on the training ground after school. With a running track around the pitch and goals without nets, the young Bernd practised free kicks and corners in the knowledge that he had to collect the ball himself. In that way he not only practised his technique but also worked on his stamina as a teenager.

He joined the U19s at FC Augsburg in 1976 after he became too good for SV Hammerschmiede. There he developed into a youth international. Playing for the Germany youth team he came to the attention of Hennes Weisweiler, the coach at FC Köln. He brought Schuster to the double winners in Cologne in 1978. He played his first Bundesliga match for the team from the cathedral city. But not in his usual position as a sweeper but as a substitute in the second half for the injured right-back Dieter Prestin. From that match on he was regularly in the starting line-up and in the position where another Köln player was missing. At some point he became the first choice in the Köln midfield. In just over two years he played 61 Bundesliga games for FC Köln and scored ten goals.

The "blond angel", as he was known in the media due to his long blond hair, made his debut in the national team at the age of 19 in May 1979. A year later he was a regular first choice and won the European Championships with Germany in 1980. His performances there brought him to the attention of top Spanish club Barcelona. Schuster joined the Catalan side in 1984 for a transfer fee of 3.5 million Deutschmarks. In the next eight years at Barcelona, he won La Liga once, the Spanish cup three times and the European Cup Winners Cup in 1982. However, he did end his international career at that time due to personal differences with Germany coach Jupp Derwall after just 21 games.

In Spain, Bernd Schuster became an inspired midfield maestro. After overwhelmingly successful years at Barcelona he moved on to arch rivals Real Madrid – also because Barcelona did not extend his contract. In two years at Real Madrid, he won the double in the first year in 1989 and the Spanish league title the following year. After two years at Real the interest in their German player fell and he looked for a new club at the age of 31. Atletico Madrid, the local rivals to Real, who had a poor start to the season in 1990/91, signed the unattached Bernd Schuster. With him Atletico finished runners-up in Spain and also won the national cup competition, which the ‘Colchoneros’ went on to win again in 1992.