Bernd Hölzenbein
Encyclopedia
Bernd Hölzenbein is a former German football (soccer) player (winning the World Cup in 1974). He is best known for being fouled in the final against Netherlands
Netherlands national football team
The Netherlands National Football Team represents the Netherlands in association football and is controlled by the Royal Dutch Football Association , the governing body for football in the Netherlands...

, which led to the Germans' equalising penalty.

A qualified merchant, Holz debuted for Eintracht Frankfurt
Eintracht Frankfurt
Eintracht Frankfurt is a German sports club, based in Frankfurt, Hesse that is best known for its association football club.- Club origins :...

 in the Bundesliga in 1967 to serve for this club until his departure in 1981. A three times German Cup
DFB-Pokal
The DFB-Pokal or DFB Cup is a German knockout football cup competition held annually. 64 teams participate in the competition, including all clubs from the Bundesliga and the 2nd Bundesliga. It is considered the second most important national title in German football after the Bundesliga...

 winner with them in 1974, 1975 and 1981, Holzenbein also won the UEFA Cup
UEFA Cup
The UEFA Europa League is an annual association football cup competition organised by UEFA since 1971 for eligible European football clubs. It is the second most prestigious European club football contest after the UEFA Champions League...

 with Frankfurt in 1980. His output of 160 goals in his 420 Bundesliga matches is still club record achievement for Frankfurt. His departure was due to his unwillingness to accept a pay cut to stay on with Frankfurt and made him become a team-mate of Gerd Müller
Gerd Müller
Gerhard "Gerd" Müller is a former German football player and one of the most prolific goalscorers of all time.With national records of 68 goals in 62 international appearances, 365 goals in 427 Bundesliga games and the international record of 66 goals in 74 European Club games, he was one of the...

 at Fort Lauderdale Strikers in the United States. Over there he was also playing for Memphis Americans
Memphis Americans
The Memphis Americans were a soccer team based out of Memphis, Tennessee that played in the old Major Indoor Soccer League. They played from 1981 to 1984. Their home arena was the Mid-South Coliseum....

 and Baltimore Blast
Baltimore Blast (1980-92)
Baltimore Blast were a longtime member of the Major Indoor Soccer League. From 1978 to 1980, the team was played as Houston Summit but moved prior to the 1980-81 season. The team won the league's championship in 1984. The team folded when the MISL ceased operation in the summer of 1992.-History:The...

 in the Major Indoor Soccer League
Major Soccer League
The Major Indoor Soccer League, known in its final two seasons as the Major Soccer League, was an indoor soccer league in the USA from 1978 to 1992. After the folding of the North American Soccer League in 1984, the MISL was the Division I soccer league for the United States...

. He finished off his career in Germany, playing a handful of games alongside Klaus Toppmöller
Klaus Toppmöller
Klaus Toppmöller is a former football player and the coach of Georgia national football team from 2006 to April 1, 2008.He earned 3 caps and scored 1 goal during his international career for Germany.-Coaching career:...

 for FSV Salmrohr
FSV Salmrohr
FSV Salmrohr is a German association football club in the village of Salmrohr, Rhineland-Palatinate. Founded in 1921, the small club has limited resources and has relied largely on local talent, but still managed two decades of play in the tier III Amateur Oberliga Südwest and Regionalliga...

 before hanging up his boots at FC Rhein-Main and starting to work as assistant to Horst Heese
Horst Heese
Horst Heese is a German former professional football player and manager.Heese had 149 Bundesliga appearances for Eintracht Frankfurt and HSV. After his retirement he managed Offenbach, Nuremberg and Frankfurt. After being sacked in 1993 in Frankfurt he moved back to Eupen in Belgium, where he...

 at Viktoria Aschaffenburg
Viktoria Aschaffenburg
SV Viktoria 01 Aschaffenburg is a German football club based in Aschaffenburg, Bavaria.Even though Aschaffenburg is located in Bavaria, Viktoria Aschaffenburg historically played its football in the Hessenliga and the associated Hessian leagues, rather than the Fussball-Bayernliga , against clubs...

.

In his international career, Hölzenbein scored five goals in those forty caps he won for Germany in between 1973 and 1980, but the foul that lead to the German equaliser in the 1974 FIFA World Cup
1974 FIFA World Cup
The 1974 FIFA World Cup, the tenth staging of the World Cup, was held in West Germany from 13 June to 7 July. The tournament marked the first time that the current trophy, the FIFA World Cup Trophy, created by the Italian sculptor Silvio Gazzaniga, was awarded...

 final against the Netherlands (2-1) remained his moment in time. With the Dutch claiming their defender Wim Jansen
Wim Jansen
Wilhelmus Marinus Anthonius Jansen is a Dutch former association football player and manager.- Playing career :He spent most of his playing career with his hometown team, Feyenoord, between 1965 and 1980...

 had not even touched him when he ended up on the floor inside the Dutch penalty-box, Hölzenbein successfully fought off stories in newspapers in which he supposedly confessed diving. One of his international goals was the late equaliser in the UEFA Euro 1976 Final
UEFA Euro 1976 Final
The UEFA Euro 1976 Final was the final match of UEFA Euro 1976, the fifth UEFA European Football Championship, UEFA's top football competition for national teams. The match was played at Stadion Crvena Zvezda, Belgrade, on 20 June 1976. The match was contested by Czechoslovakia and West...

 against Czechoslovakia. West Germany would however go on to lose the game on penalties.

In 1988 he returned to Eintracht Frankfurt
Eintracht Frankfurt
Eintracht Frankfurt is a German sports club, based in Frankfurt, Hesse that is best known for its association football club.- Club origins :...

, taking the role of vice-chairman and enjoyed a growing reputation in the game as someone who has an eye for top-talents. He was seen as the main architect behind Frankfurt's rise to an undoubted top side of Bundesliga
Fußball-Bundesliga
The Fußball-Bundesliga is a professional association football league in Germany. At the top of Germany's football league system, it is the country's primary football competition. It is contested by 18 teams and operates on a system of promotion and relegation with the 2. Bundesliga...

 at the start of the 1990s, mainly because of adding players such as Uwe Bein
Uwe Bein
Uwe Bein is a former German footballer.Although, due to his reserved nature, he was never able to gain large public fame, his fans and experts call him one of the most technically-gifted German midfielders of his time...

, Anthony Yeboah and Andreas Möller
Andreas Möller
Andreas Möller is a retired German footballer who played as an attacking midfielder. He was a playmaker known for his range of passing and goalscoring ability...

 to the clubs Bundesliga squad. This trio, together with sweeper Manfred Binz
Manfred Binz
Manfred Binz is a former German footballer who is now the manager of FC Germania 1911 Enkheim.-Career:In his active career the sweeper won the DFB-Pokal with Eintracht Frankfurt and became runner-up at UEFA Euro 1992 with Germany...

 and goalkeeper Uli Stein
Uli Stein
Ulrich "Uli" Stein is a former German football player. He was a goalkeeper and between 1978 and 1997, made 512 appearances in the German Bundesliga. He began his career in 1978 with Arminia Bielefeld. After two years, he moved to Hamburger SV where he played from 1980 to 1987...

 was the driving force behind Eintracht's title bid in 1991–92, unfortunately missing out on the Bundesliga crown of 1992 due to a bad result on the final day of that season. This bad result was a turning point in Hölzenbein's career as official and couldn't stop the downfall of Eintracht Frankfurt in the following years. Relegation to the 2nd Bundesliga
2. Fußball-Bundesliga
- Changes in division set-up :* Number of clubs: currently 18. From 1974 to 1981 there were two conferences, each of 20 teams. In 1981–91 it had 20...

 happened to Frankfurt in 1996 and let Hölzenbein resign a few months later.
His ongoing involvement in the daily business of Eintracht Frankfurt over those years turned out to be the reason for him to be summoned to court for statements regarding a proposed 'immense tax evasion' of Anthony Yeboah in the players years in German football.

Nowadays Bernd Hölzenbein is living in Neu-Isenburg
Neu-Isenburg
The “Huguenot Town” of Neu-Isenburg with its outlying centres of Gravenbruch and Zeppelinheim is found in the Offenbach district in the Regierungsbezirk of Darmstadt in Hesse, Germany, right near Frankfurt am Main...

 and engaged as scout for Eintracht Frankfurt. He had been a representative for the city of Frankfurt during the 2006 FIFA World Cup
2006 FIFA World Cup
The 2006 FIFA World Cup was the 18th FIFA World Cup, the quadrennial international football world championship tournament. It was held from 9 June to 9 July 2006 in Germany, which won the right to host the event in July 2000. Teams representing 198 national football associations from all six...

 and involved in a project originated by Jürgen Klinsmann
Jürgen Klinsmann
Jürgen Klinsmann is a German football manager and former player who is currently the coach of the United States Men's National Team. As a player, Klinsmann played for several prominent clubs in Europe and was part of the West German team that won the 1990 FIFA World Cup and the German one that...

 to support a better development of young footballers.

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