By Adrian Wamer
BONN: Years of consistent goal scoring as well as choirboy looks and training in banking have no doubt ensured West German star KarlHeinz Rummenigge a healthy nest egg for when he retires at the end of the season.
The 33 year old former West German captain, who announced his retirement plans on March 7 was one of Europe’s most expensive players in the early 1980’s. His killer instinct as a striker, which brought him 48 international goals, was matched by shrewd financial acumen off the field.
The toolmaker’s son who as a teenager left West Germany’s industrial Ruhr Valley to make his fortune with the Bundesliga’s most glamorous club, Bayern Munich, was capped 95 times and twice voted European Player of the Year.
But it is impossible to walk about his achievements without money creeping into the conversation.
At Bayern, he became West Germany highest paid player with an annual salary of $600,000 marks (then $235,000). In 1984, at the age of 28, old for a striker he signed for Italy’s Inter Milan for $3.8 million, at the time a record for a European player.
Having trained in banking after he left school he refused to employ a manager for much of his career and ran his own financial affairs.
In business, his blond hair blue eyes and choirboy looks gave him a natural advantage, as did his equable temperament, in Creating a wholesome image that he was not slow to exploit.
At the height of his career in West Germany he had contracts with more than a dozen firms, from an insurance company of photographic firm and a brewery and commanded some $3,500 a hour for signing autographs.
His total annual income in the early 1980’s was estimated at a staggering 2,8 million marks (then $1.1 million).
Despite a tongue twisting name for the non-German speaking, Rummenigge’s superb dribbling and powerful shot made him a household name in Europe.
He was a classic figure of West German soccer, a gifted player with a great touch but at the same time a workhorse.
The Germans nicknamed him rummelflege (buzzing fly) for his typical hard work and endless running.
He helped Bayern to two European Cup titles in 1975 and 1976 and his country to World Cup finals in 1982 and 1986.
Rummenigge, now playing with Swiss First Division club Servette Geneva, plans to return to Bavaria with his wife and four children and is eager to take the satisfaction he got from soccer into his new life.
“I want to be in a job that gives me what soccer gave me. It will be hard 10 get the same impression of goals, success and great ‘games but | will make sure! am not bored,” he said.
Article extracted from this publication >> May 5, 1989
