The football world is saddened by the death of German football legend Andreas Brehme at the age of 63.
Brehme scored the decisive late penalty as West Germany defeated Argentina to win the World Cup in 1990 and enjoyed a distinguished club career with Bayern Munich, Inter Milan, Kaiserslautern and others.
His death on Monday evening – from cardiac arrest – comes just a few weeks after the coach of that 1990 team, Franz Beckenbauer, passed away at the age of 78.
It was a West German side who defeated England on penalties in the semi-final, with Stuart Pearce and Chris Waddle infamously missing their penalties.
But what became of the winners of the ’90 World Cup in Italy?
The West German team lines up for the 1990 World Cup final in Rome against Argentina. Back row (from left to right): Thomas Berthold, Bodo Illgner, Klaus Augenthaler, Guido Buchwald, Pierre Littbarski, Rudi Voller. Front row (from left to right): Thomas Hassler, Jurgen Klinsmann, Jurgen Kohler, Andreas Brehme, Lothar Matthaus.
Andreas Brehme converts the decisive penalty to win the 1990 World Cup for West Germany
Brehme (right), pictured with Franz Beckenbauer (left) and Lothar Matthaus after the 1990 victory
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Coach – Franz Beckenbauer
The ultimate German football legend, who won the World Cup that evening together with the Brazilian Mario Zagallo as a player and coach. Frenchman Didier Deschamps joined the club in 2018.
Beckenbauer passed away on January 7 this year at the age of 78, sparking an outpouring of grief in the football world.
His health had deteriorated following the death of his son Stephan from a brain tumor at the age of 46 in 2015, and Beckenbauer had largely withdrawn from public life after losing the sight in his right eye and suffering from heart problems.
Goalkeeper – Bodo Illgner
The goalkeeper who saved Pearce in the 1990 semi-final shoot-out retired from international football after the 1994 World Cup and later won the Champions League with Real Madrid.
After retiring in 2001, he worked as a pundit for Sky Deutschland and beIN Sport, while dividing his time between Miami and Spain with his wife Bianca.
German goalkeeper Bodo Illgner saves from England’s Stuart Pearce in the 1990 semi-final
Sweeper – Klaus Augenthaler
Augenthaler was the ultimate one-club man, playing over 400 games for Bayern Munich and later working there as a youth team and assistant coach.
He was coach until 2011 and took charge of Nuremberg, Bayer Leverkusen and Wolfsburg, among others.
Augenthaler returned to Bayern last year as a youth coach in the club’s international program and works as a pundit for the home channel FC Bayern-TV.
Klaus Augenthaler keeps a close eye on England star Paul Gascoigne during the 1990 semi-final
Central defender – Guido Buchwald
Buchwald, then a Stuttgart player, was given the unenviable task of removing Diego Maradona from the 1990 final, which he did very well.
In 2015 he returned to Stuttgart as a scout and worked there until 2019. Today he is a member of the board of directors of the Youth Football Foundation and sponsors a hostel for seriously ill children and their families.
Guido Buchwald (left) was given the task of marking Argentine star Diego Maradona in the final
Central defender – Jurgen Kohler
Kohler played for a number of leading clubs, including Bayern Munich, Juventus and Borussia Dortmund, and also made 105 appearances for Germany.
In addition to success in 1990, he won the European Championship trophy in 1996 and won the Champions League with Dortmund a year later.
Kohler has worked as a coach since his retirement and was most recently a youth coach at the German third division club Viktoria Keulen. He was recently linked with the vacant Ghana national team job.
Right full-back – Thomas Berthold
The German player who infamously made Paul Gascoigne cry. Berthold was the man tackled by Gazza, earning the yellow card that would have ruled him out of the final.
Berthold was an expert on football shows on the Sport1 network and for Deutsche Welle.
During the Covid pandemic, Berthold has been outspoken about the German government’s lockdown measures and has been linked to conspiracy theories.
Thomas Berthold was on the receiving end of the tackle and saw Paul Gascoigne booked
Left full-back – Andreas Brehme
Brehme was the man who scored the winning goal from the penalty spot in the 1990 final, just one of many highlights in a successful career for club and country.
After a brief coaching career, Brehme worked as an ambassador for the German Football Association and as a television pundit and newspaper columnist. He also works as an advisor to the Serbian club Vojvodina Novi Sad.
Brehme died on Monday evening at the age of 63 from cardiac arrest.
Central midfielder – Thomas Hassler
The midfielder was part of Germany’s victorious team at Euro 96 and has played for several top clubs including Juventus, Roma and Borussia Dortmund.
When he turned to coaching, he was assistant manager for the Nigeria national team and German club Cologne. Hassler is currently in charge of sixth division BFC Preussen.
Thomas Hassler plays for Germany against Scotland at the 1992 European Championship
Central midfielder – Lothar Matthaus
The captain of the winning West German team and his most talked-about name. Matthaus was part of the squad that won the European Championship in 1980 and achieved many major honors with Bayern Munich.
Matthaus was a coach for about ten years, including of the Hungarian national team, and is now a prominent pundit and commentator on German television.
Matthaus has been married five times and has four children. He was 47 when he met his fourth wife, 21-year-old Ukrainian model Kristina Liliana Chudinova, at the Munich Oktoberfest.
His last marriage, to Anastasia Klimko, ended in 2021.
Lothar Matthaus signing a 1990 Germany shirt at a reunion event in Italy in October 2020
Central midfielder – Pierre Littbarski
1990 marked the end of Littbarski’s international career, although he played club football for another seven years, finishing his career in Japan.
He then became a coach and took charge of sides in Germany, Japan, Australia, Iran and Liechtenstein.
Littbarski serves on the board of directors of the Youth Football Foundation in Germany and appeared in the German version of The Masked Singer in 2021 as ‘Hammerhead Shark’, which lasted two episodes.
Pierre Littbarski and Lothar Matthaus parade with the trophy after West Germany’s victory in 1990
Centre-forward – Rudi Voller
In an eventful Italia ’90, Voller was infamously spat at by Frank Rijkaard before being sent off, before winning the penalty in the final from which Brehme scored.
Voller later coached the German team and led them to the 2002 World Cup final, losing to Brazil.
Most recently he has been part of a ‘task force’ set up by the German Football Association ahead of their hosting of Euro 2024. Voller subsequently became sporting director of the national team and served as interim boss for a match last year before Julian Nagelsmann took over the battle went on. about.
Rudi Voller acted as Germany’s interim coach for a friendly against France last September
Centre-forward – Jürgen Klinsmann
Klinsmann is of course well known to English football fans, not only from 1990 onwards, but also for his two memorable spells at Tottenham in the Premier League.
He would also coach the German national team, as well as Bayern Munich, the United States and Hertha Berlin.
His most recent appearance for South Korea came to an ignominious end last week after the country crashed out to Jordan in the Asian Cup semi-final.
It came after a brawl between Spurs’ Son Heung-min and PSG’s Lee Kang-in over younger teammates wanting to play table tennis. Son was left with a dislocated finger.
An “inability to show leadership” was one of the reasons given for Klinsmann’s dismissal.
Jurgen Klinsmann last coached South Korea, but his tenure came to an ignominious end after their Asian Cup campaign