Klaus-Dieter Sieloff (27 February 1942 – 13 December 2011) was a German

footballer A football player or footballer is a sportsperson who plays one of the different types of football. The main types of football are association football, American football, Canadian football, Australian rules football, Gaelic football, rugb ...

who played as a defender. He spent 11 seasons in the

Bundesliga The Bundesliga (; ), sometimes referred to as the Fußball-Bundesliga () or 1. Bundesliga (), is a professional association football league in Germany. At the top of the German football league system, the Bundesliga is Germany's primary footb ...

with

VfB Stuttgart Verein für Bewegungsspiele Stuttgart 1893 e. V., commonly known as VfB Stuttgart (), is a German sports club based in Stuttgart, Baden-Württemberg. The club's football team is currently part of Germany's first division, the Bundesliga. VfB S ...

and

Borussia Mönchengladbach Borussia Verein für Leibesübungen 1900 e. V. Mönchengladbach, commonly known as Borussia Mönchengladbach (), Mönchengladbach () or Gladbach (; abbreviated as Borussia MG, BMG), is a professional football club based in Mönchengladbach, Nort ...

. He played in two World Cup Qualifying matches in 1966.

Early life

During his youth in

Kiel Kiel () is the capital and most populous city in the northern German state of Schleswig-Holstein, with a population of 246,243 (2021). Kiel lies approximately north of Hamburg. Due to its geographic location in the southeast of the Jutland ...

, Sieloff aimed to become a boxer, having stood in the ring 25 times by the age of 14. When his family moved to

Rottweil Rottweil (; Alemannic: ''Rautweil'') is a town in southwest Germany in the state of Baden-Württemberg. Rottweil was a free imperial city for nearly 600 years. Located between the Black Forest and the Swabian Alps, Rottweil has nearly 25,00 ...

near

Stuttgart Stuttgart (; Swabian: ; ) is the capital and largest city of the German state of Baden-Württemberg. It is located on the Neckar river in a fertile valley known as the ''Stuttgarter Kessel'' (Stuttgart Cauldron) and lies an hour from the Sw ...

and after visiting football games of

Neckarstadion Mercedes-Benz Arena () is a stadium located in Stuttgart, Baden-Württemberg, Germany and home to German Bundesliga club VfB Stuttgart. Before 1993 it was called Neckarstadion (), named after the nearby river Neckar and between 1993 and July ...

, Sieloff's interest however shifted from boxing to football. In October 1960, he played his first game for VfB Stuttgart in the

Oberliga Süd Oberliga ( en, Premier league) may refer to: Association football * Oberliga (football), currently the fifth tier of the German football league system, formerly the first * DDR-Oberliga, the first tier of football in East Germany until 1990, rep ...

. There he soon became a fixture in the stopper position in Stuttgart's team.

Career

Physically strong yet technically adept, Sieloff soon got the attention of West Germany national team coach Sepp Herberger, who first called him up for a 1964 friendly against

Finland Finland ( fi, Suomi ; sv, Finland ), officially the Republic of Finland (; ), is a Nordic country in Northern Europe. It shares land borders with Sweden to the northwest, Norway to the north, and Russia to the east, with the Gulf of Bot ...

in Helsinki. During the next year, Sieloff became the standard

sweeper Sweepers are small, tropical marine (occasionally brackish) perciform fish of the family Pempheridae. Found in the western Atlantic Ocean and Indo-Pacific region, the family contains about 26 species in two genera. One species (''Pempheris xanth ...

of West Germany. As a player, Sieloff became known for surging forward from the sweeper position, often scoring with long range shots. Unfortunately for Sieloff, he lost his starting place in the West Germany national team during the 1965–66 season and thus did not feature in the

1966 FIFA World Cup The 1966 FIFA World Cup was the eighth FIFA World Cup, a quadrennial football tournament for men's senior national teams. It was played in England from 11 July to 30 July 1966. The England national football team defeated West Germany 4-2 in th ...

. During the next four years, the sweeper position was usually that of either Willi Schulz or

Karl-Heinz Schnellinger Karl-Heinz Schnellinger (born 31 March 1939) is a German former footballer who played as a defender. An athletic and hard-tackling player, with a strong physique, he was nicknamed the " Volkswagen" for his continuity of performance, both in q ...

and thus Sieloff did not gain anymore caps up to 1970. After the

1970 FIFA World Cup The 1970 FIFA World Cup was the ninth edition of the FIFA World Cup, the quadrennial international football championship for men's senior national teams. Held from 31 May to 21 June in Mexico, it was the first World Cup tournament held outside ...

, with Schulz retiring from international play and Schnellinger not featuring regularly in the German lineups due to playing abroad, Sieloff revived his international career, which was also fostered by his success at club level with

. In 1969, Sieloff had made the change from

to Borussia Mönchengladbach. Their coach Hennes Weisweiler intended to strengthen the defense of his young team, which was already very strong offensively, but lacked the defensive thoroughness to succeed in a long league campaign. For the 1969–70 season, Mönchengladbach added Sieloff as sweeper as well as Ludwig Müller as the stopper. With the defense strengthened, Borussia Mönchengladbach won the 1969–70 and the 1970–71 Bundesliga seasons. With Sieloff being one of the celebrated stars of the team, he made his comeback for West Germany in April 1970 in a friendly against

Romania Romania ( ; ro, România ) is a country located at the crossroads of Central Europe, Central, Eastern Europe, Eastern, and Southeast Europe, Southeastern Europe. It borders Bulgaria to the south, Ukraine to the north, Hungary to the west, S ...

. After the 1970 World Cup, with Schulz retired, Sieloff once again became the starting sweeper of West Germany. However, during 1971 it became apparent that

Franz Beckenbauer Franz Anton Beckenbauer (, ; born 11 September 1945) is a German former professional footballer and manager. In his playing career he was nicknamed ''Der Kaiser'' ("The Emperor") because of his elegant style, dominance and leadership on the fi ...

, who previously played in midfield, was the strongest option at the sweeper position, which meant the end of Sieloff's international career after 14 appearances. For Borussia Mönchengladbach, Sieloff played until 1974 when he moved to

Alemannia Aachen Alemannia Aachen () or ATSV Alemannia 1900 is a German football club from the western city of Aachen, North Rhine-Westphalia. A long term fixture of the country's second division, ''Alemannia'' enjoyed a three-year turn in the Bundesliga in the ...

, where he remained until 1976. He ended his career in 1977, playing one season for TSG Backnang. After his career, Sieloff became chief of the

Mercedes-Benz Mercedes-Benz (), commonly referred to as Mercedes and sometimes as Benz, is a German luxury and commercial vehicle automotive brand established in 1926. Mercedes-Benz AG (a Mercedes-Benz Group subsidiary established in 2019) is headquarte ...

company-facilitated sports activities group. He died in December 2011.

Honours

Borussia Mönchengladbach *

: 1969–70, 1970–71 *

DFB-Pokal The DFB-Pokal ( is a German knockout football cup competition held annually by the German Football Association (DFB). Sixty-four teams participate in the competition, including all clubs from the Bundesliga and the 2. Bundesliga. It is considered ...

: 1972–73 *

UEFA Cup A cup is an open-top used to hold hot or cold liquids for pouring or drinking; while mainly used for drinking, it also can be used to store solids for pouring (e.g., sugar, flour, grains, salt). Cups may be made of glass, metal, china, clay ...

finalist: 1972–73 West Germany *

FIFA World Cup The FIFA World Cup, often simply called the World Cup, is an international association football competition contested by the senior men's national teams of the members of the ' ( FIFA), the sport's global governing body. The tournament has ...

: runner-up

1966 Events January * January 1 – In a coup, Colonel Jean-Bédel Bokassa takes over as military ruler of the Central African Republic, ousting President David Dacko. * January 3 – 1966 Upper Voltan coup d'état: President Maurice Yaméogo ...

; third place 1970

References

External links

* * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Sieloff, Klaus-Dieter 1942 births 2011 deaths People from Tilsit Sportspeople from East Prussia German men's footballers Germany men's international footballers VfB Stuttgart players Borussia Mönchengladbach players Alemannia Aachen players 1966 FIFA World Cup players 1970 FIFA World Cup players Bundesliga players Men's association football sweepers Men's association football defenders Sportspeople from Kaliningrad Oblast Footballers from Kiel People from Rottweil Footballers from Freiburg (region) West German men's footballers