Karl Allgöwer (born 5 January 1957) is a German former professional footballer who played as a

midfielder In the sport of association football, a midfielder takes an Glossary of association football terms#O, outfield position primarily in the middle of the pitch. Midfielders may play an exclusively defensive role, breaking up attacks, and are in t ...

. He played most of his career at

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

, winning the

Bundesliga The Bundesliga (; ), sometimes referred to as the Fußball-Bundesliga () or 1. Bundesliga (), is a professional association football league in Germany and the highest level of the German football league system. The Bundesliga comprises 18 teams ...

in 1984. Allgöwer was part of the German silver squad for the 1986 FIFA World Cup.

Club career

Growing up in

Geislingen an der Steige Geislingen an der Steige () is surrounded by the heights of the Swabian Jura, Swabian Alb and embedded in 5 valleys. It is a town in the Göppingen (district), district of Göppingen in Baden-Württemberg in southern Germany. The name relates ...

, Allgöwer completed his youth years with SV Altenstadt and SC Geislingen before moving to

Stuttgart Stuttgart (; ; Swabian German, Swabian: ; Alemannic German, Alemannic: ; Italian language, Italian: ; ) is the capital city, capital and List of cities in Baden-Württemberg by population, largest city of the States of Germany, German state of ...

to score 59 goals for 2. Bundesliga team Stuttgarter Kickers from 1977 to 1980 as striker. Local rival VfB Stuttgart paid Kickers 750,000 Deutsche Mark to team him up with their

squad. Just a few matches for them, he got selected for the B-international team of Germany, impressing as a goalscoring midfielder. His immediate progress earned him a call-up from Jupp Derwall for

Germany Germany, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It lies between the Baltic Sea and the North Sea to the north and the Alps to the south. Its sixteen States of Germany, constituent states have a total popu ...

. In

Hanover Hanover ( ; ; ) is the capital and largest city of the States of Germany, German state of Lower Saxony. Its population of 535,932 (2021) makes it the List of cities in Germany by population, 13th-largest city in Germany as well as the fourth-l ...

they faced France in November 1980 and Allgöwer was having a bright debut, playing on the right in midfield and cementing his ambitions. Subsequent to him taking part regularly for Germany on their way to the 1982 FIFA World Cup, his participation in that tournament was expected. However, Allgöwer retired from playing for West Germany before the World Cup. Allgöwer's international retirement of 1982 lasted for three years. Three years in which he once won the Bundesliga title with Stuttgart (in 1984) and in which he massively expanded his importance for his club. Franz Beckenbauer, successor of Jupp Derwall at the helm of the German team in 1984, attempted to lure the strong shooting player out of that retirement, but Beckenbauer had to wait until October 1985 to see Allgöwer return for the World Cup qualifier against

Portugal Portugal, officially the Portuguese Republic, is a country on the Iberian Peninsula in Southwestern Europe. Featuring Cabo da Roca, the westernmost point in continental Europe, Portugal borders Spain to its north and east, with which it share ...

(0–1), which ironically took place at

's Neckarstadion. He kept on for West Germany then, declaring his final international retirement after staying unused in the 1986 FIFA World Cup runner-up campaign of Germany. He collected 10 caps. On club level he remained a key player for his sole team, switching to a sweeper role later on. Karl's brother Ralf also played a few matches for Stuttgart in these years, but never gaining the status Karl had for his coaches and the Stuttgart supporters. In 1989, the powerful free-kick specialist was part of the Stuttgart XI with Guido Buchwald and Jürgen Klinsmann that got defeated by Diego Maradona's SSC Napoli in the UEFA Cup final. After 338 Bundesliga matches Allgöwer said farewell to the German top division in the summer of 1991.

Honours

VfB Stuttgart *

UEFA Cup The asterisk ( ), from Late Latin , from Ancient Greek , , "little star", is a Typography, typographical symbol. It is so called because it resembles a conventional image of a star (heraldry), heraldic star. Computer scientists and Mathematici ...

runner-up: 1988–89 *

: 1983–84 * DFB-Pokal runner-up: 1985–86 West Germany *

FIFA World Cup The FIFA World Cup, often called the World Cup, is an international association football competition among the senior List of men's national association football teams, men's national teams of the members of the FIFA, Fédération Internatio ...

runner-up: 1986

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Allgower, Karl 1957 births Living people People from Göppingen (district) Footballers from Stuttgart (region) German men's footballers Germany men's international footballers West German men's footballers Germany men's B international footballers Stuttgarter Kickers players VfB Stuttgart players 1986 FIFA World Cup players Bundesliga players 2. Bundesliga players Men's association football midfielders Recipients of the Order of Merit of Baden-Württemberg