It takes one goal to become immortal: Andreas Brehme joins FANZONE

Imagine being famous for one goal you scored over 30 years ago and still being asked about it! Brazil’s Ronaldinho was famous for the trickery, Portugal’s Cristiano Ronaldo is famous for his technique and his antics, and the late great Gerd Müller was popular for the sheer number of goals he scored in about every season he played on a football field. In case you did not know, who we are talking about, we are proud to present our newest signing: Germany’s football legend Andreas Brehme. He scored the game-winning goal in the 1990 World Cup Final in Rome with a penalty shot against Argentina.

Brehme began his career at the age of 5, where he started playing for the HSV Barmbek-Uhlenhorst. He was coached by his father who supported him throughout his junior days. Felix Magath, who once played for the HSV and would become a successful coach, used his connections to secure the young Brehme a contract for the 1. FC Saarbrücken that played in the 2nd Bundesliga. He played there for one season from 1980 to 1981 and transferred to 1. FC Kaiserslautern in the following season. He stayed there until 1986 and scored 34 goals in 154 matches, which was quite impressive for a defensive player!

In 1985 Brehme met with FC Bayern manager Uli Hoeneß. Listen to this exclusive NFT on Binance, what happened at this first meeting in Munich. In 1986 Brehme moved to Bayern München, which was willing to pay 2 Million Deutsche Mark for the left defensive player. At that time this was the most expensive transfer of a German player within the Bundesliga. He won his first Bundesliga title with FC Bayern in the 1986–87 season, loosing only 1 game and no away losses. This feat set two Bundesliga records that lastet for 25 years! The 1986–87 season was the final season under manager Udo Lattek.

But Brehme always said, he had his best times at a different club. This was Inter Milan, where he started in 1988. He immediately became “Player of the Year” in Italy’s Serie A. In his first season his team won the Italian Championship. Listen to what Brehme says in this video NFT on Binance about coach Giovanni Trapattoni’s address to the team ahead of the 1988–89 season. Brehme also won the UEFA Cup with the team from Milan in 1991.

After a brief stint with Real Sarragossa in Spain, Brehme would be back to the club where his journey in the Bundesliga started. The 1. FC Kaiserslautern came calling and he would stay there for another 5 years. These 5 years consisted of highs and lows, with the lowest of lows definitely being the relegation to the 2nd Bundesliga after the 1995/1996 season. It was especially bitter, as Brehme had announced his retirement before and even entered the pitch with a bouquet of flowers, celebrating his extraordinary career. After a duel with Bayer 04 Leverkusen that would determine who would have to enter the 2nd Bundesliga.

The club from Kaiserslautern only managed a tie, which meant they would be relegated in a rather strange way. During the season they suffered the same number of losses as FC Bayern did, who finished 2nd in the season, but tied with their opponents 18 times that season. Emotional scenes ensued after the match as Brehme cried on the shoulder of opponent and National Team colleague Rudi Völler. The team showed the world that they could do better only a week after that match, winning the DFB Pokal against the Karlsruher SC.

Multiple players felt they had let the club down and decided against a change of team. So did Brehme as he did not retire, but continued to play for Kaiserslautern, even in the 2nd Bundesliga. Together with their new coach Otto Rehagel the team members were rewarded for their loyalty with the championship an the ascend back to the Bundesliga. It became better in the following season, where they won the Bundesliga in their first season back. They were the first team to win the 2nd and Bundesliga championship in consecutive seasons. Retiring after that championship-winning season Brehme was able to raise the trophy in his hometown of Hamburg, putting a perfect end to his career.

As one of the best German football players, it was obvious that he was playing for the German National Team. He would make his debut match in 1984 and continued to play for them until 1994. During these 10 years he played 86 games and scored 8 goals in the national dress. He made an impression in his first match, making the assist to put Germany in the lead in the 2nd minute.

There’s a match he is most known for, and it happened in 1990. The 1990 World Cup Final to be precise. After a hard-fought tournament Germany was in the final against Argentina. Five minutes before the end Germany way awarded a penalty. Usually team captain Lothar Matthäus was elected to shoot the penalties, but he decided not to, because he was wearing a new pair of shoes he wasn’t comfortable with yet. So Brehme was selected and used his biggest advantage to score the penalty. Since his childhood he was trained to be two-footed, meaning he could score with his left and right foot. He had scored a penalty with his left foot in the quarterfinals of the 1986 World Cup against the Netherlands. However he scored the cup-winning penalty with his right foot.

The goal meant a 3rd world title for Germany and Andi Brehme became a living legend. Still being the calm and collected player from the north of Germany he explained in an interview that he would celebrate the World Title by visiting his favourite Greek restaurant in Hamburg. After ending his active career he became a coach, earning his licence for “exceptional national team players” together with Joachim “Jogi” Löw, Stefan Kuntz and Jürgen Klinsmann, who all have gone on and done extraordinary jobs as national coaches on different levels. He was also inducted in the Starting 11 of the German “Football Hall of Fame”.

We at FANZONE are very excited to have him as our partner, as he is our first football legend and represents a very special time in German history, politics and sports. FANZONE is passionate about current sport teams, but also legends from the past who have made an impact just like Andi Brehme. In the end, legends are the reason why most of us have fallen in love with sports in the first place. Make sure to visit FANZONE.io and check out the Andi Brehme cards there!

Follow us into the future of digital collectibles. This is only the beginning! Join FANZONE.

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ABOUT FANZONE

FANZONE Media GmbH develops and operates a novel fan experience platform that combines digital trading cards and fantasy sports gameplay on the blockchain. On fanzone.io, users can buy, collect, trade digital trading cards of their favourite sports stars. Porsche’s company builder, Forward31, is the strategic partner of FANZONE.

Founders Dirk Weyel, Claudio Weck and Björn Hesse bring decades of experience in games, sports marketing and blockchain technology to the table. More on www.fanzone.media

For media inquiries to FANZONE, please use Björn Hesse’s contact bjoern@fanzone.media / +49–162–4046257

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