Uwe Seeler, one of Germany’s greatest soccer players and arguably the world’s best striker of his era, who captained West Germany in their dramatic and controversial 1966 World Cup final defeat to England, died July 21 at his home in Norderstedt, near Hamburg. He was 85.
His career-long club Hamburger SV (SportVerein, or Sporting Club) announced his death, citing his family, without specifying a cause. But he had suffered ill health in recent years, after a car accident in 2010 and a broken hip in 2020. He had also been fitted with a pacemaker.
He played in four World Cups — held every four years — for what was then West Germany, and he scored in all four tournaments, in 1958, 1962, 1966 and 1970.