Pierre Littbarski - the dribbler: Littbarski moved from Hertha Zehlendorf to Cologne for 13,000 Deutschmark in 1978. He broke off his training to become a tax official and competed with Roger van Gool for the right-wing spot under Hennes Weisweiler. Van Gool’s relaxed message to the 18-year-old rookie was: “Today will be your last game.” It was not. Littbarski developed into a regular in 1979/80, then into an international.
After the 1986 World Cup he moved to Racing Paris, then returned in 1987 because of homesickness - and because FC had no money, he effectively financed part of his own transfer by granting the club a loan. In 1993 he moved to JEF United Ichihara in Japan, where he did not get homesick and married again. Later, his first wife sold “the Littbarski collection” online, including awards and memorabilia.
Litti even appeared as a character in a Japanese language textbook.