Tragic
Heinz Flohe - the conductor: Heinz “Flocke” Flohe
Heinz Flohe - the conductor: Heinz “Flocke” Flohe was part of Germany’s 1974 World Cup squad.
was part of Germany’s 1974 World Cup squad. He died in tragic circumstances in 2013 as the first member of that group to pass away. Between 1966 and 1979 he played 343 Bundesliga matches for 1. FC Köln and 1860 Munich.
With FC he won the league in 1978 and the cup in 1968, 1977 and 1978. Between 1970 and 1978 he won 39 caps for West Germany and scored eight times, taking part in the 1974 and 1978 World Cups and the 1976 European Championship.
On 1 December 1979, after a foul by Paul Steiner of MSV Duisburg, he suffered a devastating double leg break. It ended his professional career and left him with lasting nerve damage.
He sued Steiner and failed. Heart operations followed in 1992 and 2004. On 11 May 2010 Flohe collapsed after a bout of weakness and was placed in an induced coma from which he never woke.
He remained in a vegetative state until his death on 15 June 2013.
Gerhard Welz - the would-be world champion: Gerhard
Gerhard Welz - the would-be world champion: Gerhard Welz was on course to become Sepp Maier’s back-up at the 1974 World Cup.
Welz was on course to become Sepp Maier’s back-up at the 1974 World Cup. After displacing Manfred Manglitz as FC’s number one in 1971, he had produced outstanding performances when a serious injury stopped him. On 2 March 1974 he collided with Peter Hidien of Hamburger SV, was briefly unconscious, and shortly afterwards suffered another accident in training, smashing his head against a goalpost.
A blood clot was discovered and emergency surgery probably saved his life, but his career was permanently damaged.
Wolfgang Kleff and Norbert Nigbur went to the 1974 World Cup instead, while at club level Welz later slipped behind Harald Schumacher and Slobodan Topalović. He carried on playing until 1987, but bigger success never returned.
KOE — Financial Stability Score
Köln hat den Abstieg und die Transfersperre überlebt — dank Großstadt-Erlösbasis und disziplinierten PK. Der Weg zurück ist bilanziell solider als bei den meisten Absteigern.