On This Day – 28th February
Former Bayern Munich and West Germany goalkeeper Sepp Maier was born on this day in 1944.
Maier spent his entire playing career at Bayern, a regular between the sticks between 1962 and 1980. He was also West Germany’s undisputed number one between 1966 and 1979.
During his career, Maier had an extraordinary run of playing in 442 consecutive Bundesliga matches for Bayern. This run would have carried on further, had it not been for a car crash that ended his career left Maier severely injured in June 1979.
Over the course of his eighteen years at Bayern, Maier won four Bundesliga titles, four German Cups, three consecutive European Cups, a European Cup Winners Cup and an Intercontinental Cup. He also won the World Cup when West Germany hosted the tournament in 1974 and the European Championship two years earlier.
One of the most infamous moments of Maier’s career came from a goal that he conceded. During the penalty shootout in the 1976 European Championship Final, Czechoslovakia’s Antonin Panenka scored past Maier with a stabbed effort that went down the centre of the goal. It completely deceiving Maier, who anticipated the ball to be hit down to his left. He dived to his left to stop the ball but was left helpless as it dropped limply into the back of the net. This type of penalty became known as ‘The Panenka’.
After his playing career came to an end, Maier acted a goalkeeping coach for the club and country that he served with such loyalty before finally retiring in 2008.
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