In a way, the Volksparkstadion was his living room. Until old age, and as long as his health allowed, Uwe Seeler watched his beloved HSV. We talked shop and laughed with friends in the VIP area. Thousands of people are expected this Wednesday (from 2 p.m. / ARD and NDR) to commemorate the icon of Hamburger SV and the national soccer team at this very location. It could be the largest funeral service for a German athlete that has ever existed. In addition to Chancellor Olaf Scholz and Hamburg's Mayor Peter Tschentscher, the DFB leadership has announced that actor Olli Dittrich ("Dittsche") will also give a speech as a friend of the family.
Uwe Seeler is Hamburg, and Hamburg worships Uwe Seeler. In the old, drafty Volksparkstadion with a running track and sparse roofing, Seeler, who died on July 21 at the age of 85, had organized the victories for HSV himself and shot himself to the top scorer in the Bundesliga in 1964. The stadium for the funeral service is an appropriate and dignified place. Remember the memorial service for the former national goalkeeper Robert Enke in front of around 35,000 people on November 15, 2009 in the Hannover 96 stadium.
Seeler is not only a Hamburg legend, but is revered nationwide and even worldwide. He was one of the most successful goalscorers, an impeccable sportsman and a straight-forward and down-to-earth person of a kind that is rare today. His death touched millions of people. For them, “Us Uwe”, as he was called in Low German slang, remains a passionate and decent sportsman who values loyalty to his home club and his hometown more than millions in salaries abroad.
In its history, Hamburg has mourned the loss of several great personalities who were so popular and respected that thousands of people wanted to say goodbye to them. On November 23, 2015, a state ceremony was held for former Chancellor Helmut Schmidt in Hamburg's Michel with 1,800 invited guests. Also in the Michel, around 2000 people came together on January 14, 2020 to commemorate the popular Hamburg actor Jan Fedder. Numerous mourners joined when a convoy then rolled through the St. Pauli district, past the Davidwache, where Fedder had played the policeman Dirk Matthies in the TV series "Großstadtrevier".
What “Uns Uwe” means to people can also be seen in the numbers. On the first weekend after Seeler's burial in the Ohlsdorf cemetery, more than 1,200 people visited his grave. “We had so many handbills printed describing the way to the grave site. They were all sold out," said cemetery spokesman Lutz Rehkopf. This tremendous sympathy was registered neither after Schmidt's burial nor after that of Fedder.
The role that Seeler played in the history of German sport and the charisma he still has today is made clear by the fact that Chancellor Scholz is attending the funeral service. As a former mayor of Hamburg, Scholz had a close relationship with Seeler, who had been an honorary citizen of the Hanseatic city since 2003. On the day of his death, Scholz spoke from the heart of millions when he tweeted: "We all want to be like UnsUwe: self-confident and modest."
