The death of football legend Uwe Seeler also affects the Federal Chancellor. Scholz writes an obituary for the Hamburger in "Spiegel" and remembers encounters together.
Chancellor Olaf Scholz praised Uwe Seeler in an obituary as a "great athlete" whose "almost unlimited popularity" will outlast his death. "Uwe Seeler has combined both sides of sport in his city of Hamburg: the self-confident and the modest, the glamor and the chalk dust, the admiration for a star and the realization: Actually, there is someone like us - just a bit more successful." , writes Scholz and recalls a sentence by Seeler's father, which the son repeatedly quoted: "Remember, you are Hamburgers, reliable and fair," Scholz wrote in "Spiegel".
The soccer player Seeler not only showed self-confidence on the field, but also in Hamburg City Hall, the Chancellor continued. "A prize for good young talent work named after Uwe Seeler was awarded and the namesake gave a speech. Without manuscript, largely improvised, full of anecdotes, not without criticism of unfavorable developments, and it worked," says Scholz. "Those present hung on his every word, as the saying goes, and certainly not just because they knew about his records."
In 2016, as Hamburg's first mayor, Scholz gave the after-dinner speech for Seeler's 80th birthday. "'Die Eight laughs', that's how he was quoted that day," remembers the Chancellor and adds: "Uwe Seeler will be missed: his wife Ilka, his family, friends, but also Hamburg and, it's fair to say, our country that needs confident humble people."
Scholz was dismayed as soon as Seeler's death became known. "He was a role model for many, a football legend and of course an honorary citizen of Hamburg," wrote Scholz on Twitter. The death of the Hamburg idol triggered affected reactions from many companions. "Uwe was my oldest friend and my best," said Franz Beckenbauer of the "Bild" newspaper, for example. "He always supported me when I joined the national team at a young age. Just as he has helped everyone throughout his life. There is no other great person like Uwe," said the 76-year-old. Seeler died on Thursday at the age of 85. Both played together at the 1966 and 1970 World Cups.
