The European Player of the Year award was interesting to think about – three West Germans were voted best. The last time there were three Germans was 1972 – so, the parallel suggested the coming of a new great West German era. But… West Germany won the European championship in 1972. This time it was in 1980, so it looked like the award was trailing events. The three of 1972 were current stars at their peak and of one generation – this time it looked like three different generations were represented and may be other great players were ignored, for when it came to current success, it was debatable whether the Germans were most deserving. However, every yearly award brought criticism and doubts, so nothing new.
Bernd Schuster was third with 39 points. By now, he was playing for Barcelona, which made his ranking suspect: Barcelona was still not at its best and unable to win even the Spanish championship, let alone conquer Europe. But memories of his play in 1980 were strong and without any doubt he was considered the great star to rule the 1980s, the next generation.
Paul Breitner was second with 64 points. His return to Bayern brought him back to the centre of attention. He was the link with the great 1972 – the last of the ‘old’ golden generation, European and World champion, a player associated closely with total football. Watch out, Schuster… the newest generation was not yet ready to take the reigns, those, who played total football were still preferred and not easy to replace.
Like in 1980, number one was voted Karl-Heinz Rummenigge. At 26, he was at his peak, no doubt about it. He was the star of the new Bayern, instrumental to its coming back on top after the lean years of the second half of the 1970s; he conquered Europe with the national team, which also came back to exciting and formidable kind of football. He was already ‘King Kalle’, the biggest West German star. To a point, Rummenigge benefited greatly from Breitner’s return to Bayern: both combined in a terrific duo, called ‘Breitnigge’, was really making Bayern successful. Alas, only at home… outside West Germany Bayern was not getting anything. Still, this was the greatest German player at the moment – strong, dangerous, goal-scoring, dominant. He lacked finesse perhaps, but he had Breitner, the genius of total football of the past. And he had Schuster for the future, the closest to total football young player. So, Rummenigge was rightly on top and surely was about to influence the game in the 1980s. To a point, he was the player of the new decade – finally, the generation of the previous decade was firmly left behind.
Or so it seemed… for Schuster was quick to say right after the voting that as long as Rummenigge and Breitner, particularly Breitner, are playing for the national team, he was not going to play for West Germany. ‘They run the national team, they decide everything, and if they don’t like one’s face, this player is out’, he accused. Rightly so, it turned out.