The Season 1980/1981
It was season one after Eintracht’s biggest success in the club’s history – the win of the UEFA Cup in 1980. It was also season one after the end of the career of an Eintracht all time legend: Jürgen ‘Grabi’ Grabowski – the long time Eagles playmaker and part of the Germany team that won the World Cup in 1974 (on his 30th birthday). After 15 years and 441 league games – all for Eintracht – he had to hang up his boots after an injury he could not recover from. There were only two new signings who added to the squad of 1980/81 though.
Still the season went pretty successful with spot seven in the Bundesliga standings being the lowest all season. At the time of the final the Eagles were ranked fifth which was also their spot after the final matchday a few weeks later. Manager Lothar Buchmann had taken over from Friedel Rausch and he faced his former team VfB Stuttgart in the quarter final of the cup. This home match was won in the last minute by a goal of ‘Libero’ Bruno Pezzey. Eintracht avoided going to extra time in all cup rounds throughout scoring 23 goals in 7 matches. Two weeks ahead of the final they met FCK in the league and lost 2-0.
The Opponent
Meetings with Kaiserslautern always bear a touch of local rivalry with the cities being only around a hundred kilometers away from each other. League clashes between the two are referred to as ‘South West derbies’ and there’s been plenty of them: 78 in Bundesliga alone (26 Eintracht wins, 27 draws, 25 defeats) plus some in the cup and in Bundesliga 2.
They had Sweden’s goalkeeper legend Ronnie Hellström in goal who spend a 10 year spell at Kaiserslautern (1974 until 1984). Friedhelm Funkel was in the team that year, later long time manager at Eintracht and today at Alemannia Aachen in Bundesliga 2.
Another big name of the squad that season is Hans-Peter Briegel (pictured above in an aerial duel with Hölzenbein) who was a handful for any opponent, he earned 74 caps for Germany between 1979 and 1986 and left Kaiserslautern after 9 seasons in 1984 moving on to Italy where he played for Hellas Verona and Sampdoria Genua. Werner Melzer in FCK’s defense had his 27th birthday on the day of the cup final – he surely did not like Eintracht’s three ‘presents’ on the day.
It was the fourth time Kaiserslautern reached the German cup final but they never had won it and they would not do so until 1990 and 1992. They were managed by Karlheinz Feldkamp back then who became Eintracht manager seven years later – and who won the cup with the Eagles in 1988!
The Line-Up
There was only a single change to the starting line-up of the Eagles compared to the successful UEFA Cup final that had taken place about a year before this German cup climax! Summer signing Sziedat ‘replaced’ Ehrmantraut who had left Eintracht ahead of the season. Jürgen Pahl was in goal who had fled East Germany in 1976 together with Norbert Nachtweih, both ended up getting contracted by Eintracht and after a two year FIFA ban became regulars in the team.
It was a team of legends (pictured above): Austrian ‘Libero’ Bruno Pezzey was the tower in defense accompanied by Charly Körbel who holds the Bundesliga record of 602 appearances to this very day. Bernd ‘Dr Hammer’ Nickel in midifield was well known for his fierce shooting, Korean striker Bum-Kun Cha a favourite with the crowds. Bernd Hölzenbein played his last competitive match for the Eagles in this final, he left Frankfurt after 14 seasons, 420 matches and 160 goals for the American team Fort Lauderdale Strikers who had also been able to attract the likes of George Best and Gerd Müller back then.
The Match
The final of 1981 was held at ‘Neckarstadion’ in Stuttgart, it was only moved to Berlin on a permanent basis four years later, various venues such as Düsseldorf, Hannover and also Frankfurt had hosted it before that. Around 25,000 Eintracht supporters made their way to Stuttgart and roughly the same amount of FCK fans. Kaiserslautern played a very similar season in 1980/81 compared to Eintracht’s ending up ranked forth and also with spot seven being their lowest that year. So it didn’t come as a surprise that the media and the experts expected a cup final that could go either way.
The starting period of the match belonged to FCK who looked confident and capable but the Eagles did well to slow down the game in the opening 15 minutes. Both teams had a couple of minor chances before Nickel hit a free-kick wide after around 10 minutes, Hölzenbein just missed a Nickel cross from a free-kick (22’). Kaiserslautern’s Wolf volleyed the ball over the bar (32’) but by this time Eintracht had already started to increase the pressure.
After a set piece situation a clearance of FCK’s Neues fell to Willi Neuberger who hammered in with a drop kick - 1-0!!! And only a minute later Nachtweih hit a beauty of a 40 meter pass to Borchers who sped through the FCK defense and put it past Hellström, the second goal within a minute surely was poison for Kaiserslautern morale.
After the break FCK pushed forward in order to get one back but the Eagles kept their cool. On the hour Melzer and Briegel were free on goal after a Funkel long ball but got in the way of each other missing a great chance with Briegel aiming off target.
From a free-kick in midfield Lorant found Borchers on the wing who skillfully crossed in and Bum Kun Cha headed home – 3-0!!! And when Kaiserslautern scored after 89 minutes it did not matter anymore to team and fans – the third cup win was in the bag! (Pictured below: Eintracht skipper Hölzenbein with the cup, pictured at bottom: Charly Körbel)
The Route to Glory
1st round: VfB Gaggenau 2001 - Eintracht Frankfurt 0-3
2nd round: Eintracht Frankfurt - VfB Friedrichshafen 6-0
3rd round: Eintracht Frankfurt - SSV Ulm 1846 3-0
Last 16: VfB Oldenburg - Eintracht Frankfurt 4-5
Quarter final: Eintracht Frankfurt - VfB Stuttgart 2-1
Semi final: Eintracht Frankfurt - Hertha BSC 1-0
Final: Eintracht Frankfurt - 1. FC Kaiserslautern 3-1
The Final In Numbers
Eintracht Frankfurt-1. FC Kaiserslautern 3-1 (2-0)
DFB-Pokal 1980/1981, Final, 02.05.1981
Attendance: 71,000
Referee: Horst Joos (Stuttgart)
1-0 Willi Neuberger 38'
2-0 Ronald Borchers 40'
3-0 Bum Kun Cha 64'
3-1 Reiner Geye 90'
Line-Ups
Eintracht: Jürgen Pahl, Bruno Pezzey, Michael Sziedat, Charly Körbel, Willi Neuberger, Werner Lorant, Ronald Borchers, Norbert Nachtweih, Bernd Nickel, Bernd Hölzenbein, Bum-kun Cha
Manager: Lothar Buchmann
Kaiserslautern: Ronnie Hellström, Wolfgang Wolf, Michael Dusek, Werner Melzer, Hans-Peter Briegel, Hans-Günter Neues, Reiner Geye, Friedhelm Funkel, Benny Wendt, Hannes Bongartz, Erhard Hofeditz
Manager: Karl-Heinz Feldkamp
(Images: Eintracht Frankfurt Museum)
