On the evening of 21 May 1980, Bernd Holzenbein became the first Eagles player to lift the UEFA Cup at a rocking Waldstadion. In a moving gesture, the Eintracht captain promptly handed the trophy to team-mate Jürgen Grabowski - the Eagles’ long-time talisman who had been sidelined since March due to injury. ‘Grabi’ then turned to the fans, who by now were chanting “Grabowski!” in unison, and held aloft the European trophy Eintracht had been craving for so long.
Schaub fires Frankfurt to the title
After falling to an undeserved 3-2 defeat in the first leg at the Bökelberg, the whole of Frankfurt was eagerly anticipating the return fixture at a sold-out Waldstadion. The home fans were out of their seats just two minutes after kick-off following Jürgen Fleer’s challenge on Bernd Nickel, only for the referee to wave play on. Bum-kun Cha and the excellent Nickel both went close to giving the Eagles the lead not long afterwards, but the breakthrough remained elusive.
The second half was a scrappier affair, with Eintracht struggling to carve out clear-cut opportunities. Goalkeeper Jürgen Pahl produced a last-gasp stop to deny Lothar Matthäus in the 74th minute, before tipping Ewald Lienen’s follow-up effort over the crossbar. Three minutes later, head coach Friedel Rausch replaced Norbert Nachtweih with Fred Schaub, who finally netted the winning goal nine minutes from time following a goal-mouth scramble.
When Belgian referee Alexis Ponnet blew the final whistle, the Waldstadion went wild. Eintracht, at long last, had clinched their first ever European title.
