By Ben McFadyean.
The name Thomas Häßler is music to the ears of German football fans in the 1990s. One of the most talented playmakers in German football history, he made 101 appearances for Germany, including winning the FIFA World Cup at Italia 90 and twice reaching the final of the UEFA European Championship.
With a potent shot, the 1.66m midfielder was a player of real technical quality who could carry the ball well and relished one-on-ones, a game-changer. The midfielder made 539 professional appearances, notably with FC Cologne, Juventus, Borussia Dortmund, and AS Roma.
His professional career began with Cologne in 1983/84, part of an outstanding generation of players at the Rheinland-based club, alongside Pierre Littbarski, Harald ‘Toni’ Schumacher, and Stefan Engels, the Berlin-born player reached the UEFA Cup final in 1986, losing to Real Madrid at their stadium, the Estadio Santiago Bernabeu, and twice finished second in the Bundesliga in season 1988-89 and 1989-90.
Known as ‘Icke’ to fellow players and fans alike, Häßler spent just one season with Italian giants Juventus. Ottavio Bianchi brought the masterful midfielder to AS Roma the following season. The club reached the final Italian cup, the Coppa Italia, but silverware remained elusive.
After two and a half years with the three-time Serie A champions, Häßler made what many regarded as a step backward by joining mid-table Bundesliga club Karlsruher SC. However, he became the leading player at the club, once more in a German cup final, which was lost against 1. FC Kaiserslautern.
BVB coach Michael Skibbe recruited the popular Berliner. Still, again, he found little way of getting around fellow German international midfield maestro Andreas Möller and remained only one season for 1860 Munich.
Despite scoring 81 goals in his impressive 539 professional appearances, honours remained elusive in club football. In the DFB team, however, the free-kick specialist finally enjoyed the success that his ability merited, winning the Italia 1990 FIFA World Cup in which he played with the number 8.
Thomas Häßler retired in 2004. In 07/08, he answered the call to become assistant manager to Berti Vogts with Nigeria. He returned home to 1—FC Köln, where he remained in a supporting role between 2008 and 10. A brief stay with the Iranian club Paddeh was followed by a start-up club in which he took an investor role, Berlin United, but he exited after just two seasons in 2019.
After a break, ‘Icke’ took over the management of BFC Preußen Berlin in 2022. Away from the spotlight, to the delight of his fans, Häßler is now knocking on the door of professional football once more.
The club plays its football at the 5,000-capacity Preußen-Stadion an der Malteserstraße in Berlin’s Steglitz-Zehlendorf district. It is currently at the top of Germany’s 5th tier, Oberliga NOFV Nord (North-East division).
A founding member of the DFB, the German football association, in 1900 and three-time winners of the Landespokal, the regional cup in Berlin, the Preußen sank as low as the 7th tier in the early 1999/2000s and, on several occasions, faced financial ruin.
This season, however, with five games to go, the club, which plays in black and white, is top of the league, four points ahead of SV Lichtenberg.
Promotion would automatically bring the Preußen, which means Prussians, back into professional football, into the fourth tier—the highest the club has ever gone in its 130-year history.
Rising to the North-Eastern division of the Regionalliga means joining one of the most competitive fourth tiers out of the six divisions the fourth in the German pyramid is divided into. The league is basically a remake of the former East German top division, the Oberliga.
Preußen would compete against former champions and cup winners, including Lok Leipzig, BFC Dynamo Berlin, FSV Zwickau, Viktoria Berlin, Hallescher SC, and Carl Zeiss Jena.
A lot of credit can be given for the promotion to the tireless commitment of the former Germany international. Exactly zero was invested in transfers in the summer break, and the side has a squad value of just €0.2m.
However, with an average of just 146 spectators per game this season, it can only be hoped that the league of largely local derbies and big names will generate more resonance among fans and recognition for the player who is also warmly remembered for his TV appearances in Germany on shows like MTV’s Let’s Dance and the German version of ‘I’m a celebrity, get me out of here’, and who remains in the top 15 most-capped players ever for the four-time World Champions.