Ruud Gullit and Völler

Rudi Völler and Ruud Gullit as world stars in football 

Both Rudi Völler, who is particularly well known to us Germans, and Ruud Gullit were both among the best players of their time and were both able to win several titles.

• Rudi Völler was a trained striker and is considered one of the most accurate players of all time. For example, he holds the record for the most goals in the first 100 games for a club (73 goals for Werder Bremen) and has been the top scorer several times in various competitions.
• He played mainly for Werder Bremen, AS Roma, Bayer Leverkusen and Olympique Marseille, with whom he became the first German Champions League won.
• You have come to know Rudi Völler lately mainly as the former team boss of the German national team (2000-2004) and as the sports director of Bayer Leverkusen (since 2005).
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• Ruud Gullit was a mix of midfielder and striker, depending on how he best suited the team's game concept. He began his time in the Netherlands at Feyernoord Rotterdam and PSV Eindhoven, among others. He later moved to Italy and played for AC Milan.


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• Among other things, he won the European Cup with AC Milan and was named European Footballer of the Year in 1987 and also named World Footballer of the Year.

The rivalry between national teams

Even if Ruud Gullit and Ruse Völler often met with their club teams, it was like that historically the most important games by far were those between the Dutch and the German National team.

• There has been a growing rivalry between the national teams for a number of years, which arose primarily from the 1974 World Cup final. De Netherlands has qualified for the finals of a World Cup for the first time and is the favorite for the title. In the final, however, they lost 2-1 to Germany. Gerd Müller, whom you may also know by the nickname "Bomber of the Nation", scored the winning goal.
• The Netherlands was devastated after the defeat, especially as some players lost family members during World War II, which made the game even more explosive.
• In the following years the rivalry grew stronger, so that there were almost fights like at the 1978 World Cup between the German Bernd Hölzenbein and the Dutchman Dick Nanninga.
• At the European Championship in Germany in 1988, there should be revenge from the security of the Dutch. In the semifinals, the team around stars like Ronald Koeman, Frank Rijkaard or Ruud Gullit met arch-rivals Germany around Lothar Matthäus, Jürgen Klinsmann and Rudi Völler.
• The mood was already so heated before the game that, for example, Ruud Gullit "We'll eat them up!" called. They won the hard-fought game with a goal in the penultimate minute of the game 2-1 and was able to win again against Germany for the first time in 32 years.
• After the game, the whole of the Netherlands celebrated and the Dutch players left theirs too Emotions run wild when, for example, Ronald Koeman demonstratively shoved his buttocks in Olaf Thon's jersey wiped off.
• At the 1990 World Cup, the teams met again, in which Rudi Völler and Ruud Gullit were again in the starting lineup. The game in the round of 16 of the World Cup did not go down in history because it clearly won 2-1 and was thus able to return the favor. Rather, it came to the spitting affair, which you have certainly seen before. Rudi Völler was spat at twice by the Dutch star Frank Rjikaard, whereupon, curiously, both were later sent off. As you probably know, Germany won the soccer world championship for the last time in 1990.