The legendary world and European football champion nicknamed "Iron Foot" has died

The legendary Werder Bremen and German national team defender Horst-Dieter Höttges has died at the age of 80, the Bremen club's press service reports. The footballer, who won a full set of World Cup awards (silver in 1966, bronze in 1970 and gold in 1974), died on 22 June, but his death was announced only the day before.

"We have lost one of the greatest Werder players of all time and one of the best footballers Germany has ever had," Werder's obituary reads.

Horst-Dieter Höttges, nicknamed the Iron Foot because of his uncompromising defensive play, was one of the greatest Bundesliga players of the 1960s and 1970s.

At Werder, Horst enjoyed great success with head coach Willie Multhaup. In his first season, he became the German champion. After that season, he was noticed by the Bundestim head coach Helmut Schön, who really liked the defender's intransigence and fearlessness to go all the way.

Horst-Dieter Höttges remained loyal to Werder until the end of his career. In total, he played 420 matches for the club, scoring 55 goals.

After his retirement, Horst played for amateur village clubs SC Oberbecksen and TSV Achim.

The native of Mönchengladbach never wanted to be in the spotlight, turning down offers from other teams and settling down in Bremen. Even after his career as a player, he remained loyal to the club and for many years was involved as a coach and supervisor in the development of the young players' centre.

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