"It is a great honour to be appointed to the Hall of Fame of German football," Uli Hoeneß said as he headlined a four-name induction that also includes Pierre Littbarski, Hennes Weisweiler and Kerstin Stegemann. The Hall of Fame of German football was launched in 2019, and it is based at the German Football Museum in Dortmund.
The class and the setting
Manuel Neukirchner, director of the German Football Museum in Dortmund, said the four arrivals could hardly have been more high-profile. He added: "All four have achieved extraordinary things for German football over a long period of time."
That is the right framing for this class. Hoeneß brings the weight of a long Bayern story, Littbarski arrives with a World Cup winner's résumé, Weisweiler's legacy still sits deep in German coaching history, and Stegemann's record speaks for itself.
Stegemann and Weisweiler's place in the group
Stegemann was capped 191 times, won world titles with the DFB women in 2003 and 2007, and collected four European Championship titles plus three Olympic bronze medals. Her own reaction matched the scale of that career. "Being inducted into the Hall of Fame is a huge honour for me," she said. "I first googled all the names gathered there - and, to be honest, it makes me a bit scared that I now belong to this circle."
Weisweiler's case is built on trophies and influence. He led Gladbach to three league titles, the DFB Cup and the UEFA Cup, and later took 1. FC Köln to the double in 1978. In 2005, the DFB renamed its central coaching training centre the Hennes-Weisweiler Academy.
[Writers note: The Hall of Fame now has another class that fits its status, and the next addition will be measured against this one.]
Written by Jack Mercer with AI-assisted research, cross-checked against 1 outlet. How we work →
