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Horst Eckel (1932 to 2021)
Photo: Uwe Anspach / dpa
Horst Eckel, the deceased World Cup hero of 1954, is not to be given a grave of honor in his home town of Vogelbach in the Palatinate, much to the disappointment of his family.
The municipality of Bruchmühlbach-Miesau justifies this with money worries.
"Due to the considerable budget deficit of the local community and the existing strict budgetary requirements of the municipal supervisory authority, so far - in no single case - has it been decided to guarantee a voluntary service in the form of an 'honorary grave'," Mayor Erik Emich told the dpa news agency.
'I find that very unpleasant, especially since we would be taking care of the grave.
I'm just concerned that Papa gets this recognition, because he has done a lot for Vogelbach, for all of Germany," his daughter Dagmar Eckel told dpa.
She wants to fight to ensure that her father still gets an honorary grave.
Horst Eckel was born in Vogelbach, a village with 1,300 inhabitants, and last lived there with his wife Hannelore.
Youngest player on the team
Eckel died on December 3 last year at the age of 89.
He was the last surviving member of the legendary German national soccer team that won the World Cup in 1954 and went down in history with the »Miracle of Bern«.
At the age of 22, he was the youngest in the team coached by Sepp Herberger and captain Fritz Walter when they defeated Hungary 3-2 in the final.
The World Cup hero played a total of 32 times for the German Football Association (DFB) between 1952 and 1958.
With 1. FC Kaiserslautern, the outsider, nicknamed "Windhund", was twice German champion (1951 and 1953).
Eckel was buried a few days after his death in the Bruchmühlbach-Miesauer district of Vogelbach in the Kaiserslautern district.
He would have been 90 next Tuesday.
ptz/dpa
