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Leo Wilden in the stadium of his youth club VfL Köln 1899
Photo: Rainer Dahmen / IMAGO
1. FC Köln mourns the loss of its former national soccer player Leo Wilden.
The former defender died on Thursday at the age of 85, the club announced.
Wilden wore the FC jersey from 1958 to 1966 and won the German championship twice with the club during this time: in 1962 the first in the club's history, in 1964 the first in the newly introduced Bundesliga.
In 1966 he ended his Bundesliga career.
Only to then play another three seasons in the West Regional Football League at Bayer 04 Leverkusen.
In 1968, Wilden won the western championship with the »Werkself« and thus qualified for the promotion round for the Bundesliga.
First a professional footballer, then a tobacconist
But he is celebrated as a legend in Cologne.
As an indispensable part of the Cologne defense at the time, he is still considered one of the formative players in FC history.
With the German selection, Wilden took part in the 1962 World Cup in Chile, but was not used there.
Overall, he played 15 international matches.
In the same year he also played the two games in the European Cup against FC Dundee, in which the Cologne team, who were dressed all in white and a little too cocky, went down 1:8 (5:0) in Scotland.
After his career, Wilden also supported his club in scouting for talent and earned his living in tobacco goods wholesale and retail: He opened four specialty shops in his hometown, the shop in Cologne-Sülz near Geißbockheim achieved cult status among FC fans.
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