Eike Immel

Infobox Football biography
playername = Eike Immel
fullname = Eike Immel
nickname =
dateofbirth = birth date and age|1960|11|27
cityofbirth = Stadtallendorf
countryofbirth = West Germany
height = height|m=1.87
currentclub =
position = Goalkeeper
years = 1978 - 1986
1986 - 1995
1995 - 1997
clubs = Borussia Dortmund
VfB Stuttgart
Manchester City
caps(goals) = 247 (0)
287 (0)
043 (0)
nationalyears = 1980 - 1988
nationalteam = West Germany
nationalcaps(goals) = 019 (0)

Eike Immel (born November 27, 1960 in Stadtallendorf) is a former German football player and manager.

A leading youth international goalkeeper for West Germany in 1978, Eike Immel was still seventeen years of age when he succeeded Horst Bertram as Borussia Dortmund's first-choice. He remained Dortmund's top choice until his 2 million Deutsche Mark transfer to VfB Stuttgart in 1986, the biggest fee ever paid for a goalkeeper in the history German football at that time. He served nine years as Stuttgart's regular goalkeeper, winning the Bundesliga title in 1992 and the UEFA Cup runner-up medal in 1989 with them. Afterwards he left for Manchester City, where he retired a at the end of the 1995-96 season. [cite web | title = Eike Immel | publisher = Fussballdaten.de | accessdate = 2008-08-14 | date = 2008 | url = http://fussballdaten.de/spieler/immeleike/ Career stats at fussballdaten.de | language = German]

His West Germany career lasted for just eight years due to his decision to retire from the West German team following EURO'88. Immel had been the starting goalkeeper since Harald Schumacher's ban from the team in 1987, and his 19th appearance in the semi-final of the 1988 UEFA European Football Championship at Volksparkstadion, Hamburg, remained his final cap for his country and made him miss out on the title winning 1990 FIFA World Cup squad for which Bodo Illgner then served as starting goalkeeper. [cite web | title = Players Info Immel | publisher = Deutscher Fußball Bund | accessdate = 2008-08-14 | date = 2008 | url = http://www.dfb.de/index.php?action=search&liga=Nationalmannschaft&id=500397&lang=E&no_cache=1&name=%3BImmel&gegner=] The mentioned 1988 UEFA European Football Championship was Immel's fifth participation in a big international tournament. The son of a farmer later admitted he decided to retire from the international game at barely 28 just because of getting competition from Bodo Illgner for the starting job, which was taken in wild haste.

Following his retirement from the game after a stay with Manchester City, whom he joined after his Stuttgart manager had preferred a younger goalkeeper in 1995, Eike Immel was working in a coaching role, like the goalkeeper coach he was under Christoph Daum at Fenerbahçe in 2005.

References