The former goalkeeper with five major tournaments told how he ended up in a municipal apartment, surviving on 563 euros a month, from luxury and multimillion-dollar contracts.
Eike Immel is one of those cases that show that planning means everything in life, and that impulsiveness rarely goes unpunished.
Former goalkeeper of the German national team and Manchester City he spoke openly about how he went from complete luxury to the other extreme – to living on social assistance in a municipal apartment.
He wore jerseys Borussia Dortmund and Stuttgartwon the Bundesliga and made 19 appearances for West Germany in as many as five major tournaments.
From world fame, he dropped to only 563 euros a month – a huge shock for a player who earned 1.15 million euros a year at City.
In the documentary film “Poor Germany” (Armes Deutschland), he revealed how the financial collapse occurred.
He lost more than 10 million euros during his career – on nonsense.
I used to make millions, a now I live on welfare. It’s great that the government helps those who need itImmel said.
He added that during his glory days he was “spoiled by success”:
I always got the best tables in restaurants, car dealerships gave me big discounts. My salary grew from year to year, and I earned almost 1.15 million euros a year at City.
At the end of his career, in 1997, he spared no expense.
I gave a lot of money to others, invested in the wrong properties, never saved. One year I spent for Christmas 28,750 euros on clothes for a girl. My phone bill used to be 10,000 euros a month.
Eleven years after the end of his career he declared personal bankruptcy. Last year, a German court sentenced him to two years and two months in prison due to more than 100 unpaid loans, but the sentence has not yet started.
Today he lives in the small town of Statalendorf, in a municipal apartment, and volunteers as a goalkeeper coach.
I didn’t think about the future. Dealing with money has never been my forteImmel concluded.
(www.jabuka.tv | Photo: X)
