Career
He was a centre-back, a classical libero in the mold of Franz Beckenbauer or Willi Schulz. Jakobs played 493 games from 1971 to 1990 for Rot-Weiß Oberhausen, Tennis Borussia Berlin, MSV Duisburg and Hamburger SV.
From 1980 to 1986, Jakobs collected 20 caps for the Deutscher Fußball-Bund. His name is often misspelled as "Dietmar Jakobs".
His career ended prematurely on 20 September 1989 in the game between Hamburger SV and Werder Bremen.
When an attacker lobbed the Hamburger SV goalie, Jakobs lunged feet-first into his goal and scraped the ball off the line. However, he fell into the hooks fixing the goal to the ground (at that time, the hooks were not stipulated to be under the earth).
He hung there for 20 agonising minutes, the hook deeply embedded in his flesh. Finally, the team doctor cut the hooks from his back with a scalpel.
With this, the nerves in his back were cut.
Because of this horrible accident, he was forced to end his career. However, he regards himself lucky, as the hook missed his spinal cords be a mere two inches. Today he is an insurance broker in Norderstedt, near Hamburg.