Career
He appeared in 447 Bundesliga games over the course of 17 seasons, mainly for Borussia Dortmund and Werder Bremen, scoring 213 goals. After retiring professionally in his 40"s, he played as a kicker in American football. During his early career, Burgsmüller played in two different spells for local Rot-Weiss Essen and Bayer Uerdingen alike.
In his first stint with the latter club, in the regional leagues, he scored 29 goals in two separate seasons, followed by 22.
After failing to score initially for Essen, he returned in 1974 and netted an average of 16 per year. In October 1976, Burgsmüller left Uerdingen for Borussia Dortmund (where he fielded almost exclusively as a midfielder, but where he also had the most productive years of his career individually, never netting fewer than 15 goals in the Bundesliga).
In the 1980-1981 campaign, he scored a career-best – in division one – 27 goals, helping the North Rhine-Westphalia side finish in seventh position, and ranking second in the goalscorers" chart, just two behind Karl-Heinz Rummenigge who played for champions Football Club Bayern Munich. After one sole season with 1.
Football Club Nürnberg, Burgsmüller moved to the second level with Rot-Weiß Oberhausen.
In his first year, he was crucial as the team narrowly avoided relegation, scoring 29 times and being crowned Torjäger, with 12 goals more than the next player. Burgsmüller started the next season in scoring fashion, netting seven times in only 15 matches. Burgsmüller retired at almost 41, also having appeared three times for West Germany, in friendlies comprised in a three-month span.
Burgsmüller made a comeback in NFL Europe in 1996, being Rhein Fire"s kicker from 1996 to 2002, becoming the oldest professional American football player in history, at age 52.