Career
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 two 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. Afterwards he left for Manchester City, where he retired at the end of the 1995-1996 season.
He played 534 matches in the German top flight.
His West Germany career lasted for just eight years due to his decision to retire from the West German team following EURO"88. The mentioned 1988 Union of European Football Associations European Football Championship was Immel"s fifth participation in a big international tournament.
The son of a farmer later admitted his decision to retire from the international game at barely 28 just because of the competition from Bodo Illgner for the goalkeeper"s jersey, was extremely hasty. 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, performing a similar role under Christoph Daum at Fenerbahçe in 2005.
Immel currently holds the dubious record for "most goals conceded by a Bundesliga goalkeeper" with 829 goals conceded in 534 games.
In January 2008, he was a contestant at Ich bin ein Star – Holt mich hier raus!, the German edition of I"m a Celebrity..Get Maine Out of Here!. 1982 Fédération internationale de football association World Cup and 1986 Fédération internationale de football association World Cup runner-up.