Izuchukwu OkosiFormer Germany defender Andreas Brehme, scorer of the winning goal in the 1990 World Cup final against Argentina in Rome via penalty, has died aged 63.
Brehme earned 86 caps for Germany, and scored eight goals, for the Mannshaft. He also won league titles while at Kaiserslautern, Bayern Munich and Inter Milan.
Brehme’s partner Susanne Schaefer told German news agency DPA on Tuesday that he “died suddenly” from cardiac arrest.
A versatile left-back, Brehme was at Bayern from 1986-88 and won the Bundesliga title with them in 1987.
“FC Bayern is deeply shocked by the sudden death of Andreas Brehme,” said the German club as they paid condolence to his family.
“We will always keep Andreas Brehme in our hearts – as a world champion and even more so as a very special person.
“He will always be part of the FC Bayern family. Rest in peace, dear Andi.”
Brehme played for Kaiserslautern from 1981-86 and 1993-98.
He won the Bundesliga title in 1998 and German Cup in 1996 during his time at the club, with whom he also had a spell as manager from 2000-02.
“The FCK mourns the loss of Andreas Brehme,” said a Kaiserslautern statement.
“He wore the Red Devils jersey for a total of 10 years and became German champion and cup winner with FCK.
“In 1990, he shot the German national team to the World Cup title with his penalty and finally became a football legend.”
Brehme helped Inter Milan win the Serie A title in 1989 and the Italian club said their players would wear black armbands players when they host Atletico Madrid on Tuesday in the first leg of a last-16 Champions League tie.
“A magnificent player, a true Interista,” said Inter. “C iao Andi, forever a legend.”
The 1990 Germany. World Cup squad were managed by Franz Beckenbauer, who died aged 78 in January, at the 1990 World Cup.
Izuchukwu Okosi is a Nigerian sports and entertainment journalist with two decades of experience in the media industry having begun his media journey in 2002 as an intern at Mundial Sports International (MSI) and Africa Independent Television (AIT), owners of Daar Communications Plc.
In October 2004, Okosi joined Complete Communications Limited, publishers of Complete Sports newspaper and Complete Football magazine as a reporter and later script writer for the Complete Sports studio.
He worked there for 13 years until October 2017.
Okosi also worked various times as Correspondent, Content creator and Editor at Sports Market International Magazine, Opera News, All Nigeria Soccer Media and Iconic Media Watch.
He also undertook freelance writing gigs for some local and international organizations.
Okosi is a member of the Actors Guild of Nigeria (AGN), Association of Movie Producers (AMP), Association of Voiceover Artistes of Nigeria (AVOA), Sports Writers Association of Nigeria (SWAN) and Nigeria Union of Journalists (NUJ).
He has been part of cast in some Nollywood movies and radio dramas including Blood Money 2, Scores To Settle, Dead End 2, Another Campus Tale and Battle Line.
Aside mainstream media and the entertainment industry, he has interests in scouting/unearthing of talents in the sports and creative sectors, exports business and property development.
