Burdenski played 444 Bundesliga games for SV Werder Bremen, a club record. The goalkeeper represented SVW 582 times in all competitions. Dieter Burdenski was the epitome of reliability and only missed a handful of Bundesliga games during his time as the club’s number 1.

Even though Burdenski was often fighting relegation with SV Werder in his first few years at the club, he was handed his international debut in 1977 in a 2-0 win against Uruguay in Montevideo. He was widely recognised for many years as the best German goalkeeper behind the exceptional Sepp Maier. ‘Budde’ was part of the Germany squad for the 1978 World Cup in Argentina and won 12 caps in total for his country.

Despite relegation to the second division in 1980, he stuck by Werder and, after winning promotion at the first attempt, was rewarded with some successful years in the top flight as the club were regularly towards the top of the table and also played in Europe too. In the end, ‘Budde’ finished as a Bundesliga runner-up on four occasions with SVW and ended his professional career with the title in 1987/88.

Burdenski then worked for SV Werder again from 1997 to 2005 as a goalkeeping coach, with his experience helping the club’s goalkeepers to lift the DFB-Pokal in 1999 and a domestic double in 2004. He also featured for the club’s reserves once in the Regionalliga Nord in 2002, underlining his dedication to the club. Following his time as goalkeeping coach, ‘Budde’ continued to be involved with Werder. Together with his company ‘Burdenski Events’, founded in 1985, he organised events such as the club’s training camps and helped coordinate the legends team’s matches in recent years.

SV Werder Bremen are deeply saddened by the sudden and unexpected death of their honorary captain Dieter Burdenski, who attended Saturday’s home game against SC Freiburg together with the 1999 DFB-Pokal winning side. “The news of his death has shocked us and fills us with deep sorrow,” said Dr. Hubertus Hess-Grunewald, president and chairman of the supervisory board. “Budde was a big part of our team for two decades and is undoubtedly one of the greatest Werder players of all time. We all admired him for his reliability, his consistently positive outlook on life, his passion for Werder and his critical spirit. Our thoughts are with his family during this difficult time.”

Klaus Filbry, the club’s CEO, added: “In the various roles he held during his 50+ years at Werder, Budde played a big role in the club’s success. He was responsible for the legends team in recent years and through his tireless dedication, he turned it into an important flagship for our club. We’re incredibly sad to have lost not only a Werder legend, but also a fantastic person.”

SV Werder Bremen will always honour the memory of club legend Dieter Burdenski. Out of respect for his family, we kindly ask people to refrain from making any inquiries at this time.