Josef "Sepp" Herberger (March 28, 1897 in Mannheim, Germany — April 28, 1977 in Weinheim-Hohensachsen, Germany) was a German football player and manager. He is most famous for being the manager of the West German national team which won the 1954 FIFA World Cup – The Miracle of Bern.

Herberger played three times for the German football team between 1921 and 1925 before becoming assistant to Dr. Otto Nerz in 1932. Herberger succeeded him as national coach after Germany's uninspired loss to Norway at the 1936 Olympics. After the war he had a short club spell with Eintracht Frankfurt. He remained national coach until 1964, when he was succeeded by Helmut Schön. He died of pneumonia in Mannheim aged 80.

Herberger was noted for his ability to sum up the essence of the game in short phrases, many of which survive to this day, such as:

(Literally: The ball always has the best physical fitness).

Probably the most famous quote is

While this is the most-often cited version, the full quotation is actually

Friedrich "Fritz" Walter (31 October 1920 – 17 June 2002) was a German footballer. In his time with the German national team, he won 61 caps and scored 33 goals.

Walter was exposed to football early with his parents working at the 1. FC Kaiserslautern club restaurant. By 1928 he had joined the Kaiserslautern youth academy, and he made his first team debut at 17, continuing an association with the club that would be his only professional club.

International pro teams had repeatedly offered him hefty sums, but with support from his wife always declined in order to stay at home, to play for his home town, the national team and "Chef" (German for "boss") Herberger.

Walter debuted with the German national team in 1940 under Sepp Herberger, and scored a hat-trick against Romania.

Walter was drafted into the armed forces in 1942, however, the end of the war found 24 year old Fritz in a Prisoner of War camp in Máramarossziget in which he played with Hungarian and Slovakian guards. When the Soviets arrived they in general took all German prisoners back to a Gulag in Soviet Union where life expectancy was about five years. Fortunately, one of the Hungarian prison guards had seen Fritz playing for Germany, and told them that Fritz was not German but Austrian.

Uwe Seeler (born 5 November 1936 in Hamburg) is a former German football official and retired football player. He played for Hamburger SV and also made 72 appearances for the West German national team.

Seeler followed in his father's footsteps as a player for Hamburger SV, making his first team debut in 1954 in a German Cup match, aged just under 18, scoring four goals (8–2 vs. Holstein Kiel). In later years, despite tempting offers from Italian and Spanish clubs he remained loyal to Hamburg, working on a second career as a merchant besides playing football, as in those days football stars in Germany did not earn the huge salaries seen now.

Seeler was a gifted striker who, among other things, was renowned for his overhead kick. He scored 137 times in 239 Bundesliga games, 43 times in 72 international games for the German national team, and 21 times in 29 European club tournament games. He was captain of both his club team and the national team for many years. He and his club won the German championship in 1960 and the DFB-Pokal (German FA Cup) in 1963. He was top scorer of the first Bundesliga season 1963–64 and German Footballer of the Year in 1960, 1964 and 1970.

George Best (22 May 1946 – 25 November 2005) was a Northern Irish professional footballer who played as a winger for Manchester United and the Northern Ireland national team. In 1968 he won the European Cup with United, and was named the European Footballer of the Year and Football Writers' Association Player of the Year. He is described by the national team's governing body, the Irish Football Association, as the "greatest player to ever pull on the green shirt of Northern Ireland".

Born and raised in Belfast, Northern Ireland, Best began his club career in England with Manchester United, who had spotted his talent at the age of 15. He went on to see success with United scoring 179 goals from 470 appearances over 11 years. His playing style combined pace, acceleration, balance, two-footedness, goalscoring and the ability to beat defenders. Best unexpectedly quit United relatively early in 1974 at age 27, but returned to football for a number of clubs around the world in short spells, until finally retiring in 1983, age 37. In international football, he was an automatic choice when fit, being capped 37 times and scoring nine goals from 1964 to 1977, although the team's performance never allowed his talent to be displayed in the finals of a European Championship or World Cup.

Robert Enke (24 August 1977 – 10 November 2009) was a German football goalkeeper.

Enke played at leading clubs in several European countries, namely Barcelona, Benfica and Fenerbahçe, but made the majority of his appearances for Bundesliga side Hannover 96 in his homeland.

He won eight full international caps for the German national team between 2007 and his death in 2009, and was part of the squad which finished as runners-up in Euro 2008.

On 10 November 2009, Enke committed suicide. At the time of his death, he was widely considered to be a leading contender for the German number one spot at the 2010 World Cup.

Robert Enke was married to former Modern Pentathlete Teresa Reim and had a daughter, Lara, who died (aged two) on 17 September 2006 due to a heart birth defect (hypoplastic left heart syndrome). In May 2009 they adopted a baby girl, Leila. Enke lived with his family on a small farm in Empede, near Neustadt am Rübenberge until his death in November 2009.

Enke was involved with his wife in several animal rights campaigns, and they owned many pets. He lent his face to the PETA campaign against the fur industry.