Frank Mill: Cult footballer is dead

Frank Mill is dead. The former soccer player died on Tuesday morning (August 5, 2025) in his hometown of Essen. As a cause of death, the newspaper mentioned the consequences of a heart attack. Frank Mill was 67 years old.

Frank Mill had already suffered the heart attack at the end of May this year, but only in early July. The ex-footballer suffered him in a taxi on the journey from Malpensa Airport in Milan. He had to be flown to a clinic with a helicopter. There the doctors put him in an artificial coma. From this he has awakened in between, but now he has lost the fight.

The heart attack is particularly tragic: Frank Mill was in Italy to turn the 1990 World Cup in a documentary. The World Cup title is Mill’s greatest success than footballers, even if he never considered himself a world champion. Finally, alongside Günter Hermann (60) and Paul Steiner (68), he was one of the three field players who were not on the pitch at the World Cup.

Frank Mill’s career as a football professional began in 1976 at Rot-Weiss Essen. In 1981 he moved to Borussia Mönchengladbach, in 1986 for the then proud sum of 1.3 million D-Mark to Borussia Dortmund. From 1994 to 96 he ended his career at Fortuna Düsseldorf.

In total, the small, dribble -strong striker scored 123 goals in the Bundesliga. In this way, he lies in the list of the most successful goal scorers in the history of the league.

From 1982 to 1990 Frank Mill played 17 caps, but he did not score one goal. His career in the German Olympic selection was more successful. With this team he is a record player and record goal scorer. In 1988 he was captain of the team who won bronze in Seoul.

During his career, Mill, who comes from a simple background, was known as Schlawiner. “The Mill has been washed with all the wastewater,” said his Dortmund teammate Norbert Dickel. His autobiography, published in 2017, also had the title “The slit ear of German football”.

With Frank Mill, the second footballer died from the 1990 World Cup squad. Andreas Brehme died on February 20, 2024 at the age of 63. National coach Franz Beckenbauer also left us in 2024, and he was 78 years old.