The 1970s got off to a rotten start as a match-fixing scandal rocked the Bundesliga - those who doctored results included Schalke's Klaus Fischer, whose youthful mistake would cost him an international career. But German football quickly recovered, thanks to a host of great talents and innovations in the game, for example, Fischer's patented bicycle kick.
The German national team won the European Championship in 1972 and the World Cup in 1974, and those triumphs bolstered the league. The decade also saw the rise of the Bundesliga's first great rivalry, Bayern Munich versus Mönchengladbach. Matches between those two teams pitted Bonhof against Maier, Franz Beckenbauer against Günter Netzer, Berti Vogts against Gerd Müller.
Meanwhile, rebels like Netzer, Meier and Paul Breinter were rejecting the almost authoritarian structures at many clubs. The 70's were the age in which footballers became rock stars in Germany. Hamburg striker Kevin Keegan took that a bit too far at the end of the decade, launching an ill-advised singing career.
All that and more as Kick off! looks back at the swinging 1970s.