Bernard Dietz celebrates his 75th birthday this Wednesday. The MSV Duisburg legend wishes for a quick return of the Zebras to the 2nd Bundesliga.

Former international Bernard Dietz wishes his former club MSV Duisburg a quick return to the 2nd Bundesliga. “I have always said we have to get out of the 3rd League as soon as possible. Now we’ve been playing there for four years. That’s not possible,” the former national player, who turns 75 on Wednesday, told the SID.

Dietz played 394 games for MSV from 1970 to 1982 and is still a regular at home games. “Of course, that’s where you stay. I’m at every home game at MSV with my wife, I have a lifelong right to that, we always meet old acquaintances there,” he said and emphasised: “A club like Duisburg with the stadium, the fans and the tradition at least deserves the 2nd league.”

Dietz also still has many sympathies for his neighbours Schalke 04, for whom he played from 1982 to 1987, and the Revierklub VfL Bochum. “I was in Bochum for seven years as coach of the A-youth team up to the first team. But I also look to Dortmund, Preußen Münster, Rot-Weiss Essen. These traditional clubs are an enrichment, they bring the fans with them. I am a child of the Ruhr region, the heart of football still beats here,” said Dietz.