Jürgen Stars

Stars began his professional career in 1967 in his hometown, with 1. FC Phönix Lübeck in the Regionalliga Nord. Also playing for Phönix Lübeck that season was defender Peter Nogly, who would later become Stars' teammate twice more at Hamburg and Tampa Bay. After four seasons in Lübeck, he joined SV Röchling Völklingen who were initially playing in the Regionalliga Südwest. Stars played there from 1971 to 1977, and under coach Helmuth Johannsen the Völklingen squad twice finished as runner-up 1972 and 1973 in the Bundesliga promotion round. In 1974 his team gained promotion to the 2. Bundesliga South. Between 1974 and 1977, he played in 112 league games at Völklingen. By signing with Hamburger SV in 1977, Stars finally made it to top-flight European football in the Bundesliga. However, he saw limited action in three seasons, serving mostly as the back-up to Rudi Kargus, who was a fixture in goal at HSV. He only played two league games, but was a member of Hamburg's 1979 Bundesliga champion team. While in HSV he appeared in several DFB-Pokal matches and one Cup Winners' Cup match. He also played in the first leg of the 1977 European Super Cup, a 1–1 draw against Liverpool. In 1980 Stars moved to newly promoted second division side VfR Bürstadt. There he appeared in 25 matches, helping VfR to 13th place in the table. However, since it was the final year that the 2. Bundesliga used the two-track system, Buerstadt was nevertheless relegated in the Amateur Oberliga Hessen for…