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Paul Breitner (born September 5, 1951 in Kolbermoor, West Germany) was a German football player. One of Germany's most controversial players, the Kolbermoor-born was capped 48 times for his country.

His football career lasted from 1970 until 1983 mainly playing for Bayern Munich (70-74 and 78-83) and Real Madrid (74-78) with a short interruption in Braunschweig. His early success was as a free roaming left back, as likely to score from the right midfield as stop an attacker in his penalty area. Later in his career he moved to midfield, and became one of the top midfielders through the early 1980's.

The early peak of Breitner's long and successful career was in 1972 as part of the winning German European Championship team. This was followed 2 years later with victory as a member of the World Cup squad. The final was played in his hometown of Munich against the Netherlands. Breitner moved to Real Madrid following the World Cup and quit the West German squad, remaining off the side until enticed to return by Jupp Derwall in 1981. Breitner is one of only four footballers to have achieved the feat of scoring in two different world cup final matches, sharing that honour with Pelé, Vavá, and Zidane. He achieved this in 1974 against the Netherlands and in 1982 against Italy. Breitner managed this, despite playing a predominantly defensive role.

During his club career, Breitner won several National Championships with Bayern Munich (1972, 1973, 1974, 1980, 1981) and Real (1975, 1976), the Champions' Cup (1974) as well as the German (1971, 1982) and Spanish Cups (1975). During his spell with Munich, Karl-Heinz Rummenigge and he formed such a formidable one-two-punch that they were only called Breitnigge.

To traditional fans in Germany he was widely decried for his "revolutionary" attitude and his tendency for sharing blunt opinions on political and social issues. Before the 1982 Football World Cup (held in Spain) former "leftist" Breitner caused a major uproar in Germany when he accepted an offer by a German cosmetics company paying him the - what many Germans regarded at that time as a "scandalously high" - sum of 150,000 Deutschmark if he shaved off his fluffy full beard, used their fragrance and advertised for the company. For a lot of Germans the whole incident - being paid 150,000 Deutschmark for just shaving off a beard - was an obscene thing to do.

In 1998, Breitner was announced as the new national coach by DFB president Egidius Braun. However, after some steam from fellow DFB officials, he reconsidered his decision 17 hours later, making Breitner an infamous 17 hours national coach.

Today, Breitner works as a TV critic and columnist. Unsurprisingly, he is still controversial.

• Paul Breitner Autograph (German)
• Paul Breitner career information. (German)

	West Germany squad - 1974 FIFA World Cup Champions (2nd Title)
1 Maier | 2 Vogts | 3 Breitner | 4 Schwarzenbeck | 5 Beckenbauer | 6 Höttges | 7 Wimmer | 8 Cullmann | 9 Grabowski | 10 Netzer | 11 Heynckes | 12 Overath | 13 Müller | 14 Hoeneß | 15 Flohe | 16 Bonhof | 17 Hölzenbein | 18 Herzog | 19 Kapellmann | 20 Kremers | 21 Nigbur | 22 Kleff | Coach: Schön

	West Germany squad - 1982 FIFA World Cup Runners-up
1 Schumacher | 2 Briegel | 3 Breitner | 4 K. Förster | 5 B. Förster | 6 Dremmler | 7 Littbarski | 8 Fischer | 9 Hrubesch | 10 Müller | 11 Rummenigge | 12 Hannes | 13 Reinders | 14 Magath | 15 Stielike | 16 Allofs | 17 Engels | 18 Matthäus | 19 Hieronymus | 20 Kaltz | 21 Franke | 22 Immel | Coach: Derwall