Erwin Kostedde - Innocent in jail: Kostedde scored 98 goals in 219 Bundesliga matches and became the first Black player to represent Germany, making three appearances in 1974 and 1975. He debuted on December 22, 1974 in the European Championship qualifier against Malta. Then-Werder manager Rudi Assauer once said that Bremen did not need Kostedde to run anymore, it would be enough if he just stood in the box and scored goals with his backside. Kostedde delivered, scoring 38 goals in 75 matches for Werder.
After his career ended he lost savings of more than a million marks through a dubious financial adviser. In 1990 he was arrested on suspicion of armed robbery at a betting shop in Coesfeld and spent months in pre-trial detention before being acquitted. The police had investigated poorly and a witness had mistaken him for somebody else, but by then the damage to his reputation had been done.
He received a meager 3,000 marks in compensation for the wrongful imprisonment. As he later put it, the former Erwin Kostedde died in 1990.