Frank Mill

Frank Mill (23 July 1958 – 5 August 2025) was a German professional footballer who was a member of the 1990 FIFA World Cup winning squad of West Germany. Further, he participated at the 1984 and at the 1988 Summer Olympics, where he won the bronze medal with the West German team.

Club career The son of a junk dealer, Mill began his career at the age of six at local side Eintracht Essen before joining the youth ranks of Essen's biggest club, Rot-Weiss Essen, in 1972. Starting job training to become a florist (his mother owned a flower shop), Mill signed his first professional contract with Rot-Weiss in 1976. Essen was a Bundesliga side in his debut season, a campaign in which his three goals (in a total of 19 appearances) couldn't prevent the team from dropping down to 2. Bundesliga North. In that division he grew to become a reliable hitman, scoring 71 goals for Rot-Weiss (at times alongside Horst Hrubesch) over the next four seasons, forty of those in just 38 appearances during 1979–80. This tally made him the top goalscorer of 2. Bundesliga Nord, making him a prime target for a transfer, and in 1981 he was to return to the Bundesliga upon being signed by Jupp Heynckes of Borussia Mönchengladbach.

At Mönchengladbach he kept on scoring, netting fourteen goals in his first year under contract. A back injury hampered his form during the following season, but he bounced back in the 1983–84 campaign, becoming Mönchengladbach's top scorer with 19 goals. That season ended in disappointment, as the club narrowly missed out on the Bundesliga title on goal difference to VfB Stuttgart and lost the DFB-Pokal final to Bayern Munich on penalties, despite Mill scoring in normal time of the final.

Later that summer, Mill took part in the 1984 Summer Olympics. He remained Mönchengladbach’s leading forward until he moved to Borussia Dortmund in 1986 for a fee of 1.3 million DM.

Shortly after retirement, Fortuna Düsseldorf appointed Mill to a management position, which he left by mutual consent due to lack of success.

International career Mill made his debut for West Germany on 21 March 1982 in a friendly against Brazil in Rio de Janeiro. He was selected for the squad for the 1982 FIFA World Cup but missed out due to a back injury.

Mill represented West Germany at the 1984 Summer Olympics and again at the 1988 Summer Olympics, where he won a bronze medal. He was also selected for the national team at UEFA Euro 1988, hosted in West Germany.

Despite declining form by 1990, his experience earned him a call-up from Franz Beckenbauer to the squad for the 1990 World Cup in Italy. However, with forwards such as Rudi Völler, Jürgen Klinsmann and Karlheinz Riedle ahead of him in the pecking order, Mill did not make an appearance during the tournament, as West Germany went on to win the title.

Honours Borussia Mönchengladbach DFB-Pokal runner-up: 1983–84

Borussia Dortmund DFB-Pokal: 1988–89 UEFA Cup runner-up: 1992–93

West Germany World Cup: 1990 Olympics bronze medal: 1988