Rainer Bonhof was born on March 29, 1952 in Emmerich, North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany.
After training in the youth categories of his hometown team, Sus emmerich, he signed for the Borussia Monchengladbach club in 1970. There, and despite his young age, he quickly became one of the fundamental pieces for his team’s game. .
Borussia Monchengladbach lived through the best time, since in its eight seasons it managed to obtain four Bundesligas (1970-1971, 1974-1975, 1975-1976 and 1976-1977) a DFB-Pokal (German Cup 1973) and a UEFA Cup in 1975.
After that great step through German football, he starred in one of the great transfers of the year, when he was bought by Valencia CF in the 1978-1979 season for the sum of 60 million pesetas.
At that time, Valencia CF had the great scorer of the 78 World Cup, Mario Kempes, and together with Rainer they managed to make a great team.
With Valencia CF he managed to win the Copa del Rey and the Cup Winners’ Cup in 1980, and despite this he decided to return to Germany.
Rainer was signed by FC Colinia where he won a new German Cup, in 1983, and a runner-up in the League in 1982.
After an injury that marginalized him from football, he decided to take over the Under-21 team of that country, and then managed the club of his loves, Borussia Monchengladbach during the 1998-1999 season. After that experience, he took over the Sporting Club of Kuwait during the 2000-2001 season and finally in 2002 he was the coach of the Scotland Under-21 team.
He played for the German national team 53 times, scoring 9 goals. His debut took place on May 26, 1972 in a match that ended 4 to 1 against the USSR.
He was champion in the 1974 World Cup, and also participated in Euro 1972, 1976 and 1980, winning the 1972 and 1980.
Titles:
National championships:
With Borussia Monchengladbach:
4 Bundesligas (1971, 1975, 1976 and 1977)
1 German Cup (1973)
With Valencia:
1 King’s Cup (1979)
International cups:
With Germany:
1 World Cup Soccer (1974)
2 Euro Cups (1972 and 1980)
With Borussia Monchengladbach:
1 UEFA Cup (1975)
With Valencia:
1 European Cup Winners’ Cup (1980)