win any titles, and he returned to West Germany to take over 1. FC Köln, where he had started his managerial career. FC Köln Weisweiler managed 1. FC Köln from 1976 to 1980. On the field Köln was backstopped by national team goalkeeper Harald Schumacher and led up front by top scorer Dieter Müller, but contained no recognized superstars. Nonetheless, the team competed for the major domestic trophies for most of Weismeiler's years. Köln won the German Cup in 1977, defeating Hertha BSC in the final, and again in 1978, defeating Fortuna Düsseldorf. Köln achieved the ultimate domestic success in winning the Bundesliga title in 1977–78. They finished ahead of Weismeiler's old team, Borussia Mönchengladbach, by the narrowest of margins, winning the title by virtue of superior goal difference. Neither Köln nor Borussia Mönchengladbach has won a league title since. The year after their title win, led by 20-year-old midfield sensation Bernd Schuster in his first full year with the club, Köln made it to the European Cup semi-final, losing 4–3 on aggregate to eventual champions Nottingham Forest when a goalless or low-scoring draw in the return home leg would have seen Köln to the final. Köln made it to the German Cup final again in 1980, but this time was defeated by Fortuna Düsseldorf. By then a young Pierre Littbarski had been eased into the first team as a scoring midfielder-winger. Littbarski did not play in the cup final, but in the role envisioned for him by Weismeiler went on to be a vital part of the West German national team that made it to three consecutive World Cup finals, including the 1990 victory. New York Cosmos Weisweiler took over as manager of the New York Cosmos five games into the 1980 North American Soccer League season. The team finished with a 24 and 8 record, and won the Soccer Bowl title, defeating the Fort Lauderdale Strikers 3–0 in the final. The next year the club made it to the final again, this time losing to the Chicago Sting in a shootout after a goalless regulation time and overtime. During Weisweiler's tenure at the Cosmos he managed stars Franz Beckenbauer, Carlos Alberto, Johan Neeskens and Giorgio Chinaglia at the veteran stage of their careers. Grasshopper Club Zürich Weisweiler managed the semi-professional Swiss team Grasshoppers in 1982–83, winning a league title as well as the Swiss Cup. Death Weisweiler died