During a shopping tour in the city of Gießen in Hesse after a friendly match against 1. FC Kaiserslautern on 20 mars 1979, midfielder Lutz Eigendorf broke away from the rest of the team and defected to West Germany. Lutz Eigendorf was one of the most promising players in East German football. He was a product of the elite Children and Youth Sports School (KJS) "Werner Seelenbinder" in East Berlin and had come through the youth academy of BFC Dynamo. He was often called "The Beckenbauer of East Germany" and was considered the figurehead and great hope of East German football. Lutz Eigendorf was nicknamed "Iron Foot" by the supporters of BFC Dynamo and was said to be one of the favorite players of Erich Mielke. His defection was a slap in the face of the East German regime and allegedly taken personally by Erich Mielke. Due to his talent and careful upbringing at BFC Dynamo, it was considered a personal defeat of Erich Mielke. Afterwards, his name would disappear from all statistics and annals of East German football. All fan merchandise with the name or image of Lutz Eigendorf were also removed from the market. Lutz Eigendorf would later die in mysterious circumstances in Braunschweig in 1983.