[1] He played as a centre-back, a classical libero in the mold of Franz Beckenbauer or Willi Schulz.
Jakobs played 493 games from 1971 to 1990 for Rot-Weiß Oberhausen, Tennis Borussia Berlin, MSV Duisburg, and Hamburger SV.
Jakobs was a member of the Germany national team that was runner-up in the 1986 FIFA World Cup in Mexico.
[3] Jakobs' career ended prematurely on 20 September 1989 in a game between Hamburger SV and Werder Bremen.
When an attacker lobbed the Hamburger SV goalie, Jakobs lunged feet-first into his goal and scraped the ball off the line.