As a player, Hrubesch won three West German championships with his club side, Hamburger SV, as well as the European Cup title in 1983.

He was a key member of the West Germany team that won the 1980 European Championship and made it to the final of the 1982 World Cup, losing to Italy.

Hrubesch won the West German championship three times with Hamburg, in 1979, 1982 and 1983; and his team finished second in the league standings twice, in 1980 and 1982.

[1] Hrubesch won the European Cup in 1983, captaining the team to a 1–0 win against favourites Juventus in the final in Athens.

Three years earlier he had been on the team that lost the 1980 European Cup Final against Nottingham Forest, however he was injured shortly before the game and could only feature as a half time substitute.

After two years he returned to the Bundesliga to play for Borussia Dortmund, appearing in about half the club's games during his one season there.

West Germany's match-winning hero in the UEFA Euro 1980 final in Rome against Belgium, Hrubesch scored two goals, the second a trademark bullet header, in the 89th minute.

It was a day of redemption for the big Hamburger SV centre forward who a few weeks earlier had hobbled around the field with an ankle injury as his club lost the European Cup final to Nottingham Forest.

He would play for West Germany 21 times, scoring six goals, his last match being the losing 1982 FIFA World Cup final against Italy.

[3] Hrubesch is also famous for having scored the only goal in the Disgrace of Gijón victory against Austria, and the winning penalty which defeated France in the 1982 FIFA World Cup semi-final, after an epic game which was tied 3–3 after extra-time.

Minutes earlier, in the second extra-time period with France leading 3–2, it was Hrubesch who headed a cross from the left wing to Fischer, enabling his spectacular overhead kick equalizer.

Irish television commentator Jimmy Magee during the shoot-out coined the nickname that made Hrubesch best known in the English-speaking world: "The man they call 'The Monster'."