Karlheinz Helmut Förster (born 25 July 1958) is a German former professional footballer who played as a central defender.

Born in Mosbach, Förster started playing professionally at VfB Stuttgart, which would be his only club in the German first division.

[3] Förster gained the first of his 81 caps for the West Germany national team in a friendly with Brazil, on 5 April 1978,[4] not yet aged 20.

From then onwards, he became an undisputed starter, appearing in all the matches at the victorious Euro 1980 (completely neutralizing Belgium's Jan Ceulemans in the final) and the runner-up place at the 1982 FIFA World Cup (also playing all the minutes).

At the latter competition, the pair of brothers (Bernd had already been an important figure in the continental win) became the first in German football history to take part in a World Cup final since Ottmar and Fritz Walter's appearances in the victorious 1954 edition, and the first to be defeated.