König der Mittelstürmer refers with the name of its hero to the German soccer legend of the twenties: Tull Harder, star of the Hamburger Sport Verein (HSV). But the story itself is completely fictional: The son of a trade company's director falls in love with the daughter of a big American oil magnate. But she supects him to be only interested in her money. So she buys his father's company to take revenge on him. The son's true love is soccer, and from the very first moment soccer fever invades the film. It starts with pictures of a soccer game and even an apple or crumpled up paper must serve as substitute for a ball. Whereas Die elf Teufel promotes soccer as "the sport of the century", König der Mittelstürmer portrays the hero's father as someone who still has to be convinced of its importance. He hates soccer and accuses everybody of being "soccer crazy".