Bongartz was born in
Bonn. He began his footballing career at
SG Wattenscheid 09 and became a central midfielder to be reckoned with even before moving to
FC Schalke 04 in 1974. He moved to
1. FC Kaiserslautern in 1978 where he was to finish his career in 1984. Altogether Bongartz played 298
Bundesliga games, scoring 39 goals. == International career ==