Harald Nitze

Harald Nitze (born October 5, 1941 , † April 14, 2009 in Nieby ) was a German football player ( GDR ).

Athletic career

Nitze had his first appearance in a higher-class men's soccer team on March 6, 1960, when he was used as a half-right striker for unit Greifswald at the start of the season in the second-class I. GDR league . At times also called up as a center forward, he immediately established himself as a regular player with 23 out of 26 possible point games. With eleven goals, he was the Greifswald's second best scorer behind Hans-Joachim Steinfurth (14 goals). In retrospect, the championship year 1960 was Nitze's most successful season in Greifswald. In the 1961/62 season, which extended to 39 point games due to the change in the schedule to the autumn-spring rhythm, Nitze was absent on 13 days and only scored seven of the 53 Greifswald championship goals.

In the summer of 1962 Nitze moved to the GDR upper division SC Empor Rostock . Before the start of the season, he performed well both in the preparatory games of the top division team and in the cup games of the Rostock district selection. This prompted coach Fritzsch to use Nitze in the first league league game on August 19, 1962 at Chemie Halle as a center forward. After the goalless game, Fritzsch offered another newcomer in Knut Wittenbecher in Nitzes place on the 2nd matchday against SC Rotation Leipzig . With this, the Rostock attack was much more powerful, and the team won 3-0. The coach also held on to Wittenbecher as a center forward and had no use for Nitze in any of the other positions. Only through the failure of Wittenbechers in the second half of the season came Nitze in January and February 1963 to four more point game inserts. A championship goal was his whole season haul. He was happier to score in his three cup games for SC Empor, in which he scored four times.

After the disappointing excursion into the top GDR soccer class, Nitze made another change after the end of the 1962/63 season and registered with the second-rate BSG Stahl Eisenhüttenstadt . In November 1966 he was called up for military service and during this time he played for the Army Sports Association Vorwärts Neubrandenburg . In the year and a half, however, he was only used in twelve point games of the first team. In May 1968 Nitze returned to Stahl Eisenhüttenstadt, but was only called up there sporadically in the GDR league games. In April 1969, a meniscus injury put him out of action, after which he was almost only used in the 2nd team. With her he won the Frankfurt (Oder) district championship in 1969 and promoted to the GDR league. In 1970, Harald Nitze ended his active football career at the age of 28.

Station overview
1960–1962	Greifswald unit	second rate
1962/63	Up Rostock	top notch
1963-1969	Stahl Eisenhüttenstadt	second rate
1966-1968	Forward Neubrandenburg	second rate
1969-1970	Steel Eisenhüttenstadt II	third, second class

literature

• German sport echo : born 1960–1969. ISSN  0323-8628
• Hanns Leske : Encyclopedia of GDR football . Verlag Die Werkstatt, Göttingen 2007, ISBN 978-3-89533-556-3 , p. 338.
• Andreas Baingo, Michael Horn: The History of the GDR Oberliga . Verlag Die Werkstatt, Göttingen 2004, ISBN 3-89533-428-6 , p. 339.

Web links

• Harald Nitze in the database of the German Football Association