Lutz Hovest

Lutz Hovest (born September 15, 1957 ) was a football player in the GDR Oberliga , the top division of the East German Football Association . He played there for 1. FC Union Berlin .

Athletic career

The later successful winger Hovest played for the company sports club (BSG) Stahl Hennigsdorf until he was 18 . For the 1976/77 season, when he had become eligible to play in the men's division and had completed his apprenticeship as an electrician, he moved to BSG Chemie Premnitz , which had just been relegated to the third-rate Potsdam district league . After just four months, Hovest was drafted into military service for a year and a half. There he was assigned to the army sports community Vorwärts Kamenz , where he could now continue to play football in the Dresden district league. After his release, he returned to BSG Chemie Premnitz in May 1978, which had meanwhile been promoted to the second-rate GDR league .

In the summer of 1979, the 1.76 m tall Hovest was delegated to the first division club 1. FC Union Berlin. There he was initially only a supplementary player and was only used in ten league games in the 1979/80 season, of which he was only on the field in three matches over the entire duration of the game. He had his first league use on September 29, 1979 in the encounter of the 6th game day Wismut Aue - 1. FC Union (0-0), when he was substituted on in the 74th minute. Union ended the season as relegated and played the following two years in the GDR league. During this time, Hovest was able to assert himself as a regular player and played 61 of the 66 competitive games.

Even after the rise in 1982 and under the new coach Harry Nippert , Hovest was able to assert himself as a regular player. As a center forward, at times also as a right winger, he completed 25 of the 26 point games in 1982/83. In 1983/84 his focus was on the right attacking side, and he was part of all the point games. For Union, however, the season did not go well. Despite the change of coach from Nippert to Karl-Heinz Burwieck , the Berliners had to relegate to the second division again after two years in the league.

However, the immediate resurgence followed, in which Hovest was involved with 26 of 34 GDR league games and eleven goals. In 1985/86, the now 28-year-old Hovest started his fourth league season. He also had good cards with his fourth coach, Karl Schäffner , and was used in all point games and in eight out of nine cup games. Ironically, in the ninth Cup game of the Unioners, the final (1: 5 against 1. FC Lok Leipzig), Hovest was missing. In the summer of 1986 Union took part in the Intertoto Cup . Of the six games that Union won group winners, Hovest played four. Hovest completed his last season for 1. FC Union Berlin in 1986/87. Coach Schäffner, who initially envisaged him as a midfielder in the season preview, only used him as a substitute in 13 league games. Hovest played his last competitive game for Union on May 16, 1987. In the encounter of the 24th Bundesliga match day Union Berlin - Stahl Riesa (0-0), he was substituted on again in the 68th minute. So Hovest had come to 207 competitive games with 45 goals within nine years. 102 appearances and 65 goals are allotted to the league.

At the beginning of the 1987/88 season, Hovest returned to the roots of his career and joined Stahl Hennigsdorf again. He immediately achieved promotion with the team from the district league to the GDR league. At the end of 1988 Hovest ended his career as a competitive footballer, returned to East Berlin and joined the fourth-class BSG Empor. With this team, too, Hovest celebrated a promotion again, in the summer of 1989 Empor Berlin rose to the district league. In the district league, Hovest finally decided his playing career.

Hovest had already completed an engineering degree during his time as a football player. He later worked in retail.

literature

• Hanns Leske : Encyclopedia of GDR football . Verlag Die Werkstatt, Göttingen 2007, ISBN 978-3-89533-556-3 , p. 225.
• Andreas Baingo, Michael Horn: The History of the GDR Oberliga. Verlag Die Werkstatt, Göttingen 2003, ISBN 3-89533-428-6 , p. 296.
• Uwe Nuttelmann (Ed.): GDR Oberliga. 1962-1991. Self-published, Jade 2007, ISBN 978-3-930814-33-6 .

Web links

• Lutz Hovest in the database of the German Football Association
• Lutz Hovest on immerunioner.de