Adalbert Wetzel

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Adalbert Wetzel (born February 18, 1904 in Kißlegg ; † February 1990 in Munich ) was president of TSV 1860 Munich from 1952 to 1969 and was then elected honorary president of the club. He is considered the best and most important president in the history of 1860 Munich. After all, the club had its most successful years during his reign: he was accepted as a founding member of the Bundesliga in 1963 (which local rivals FC Bayern Munich could not do ), won the DFB Cup in 1964 (for the second and so far last time) , and reached the final in 1965 for the European Cup Winners' Cup (which took place in London of all places and was lost 2-0 to the West Ham United team, which enjoyed the "home right" ) and won the club's only championship in 1966 .

biography

The entrepreneur

Adalbert Wetzel was born as the son of a baker in Kißlegg in Württemberg . After graduating from school, he began training in hotel management, but he did not last long. Driven by wanderlust, the then 17-year-old ran away from home, traveled to Hamburg and hired as a cabin boy there.

Without knowing Spanish and with little money in his pocket, he left the ship in Colombia and made his way across the jungle to Maracaibo in Venezuela . During this time he learned Spanish and English and worked in the oil industry. There Wetzel made a small fortune, enough to buy real estate in Colombia and Venezuela. He also transferred a large amount of cash to London .

He didn't have all the good times in South America, however. He fell ill with malaria and blackwater fever . In addition, only with luck did he survive a machete attack in the Colombian jungle in which an Indian had slashed his abdominal wall . In order to cure the serious injury, Wetzel returned to his homeland. Soon after, the Second World War broke out. In 1945 his property in South America was expropriated and his financial assets in Great Britain confiscated, so that Wetzel was again destitute and had to start over.

First, Wetzel started a new business career as manager of the Münchner Bürgerbräukeller and later as director of the Coca-Cola factory in Munich.

Leo with body and soul

On June 24, 1946, Wetzel became a member of TSV 1860 and was elected chairman of the football department that same year. In 1952 he was elected President of the traditional Munich club. In order to form a top German team from 1860, the businessman sacrificed a considerable part of his fortune and mortgaged his private villa . Some successes were achieved: In 1964 TSV 1860 won the DFB Cup, in 1965 it made it to the European Cup final and in 1966 it won the German championship for the only time in the club's history. The special thing about it is that TSV 1860 is the first Bundesliga champion from the city of Munich.

In the 1966/67 season following the championship win, there was a player revolt in the winter of 1966, which led to the dismissal of coach Max Merkel . As a result of the revolt, Wetzel resigned as head of the football department. The 1966/67 season was still finished with the runner-up. In 1969 Wetzel also resigned from the presidency. A year later, the club was relegated to the second division and another twelve years later he was even transferred to the third division Bayernliga by the DFB , where he spent the nine seasons between 1982/83 and 1990/91.

In between was the promotion to the Bundesliga in 1977 and 1979, when Wetzel was already honorary president of the club. He remained closely connected to the sixties even after his tenure and found their first shirt sponsor for them in the 1974/75 season . It was the Frucade fruit juice company that he owned.

In 1984 Wetzel was awarded the Golden Ring of Honor for outstanding services to sport in Munich .

Wetzel was no longer allowed to experience the return to the second division in 1991 and the return to the Bundesliga in 1994. He died in February 1990, shortly before his 86th birthday and during the eighth season of his club in the Bayern League, impoverished in a Munich hospital. Until his death he was tormented by the thought that he had not done enough to prevent the collapse of his club.

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Hardy Grüne / Claus Melchior: Legends in White and Blue (Verlag Die Werkstatt, Göttingen 1999), p. 135 / ISBN 3-89533-256-9
  2. ↑ Golden Ring of Honor ( Memento from August 12, 2004 in the Internet Archive )

swell

personal data
SURNAME Wetzel, Adalbert
BRIEF DESCRIPTION German entrepreneur and football official
DATE OF BIRTH February 18, 1904
PLACE OF BIRTH Kisslegg
DATE OF DEATH February 1990
Place of death Munich