Albert shower

Albert Dusch (born December 6, 1912 in Kaiserslautern ; † October 27, 2002 there ) was one of the most renowned football referees in Germany in the first years after the Second World War . Together with Emil Schmetzer , he was one of the first German referees to lead international games again.

Albert Dusch was in goal at 1. FC Kaiserslautern until 1935 . When he - wrongly according to his testimony - was expelled and banned for three months, he got bored and he began to be interested in refereeing. In the 1950s, Dusch became known to a wider audience as "the impartial of the grand gesture". With an appearance "massive as an advertising pillar" - its weight was 95 kg - he was not only a factotum of German football, but also an internationally respected referee who was often used in the early days of European club competitions and at football world championships.

In his main job, Dusch, who owned a house on the outskirts of Kaiserslautern, was a machine foreman at a sewing machine company.

World championships

The highlight of Dusch's career were his appearances at the soccer world championships in Sweden in 1958 and in Chile in 1962 . In Sweden he led the group game between Brazil and England, which ended 0-0. This result was not only the Brazilians' only point loss at the tournament, but also the first goalless game at a World Cup. Shower also directed the game between the USSR and England, which the USSR won 1-0, which played a decisive role in advancing to the quarter-finals.

In four other games of the tournament, Albert Dusch was used as linesman. The highlight here was the final between Brazil and Sweden, in which the South Americans secured their first world title with a 5-2 win over the hosts. Shower is the only German referee - besides Rudi Glöckner , who was seconded by the GDR Association at the time and who headed the final between Brazil and Italy in Mexico in 1970 - who was used at a World Cup final.

At the 1962 World Cup in Chile, shower headed the group game in which the USSR defeated the Yugoslav national team 2-0. This was also the 24th and last international match of his career as main referee. In three other games, including the game for third place, in which Chile beat Yugoslavia 1-0, he acted as linesman. At this tournament, he was the oldest referee at the age of 49.

A total of ten participations in the final round of football world championships is a record for a German referee, which Dusch holds together with Kurt Tschenscher from Mannheim , who accumulated the same number of games in the tournaments of 1966 , 1970 and 1974 .

International matches

In 1958 he led the decisive game for the British Home Championship between Scotland and England in front of 128,000 spectators in Hampden Park in Glasgow , which the guests won 4-0. In the following year he led with the friendly international match between England and Italy in London's Wembley Stadium , which was sold out with 92,000 spectators , which ended 2-2, another of his seven international matches with England participation. Between 1951, the first year after the war in which Germany was again eligible to participate in international football matches, and in 1962 he was in front of 24 international matches.

European Cup

In 1958 Albert Dusch whistled the two finals of the exhibition cup , the predecessor of today's UEFA Cup , between the London city selection and FC Barcelona . The Catalans secured their first major European title with a 6-0 home win after a 2-2 draw at the Stamford Bridge stadium .

The following year he was entrusted with the fourth final in the European Cup between Real Madrid and Stade Reims . In front of around 80,000 spectators in the Stuttgart Neckar Stadium , the Spaniards secured their fourth title.

In total, Albert Dusch was in control of 12 European Cup matches.

German championship and cup finals

From 1950 to 1962 Albert Dusch headed 21 games in the finals of the German soccer championship . He was in charge of the finals of 1956, 1957, 1958 and 1962, although the last between 1. FC Köln and the Nürnberger Club seemed to be "by far the easiest to whistle".

Albert Dusch directed the finals of the DFB Cup in 1954, 1957 and 1960. Only Gerhard Schulenburg was entrusted with as many finals and with Werner Treichel , Herbert Fandel and Florian Meyer only three other referees had the honor of leading more than one final.

Later years

In August 1962, Albert Dusch announced his resignation from the referee after he was forced to resign in December of that year because he had reached the age limit of 50 at the time.

Then he was chairman of the referee committee in the Southwest German Football Association . In this capacity, among other things, in 1974 he granted Markus Merk , who was then 12 years old , a special permit from 1. FC Kaiserslautern so that he could whistle his first game.

The German Football Association awarded Albert Dusch for his many years of service with the badge of honor and the Peco-Bauwens plaque. He was also an honorary member of the Southwest German Football Association and 1. FC Kaiserslautern, which also awarded him the Golden Ring of Honor.

Albert Dusch died on October 27, 2002 and was buried three days later in the main cemetery in Kaiserslautern.

Individual evidence

1. ↑ Key data of DFB refereeing. Gesellschaft für DFB-Online mbH, accessed on April 22, 2010 . 
2. ↑ ^{a b} Wolfgang Fricke: The stars of football . Albert Dusch, the referee of the grand gesture. In: Hamburger Abendblatt . No. 123 . Springer , Hamburg May 28, 1962, p. 13 .
3. ^ Chile 1962: Used as referee weltfussball.de.
4. ↑ Chile 1962: Use as linesman weltfussball.de.
5. ^ Scotland v England, April 19, 1958
6. ^ England v Italy, 06 May 1959
7. ↑ Search results
8. ↑ Gotthard Dikty: Statistics ( Memento from January 17, 2005 in the Internet Archive )
9. ↑ http://www.young-germany.de:80/ (link not available)
10. ↑ "Former FIFA referee Albert Dusch died" , DFB report from October 30, 2002.

Web links

• Spiegel article from April 12, 1982 about German World Cup referees with some information about Albert Dusch