Amand Theis

Amand Theis
Personnel
birthday	November 19, 1949
place of birth	Hellenhahn-Schellenberg ,  Germany
size	185 cm
position	Defense
Juniors
Years	station
	SV Hellenhahn
Men's
Years	station	Games (goals) 1
1968-1972	1. FC Nuremberg	108 0(6)
1972-1977	Kickers Offenbach	136 (23)
1977-1980	Borussia Dortmund	84 0(6)
1980-1984	Fortuna Dusseldorf	105 (10)
1 Only league games are given.

Amand Theis (born November 19, 1949 in Hellenhahn-Schellenberg ) is a former German football player . The defensive player played a total of 296 league games in the Bundesliga from 1968 to 1984 for the clubs 1. FC Nürnberg , Kickers Offenbach , Borussia Dortmund and Fortuna Düsseldorf , scoring 28 goals.

career

In the youth of his home club SV Hellenhahn , the talent of the youth player developed so well that he was also appointed to the youth national team through the selection of the regional association Southwest of the DFB . On November 26, 1967, the talent from SV Hellenhahn made his debut in Flensburg in the international match against Denmark in the DFB junior team. In February 1968 he played in the two qualifying matches against Spain for the UEFA tournament ((1: 0, 1: 1) and then also took part in the tournament in France in April. He played all three group matches against Italy (2 : 0), Yugoslavia (0: 1) and Czechoslovakia (1: 3). Players in the UEFA youth tournament included Reiner Geye , Hans-Josef Kapellmann , Johannes Riedl and Winfried Schäfer . The 1968 Bundesliga champion , 1. FC Nürnberg, signed the defensive talent before the 1968/69 season.

In his first station in the professional field, the Westerwald native experienced a historic: As the defending champion, the "Club" was sensationally relegated. Master maker Max Merkel had clearly made a mistake in the frivolous restructuring of the championship team. He let top performers like striker Franz Brungs and hard worker Karl-Heinz Ferschl go to Hertha BSC and the Austrian midfielder August Starek to FC Bayern Munich; and that without need, of his own free will, because he absolutely wanted to equip and improve the "honest" championship team with virtuosity. In fact, when signing the entrants, he proved his professional eye for talents and players with potential: With the two Karlsruhe players Jürgen Rynio and Klaus Zaczyk , with Peter Czernotzky (Borussia Neunkirchen) and Johnny Hansen from BK Vejle, he signed players that would last for many years after Nuremberg should play with success in the Bundesliga. Erich Beer , Dieter Nüssing and Amand Theis, undisputedly three outstanding talents, were at the beginning of impressive careers, but they needed time to be able to take the first steps in the Bundesliga in a quiet environment and not be immediately thrown into the nerve bath of a bitter relegation battle. Merkel's dream player as a playmaker, Hans Küppers , from his previous club in Munich 1860, had great years at Schwarz-Weiß Essen and the “Löwen”, but he was not a constant performance personality for a struggle for existence. In an intact team he could certainly have given impulses for the playful line with his technique and art of playing. It just didn't fit, the renovation was too blatant and Merkel had to leave on March 24, 1969. Theis made his debut under the Austrian on October 19, 1968 in a 3-0 away defeat at Eintracht Frankfurt in the Bundesliga, when he came on for Erich Beer in the 77th minute. The defensive talent made his first appearance from the start of the game on October 30, 1968 in a 2-0 away win at Eintracht Braunschweig. Together with Horst Leupold , Ferdinand Wenauer and Fritz Popp he formed the defending champion's defense in front of goalkeeper Rynio. In the chronicle of the 60s it is noted about his game: “The second duel ended with a humiliation for Braunschweig. Although he was less a whole head, won Theis against Hartmut White but also any aerial duel, leaving the striker to the ground as little space. "Theis graduated in his first Bundesliga round seven league games and remained even after relegation to the second-class Regionalliga Süd in Nuremberg.

With the "Club" he won the championship in the Regionalliga Süd in 1970/71 under coach Barthel Thomas , but clearly failed in the promotion round against Fortuna Düsseldorf. Fortuna prevailed in both group games against Nuremberg (2-0, 2-1), with the 0-2 defeat at home on May 30, 1971 in front of 75,000 spectators, in particular, having negative effects. With players like goalkeeper Gerhard Welz , Fritz Popp, Ferdinand Wenauer, Ewald Schäffner , Dieter Nüssing, Rudolf Kröner , Heinz Müller , Manfred Drexler , Roland Stegmayer and the reliable pre-stopper Theis, the point yield was 7: 9 points and the associated 4. Table position in the promotion round, very disappointing. When the following season 1971/72 went completely wrong with a 9th place in the Regionalliga Süd, Theis said goodbye to Nuremberg after a total of 101 Regional League appearances (6 goals) and took the offer of Kickers Offenbach, who had just been promoted to the Bundesliga, for the 1972 season / 73 at.

Under coach Gyula Lóránt , with 32 league appearances (4 goals), he immediately belonged to the regular line-up with teammates such as Fred-Werner Bockholt , Hans Schmidradner , Lothar Skala , Winfried Schäfer, Josef Hickersberger , Egon Schmitt , Sigfried Held , Erwin Kostedde and Manfred Ritschel . The Kickers took 7th place in 1973/73. In his second Offenbach round, 1973/74, the previous Lorant assistant Otto Rehhagel took over the head coach role in Offenbach from April 2, 1974. In the 1974/75 season Theis and colleagues reached 8th place, but in 1975/76 the OFC was relegated to the 2nd division. Theis had played 100 Bundesliga games for the Bieberer Berg team from 1973 to 1976 and scored 12 goals. He stayed in the first round at Offenbach in the 2nd Bundesliga, developed into a goal scorer with eleven goals and ended his time in Hesse after 36 league games in the second division, having reached 3rd place, and followed the call of Rehhagel and signed a contract with Borussia Dortmund for the 1977/78 season and played in the Bundesliga again.

At BVB, the strong defensive specialist made his debut in the Bundesliga on August 27, 1977, a 2-0 home defeat against Eintracht Frankfurt. In addition to players like Horst Bertram , Lothar Huber , Manfred Burgsmüller , Miroslav Votava , Erwin Kostedde, Sigfried Held and Willi Lippens , he completed 32 league games (4 goals) in 1977/78 and reached 11th place with Dortmund. Theis also belonged to the team that had the dubious honor of conceding the biggest defeat in the Bundesliga ( 0:12 against Borussia Mönchengladbach on April 29, 1978 ). His greatest success with Borussia was a 6th place in the 1979/80 season; in the summer of 1980 he again followed Otto Rehhagel to Fortuna Düsseldorf , where he ended his Bundesliga career after another four years with 105 league appearances (10 goals) for Fortuna.

His toughness as a defender, feared by his opponents, also earned him the nickname "Westerwälder Eisenfuß". In Dietrich Schulze-Marmeling's BVB story it is noted that "Theis was one of the best man-markers in German professional football at the time and Gerd Müller, the 'bomber of the nation', was desperate because of his persistence."

After his active career, he was active for the traditional Borussia Dortmund team at least in 1997. Amand Theis now lives in Dortmund and works in the sales management of a glass ceramic company.

literature

• Christian Karn, Reinhard Rehberg: Player Lexicon 1963–1994. Agon Sportverlag. Kassel 2012. ISBN 978-3-89784-214-4 . P. 505.
• Dietrich Schulze-Marmeling: The fame, the dream and the passion. The story of Borussia Dortmund. Publishing house Die Werkstatt. Göttingen 2011. ISBN 978-3-89533-810-6 . P. 501.

Web link

• Amand Theis in the database of fussballdaten.de
• Profile of Amand Theis at glubberer.de

Individual evidence

1. ^ Jürgen Bitter: Germany's football. The encyclopedia. FA Herbig. Munich 2008. ISBN 978-3-7766-2558-5 . P. 724
2. ^ Ulrich Merk, Andre Schulin, Maik Großmann: My club: 1. FC Nuremberg. Chronicle of the 1960s. Agon Sportverlag. Kassel 2007. ISBN 978-3-89784-313-4 . P. 129
3. ↑ Dietrich Schulze-Marmeling: The fame, the dream and the passion. The story of Borussia Dortmund. P. 501
4. ↑ Sportfreunde Echo of May 25, 1997, p. 11