Christian Kulik

Christian Kulik (born December 6, 1952 in Zabrze , Poland ) is a former German football player. He played for Borussia Mönchengladbach from 1971 to 1981 , came to 220 games with 38 goals in the Bundesliga and won the German championship three times in a row from 1975 to 1977 and the UEFA Cup twice in 1975 and 1979 .

Career

Bundesliga, 1971 to 1981

The dexterous ball distributor in midfield found its way from the youth of Alemannia Aachen to Bökelberg in the summer of 1971, and was taken care of by talent promoter Hennes Weisweiler . Before that, he hadn't made it into the DFB youth team for the 1971 UEFA youth tournament in Czechoslovakia. There in May in the group matches against the organizer (0: 0), Greece (2: 4) and the GDR (1: 3) players like Norbert Heßling, Paul Holz and Reinhard Schmitz represented the DFB in midfield. In defense were Rudi Kargus , Gernot Rohr , Hartmut Huhse , Manfred Kaltz , Michael Sziedat , Hans-Dieter Seelmann , Jurgen Glowacz and Harald Konopka begun. Kulik completed 23 games in his first season 1971/72 with BMG and scored four goals, Gladbach took third place. Before the round, Gladbach had lost the players Peter Dietrich , Herbert L Bäumen and Horst Köppel . He made his debut in the Bundesliga on October 2, 1971 in the away game at 1. FC Cologne . In the 3: 4 defeat he was substituted on in the 46th minute for Hans-Jürgen Wloka in the defending champion's midfield. Competitors of the former Aachen youth player were top-class players like Günter Netzer , Herbert Wimmer , Rainer Bonhof , Dietmar Danner and Hans-Jürgen Wloka in the midfield of the “Fohlen-Elf” . Fourteen days later - he had played two Bundesliga games against Eintracht Frankfurt (6: 2) and Borussia Dortmund (0: 0) - he experienced a 7-1 success at the on October 20, 1971, when he was not yet 19 years old Side of Günter Netzer and Herbert Wimmer in the European Cup of champions against Inter Milan , which was later canceled. The “ rifle throwing game ” went down in football history as a legendary game. It is described as "the best game in Borussia club history, the most beautiful, most gifted, most memorable game that a German club team has ever played".

In his second Bundesliga round, 1972/73, Kulik completed all 34 league games and scored six goals. With the departure of Vorstopper Ludwig Müller to Hertha BSC and the injury-related loss of Libero Klaus-Dieter Sieloff (only six Bundesliga appearances), the defensive no longer had the quality of previous years and playmaker Netzer with 18 appearances and three goals due to illness and injury no longer played their usual dominant role, the Weisweiler-Elf in 1973 had to be content with fifth place.

In the DFB Cup , however, the team from Mönchengladbach prevailed with Kulik, who made a total of nine appearances with two goals in this year's cup competition. The DFB Cup final against 1. FC Köln is recorded in the specialist literature as one of the “best, most playfully high-quality and most exciting in the history of this competition”. Kulik played here from the start for Günter Netzer, who then replaced the injured Kulik himself for extra time and said goodbye to Real Madrid with Mönchengladbach's 2-1 winner .

In 1974, the year of the soccer World Cup, Gladbach was runner-up without the former playmaker Netzer . Kulik had played 25 Bundesliga games alongside other players such as Bonhof, Stielike, Danner, Köppel and Wimmer, and Borussia had scored 93 goals in 34 games. In the preview of the round, coach Weisweiler said: “We won't have a game like Günter Netzer. We're not going to get worse, just play differently. The first 90 minutes of the cup final showed what this new style will look like. [...] Netzer's absolute personality, over whom everything ran, is replaced by a collective of equals. Danner, Wimmer and Kulik, supported by Bonhof and Vogts, will give Borussia a new look. "

In the fourth year with Mönchengladbach, in the second year after Günter Netzer's departure to Real Madrid in 1974/75 , the team of coach Weisweiler managed to win the third German championship. With a six point lead over Hertha BSC, the Borussen team sat down around the midfield quintet with Wimmer (29-1), Stielike (25-1), Kulik (24-6), Danner (21-3) and Lorenz-Günther Köstner (18-1) think through. But the attacking trio with Allan Simonsen (34-18), Henning Jensen (34-13) and Jupp Heynckes (31-27) appeared even stronger in this successful round. However, Mönchengladbach reached the sporting climax in the successful competition for the UEFA Cup in this round.

Hennes Weisweiler moved to Barcelona and Udo Lattek therefore took over Borussia for the 1975/76 season. Due to an injury, Kulik was only able to play four Bundesliga games in the first Lattek year. In the 1976/77 title defense, which was one point ahead of FC Schalke 04, Kulik was active again in 18 games (1 goal). When Weisweiler, who returned to the Bundesliga, achieved championship success with 1. FC Köln in 1977/78 - level on points ahead of Mönchengladbach - Kulik was again the undisputed regular player with 25 league appearances and seven goals. When in the fourth Lattek year, 1978/79 , the performance of Borussia sank dramatically and with 32:36 points and 50:53 goals in the last round games could just be taken 10th place, Kulik belonged with 27 league games and seven goals the few top performers in the team. The renewal of talents following the loss of the pillars Jupp Heynckes, Herbert Wimmer, Rainer Bonhof and the long-term injured Berti Vogts had not taken place.

Kulik also played two more Bundesliga rounds for Gladbach in 1979/80 and 1980/81 under Lattek's successor Heyncke, before he left Bökelberg with 38 goals in the summer of 1981 after a total of 220 Bundesliga appearances and moved to Antwerp.

European Cup, 1971 to 1980

Before the first German league titles and victory in the 1975 UEFA Cup against Twente Enschede celebrated, he had in 1973 in the finals against Liverpool FC in the UEFA Cup participated.

Again against Liverpool FC Kulik fought on May 25, 1977 in Rome in the final of the Champions' European Cup in the 1: 3 defeat, as he did in 1980 in the UEFA Cup finals against Eintracht Frankfurt in midfield of the Gladbach “foals “, Meanwhile as their captain, stood his man. He came to a total of 66 games in the European Cup, in which Kulik scored 13 goals.

In 1973 he came to the DFB for three missions in the "U 23" . The Gladbach midfielder came on March 27 in Duisburg against the USA (5: 1), September 5 in Essen against Poland (2: 3) and on November 21, 1973 in the second leg in Warsaw against Poland (0: 0) three DFB appearances.

The elegant combination player failed in the attempt to become a national team player.

After Mönchengladbach: end

After leaving Bökelberg, Kulik continued his career at Royal Antwerp in 1981/82 . He was then reamateurised for SG Düren 99 , hired himself from 1984 to autumn 1986 at lower-class clubs in Switzerland ( FC Mendrisio , FC Chur ) and celebrated an unexpected comeback in the second division from November 1986 together with his former Gladbach colleague Wolfgang Kleff -Verein FSV Salmrohr (14 games, 1 goal), which the two veterans could not save from relegation.

literature

• Markus Aretz, Stephan Giebeler, Elmar Kreuels: Borussia Mönchengladbach. The Chronicle. Verlag Die Werkstatt, Göttingen 2010, ISBN 978-3-89533-748-2 .
• Holger Jenrich, Markus Aretz: The Elf from the Lower Rhine. Borussia Mönchengladbach has been in the Bundesliga for 40 years. Verlag Die Werkstatt, Göttingen 2005, ISBN 3-89533-503-7 .
• Matthias Weinrich, Hardy Greens : Encyclopedia of German League Football. Volume 6: German Cup history since 1935. Pictures, statistics, stories, constellations. Agon-Sportverlag, Kassel 2000, ISBN 3-89784-146-0 .
• Markus Aretz (Ed.): Magical Nights. Borussia Mönchengladbach in the European Cup. Verlag Die Werkstatt, Göttingen 2012, ISBN 978-3-89533-898-4 .

Individual evidence

1. ↑ Holger Jenrich, Markus Aretz: Die Elf vom Niederrhein, p. 54.
2. ^ Matthias Weinrich, Hardy Greens: Encyclopedia of German League Football. Volume 6: German Cup history since 1935. Pictures, statistics, stories, constellations. P. 272.
3. ↑ Kicker sports magazine. Special number A: Bundesliga 1973/74. Nuremberg. August / September 1973 pp. 8/9.

Web links

• Christian Kulik in the database of weltfussball.de
• Christian Kulik in the database of fussballdaten.de