Franz Merkhoffer

from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Franz Merkhoffer (born November 29, 1946 in Dettum ) is a former German football player . He played as a defender in the 1st Bundesliga for Eintracht Braunschweig , was there a total of 419 times from 1968 to 1984 and scored 22 goals.

career

Merkhoffer came to Eintracht Braunschweig in 1967 and played with their amateur team in the Lower Saxony state league in 1967/68 . Before that he played for MTV Dettum and the amateurs of Hamburger SV . For the 1968/69 season, like striker Jaro Deppe, he was accepted by the Eintracht amateurs in the professional squad of coach Helmuth Johannsen . The Bundesliga squad was additionally strengthened by the newcomers Bernd Dörfel and Hartmut Weiß . The defensively safe and robust left full-back, who also had a good build-up game and good flank play, experienced the first minutes in the Bundesliga on September 7, 1968, a home game against MSV Duisburg (0-0), when he was in the 74 Minute for Horst Berg . In the second half of the season, on March 22, 1969, in a 1: 2 away defeat at Borussia Dortmund, he played his first Bundesliga game over 90 minutes. Jürgen Moll , who had been a fixture in the Eintrachtspiel for years, was tragically killed in a traffic accident on December 16, 1968. At the end of the round in 1968/69, Franz Merkhoffer had been used in 12 games in the Bundesliga and Eintracht took 4th place. From his second year, 1969/70, he was always a member of the Blue-Yellow team for 15 consecutive years, regardless of which coach instructed the licensed players. Beginning with Helmuth Johannsen, continued with Otto Knefler , sporting highlights under Branko Zebec , intermezzos by Werner Olk and Heinz Lucas , for a longer period under Uli Maslo and at the end of his career his former teammate and Zebec disciple, Aleksandar Ristic , could always focus on personality and build the pattern of persistence. In the first half of his second Bundesliga season, 1969/70, the man from the Wolfenbüttel district was appointed by the DFB to the U23 junior national team. He played on September 24, 1969 in the friendly against Romania in Bucharest as a left full-back. Despite well-known teammates in defense such as goalkeeper Norbert Nigbur , Herwart Koppenhöfer , Hans-Jürgen Hellfritz and Horst Blankenburg , the game was lost 1: 2.

Merkhoffer experienced two relegations from the Bundesliga with Eintracht: 1972/73 under coach Knefler in the then second -rate regional football league north and 1979/80 under coaches Heinz Lucas (until October 8, 1979) and Uli Maslo in the 2nd Bundesliga North . But it was followed both times by the immediate Bundesliga return: 1973/74 as a highly superior regional league champion with 63: 9 points and 1980/81 as runner-up in the 2nd Bundesliga group north. The defender size ran in the Regionalliga in 36 league games (1 goal) and the subsequent promotion round in all eight group games alongside teammates such as Bernd Franke , Wolfgang Grzyb , Friedhelm Haebermann , Reiner Hollmann , Bernd Gersdorff , Wolfgang Dremmler , Hartmut Konschal , Ludwig Bründl , Eberhard Haun , Dietmar Erler and Allan Michaelsen . The second return required after the runner-up in 1980/81 in the 2nd Bundesliga - Merkhoffer had been active in 41 league games with four goals - the detour with two relegation games against the southern runner-up Kickers Offenbach. On June 5, 1981, Merkhoffer and his teammates lost the first leg 0-1, but prevailed 2-0 in the second leg on June 10th and returned to the Bundesliga.

In addition to the international appearances in the UEFA Cup , the narrowly missed championship in the 1976/77 season under coach Zebec was certainly one of the sporting highlights in Franz Merkhoffer's long career. With one point behind champions Borussia Mönchengladbach, tied with runner-up FC Schalke 04, Eintracht took third place with 43:25 points and 56:38 goals. Merkhoffer had completed all 34 round games under the demanding Zebec. With the space coverage introduced by the former Yugoslav national player, the iron-hard fitness and tactical friend revolutionized the action in the former Bundesliga. Merkhoffer belonged to goalkeepers Franke, Grzyb, Haebermann, Hollmann, Dieter Zembski , Dremmler, Karl-Heinz Handschuh , Aleksandar Ristic, Wolfgang Frank and Danilo Popivoda to the close circle of the regular cast. The 0: 1 home defeat on the 32nd round matchday, May 7, 1977 against Werder Bremen, could not compensate for the two final successes against 1. FC Kaiserslautern (3: 1) and Rot-Weiss Essen (6: 0). The defensive Mönchengladbach in the era of coach Udo Lattek , won the championship with a 2-2 on the final day at Bayern Munich.

From 1968 to 1984 he had played a total of 563 competitive appearances (30 goals) in the Bundesliga, DFB Cup, Regionalliga, BL promotion round, 2nd Bundesliga, relegation games and in the UEFA Cup for Eintracht. He is the club's record player , both in terms of the number of Bundesliga games and the number of stakes in matches.

In 1971 Merkhoffer was sentenced to a fine of 4,400 DM for his involvement in the Bundesliga scandal .

Next to the square

His learned profession is a cook. During his time as a footballer, he had always been interested in horses and equestrian sports. He bred horses next to his house in Rothemühle, north of Braunschweig. His passion for equestrian sport (and perhaps also his robust performance as a defender) earned him the nickname “Horse Franz” among the Eintracht audience. After his career, he had nothing to do with football.

literature

  • Christian Karn, Reinhard Rehberg: Player Lexicon 1963–1994. Agon Sportverlag. Kassel 2012. ISBN 978-3-89784-214-4 . P. 336.
  • Horst Bläsig, Alex Leppert: A red lion on the chest. The story of Eintracht Braunschweig. Publishing house Die Werkstatt. Göttingen 2010. ISBN 978-3-89533-675-1 . P. 368.

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Jürgen Bitter: Germany's football. The encyclopedia. FA Herbig. Munich 2008. ISBN 978-3-7766-2558-5 . P. 482
  2. ↑ Bläsig, Leppert: A red lion on the chest. P. 368

Web links

personal data
SURNAME Merkhoffer, Franz
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Horse Franz (nickname)
BRIEF DESCRIPTION German soccer player
DATE OF BIRTH November 29, 1946
PLACE OF BIRTH Dettum