National soccer team of the GDR (U-21 men)

German Democratic Republic U-21

Association	German Football Association
confederacy	UEFA
FIFA code	GDR
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statistics
First international match Junior selection "U-23": GDR - CSSR 1: 0 Junior selection "U-21": GDR - Hungary 4: 1 ( Karl-Marx-Stadt , July 5, 1953) ( Thale , May 1, 1972)
Last game "U-23": France - GDR 1: 2 "U-21": Austria - GDR 0: 1 ( Poitiers , France ; October 11, 1975) ( Stockerau , Austria ; November 14, 1989)
Highest victory "U-23": GDR - Albania 6-0 "U-21" Austria - GDR 1: 6 ( Potsdam ; November 3, 1973) ( Vienna ; September 24, 1977)
Biggest defeat "U-23": Hungary - GDR 4: 0 "U-21": GDR - Norway 0: 4 ( Budapest ; May 28, 1974) ( Rostock ; October 29, 1980)
(As of communications came into effect on 20th November 1990 the DFB in. )

The U-21 national soccer team of the GDR was a selection team of soccer players from the GDR . As a junior team, she was part of the German Football Association and represented it internationally with an age restriction . In addition to friendly games against the national teams of other national associations, the representation took part in the junior European championships.

Company name

Since the age limit was not always constant, the neutral designation of the GDR's youth team remained common until the end of GDR football . Only from 1972 to 1976, when a U-23 and a U-21 team played at the same time, was there a more specific distinction between the two teams.

history

Between 1953 and 1989, the youth team played over 275 official international matches against youth teams from other football associations - as U-23 112 matches and as U-21 164 games. She was the link between the junior national team and the senior national team . According to international rules, players under the age of 23 were initially eligible to play, hence later also referred to as U-23s, and from 1972 under the age of 21. Older actors could also be used within certain limits.

The first junior international game took place on July 5, 1953 in what was then Karl-Marx-Stadt (now Chemnitz ). The GDR defeated the Czechoslovak youth team 1-0. The winning goal scorer was the later national team player Günter Imhof .

Since there was an age restriction for the Olympic football tournament of the 1992 Summer Games , the European qualification for the finals in the Catalan metropolis was linked with the U-21 European Championship in 1992 . Since the last qualifying games for the U-21 European Championship in 1990 were played in the turning autumn , the youngsters, which had already been formed at the same time, initially operated as the Olympic team . Due to the reunification and the dissolution of the DFV , these eleven did not become the new East German U-21s and thus a qualification for the games in Barcelona was no longer possible via the junior EM .

The old U-21 team played their last game on November 14, 1989 in the final European Championship qualifier against Austria . The game was won by the players around Andreas Wagenhaus , Dirk Schuster , Bernd Hobsch and Uwe Rösler in Stockerau, Lower Austria, 1-0. The golden goal was scored by the later Bundesliga professional Rocco Milde .

Junior European Championships

As early as 1967, the youth team participated in the predecessor of the U-23 European Championship, the U-23 national team trophy. In an annual challenge mode, Bulgaria and the GDR were drawn as the first participants. The game took place on June 7, 1967 in Stara Zagora, Bulgaria. Bulgaria beat the GDR 3-2 and was the first title holder.

In 1970 the qualification for the first official U-23 European championship began, in which the GDR selection failed to the Netherlands and Yugoslavia. At the following European championship, the GDR youngsters were more successful. They prevailed against Romania and Albania in the qualification, eliminated Italy in the quarter-finals and Poland in the semi-finals and only lost to Hungary 3-2 and 0-4 in the two finals in 1974. In the 1974/76 European Championship, the GDR failed to qualify against France and Belgium.

In 1978, with a new age limit, the U-21 European football championship was held for the first time . This also transformed the GDR selection into a U-21 . In 1978 the team reached the final after Turkey, Austria, Czechoslovakia in the quarterfinals and Bulgaria in the semifinals had been eliminated in the qualification. In the two finals, Yugoslavia waited for the GDR selection, which this time again missed the European Championship title with 0: 1 and 4: 4. The GDR youth team reached the European Championship final in 1980 for the last time. They eliminated the Netherlands and Poland in qualifying, defeated Hungary in the quarter-finals and England in the semi-finals and now faced the Soviet Union. After a 0-0 and a 0-1 defeat, the GDR youngsters became vice European champions for the third time. At the following five U-21 European Championships, the GDR junior team always failed in qualifying.

Participation in junior European championships

1972	Out in the group stage
1974	Second
1976	Out in the group stage
1978	Second
1980	Second
1982	Out in the group stage
1984	Out in the group stage
1986	Out in the group stage
1988	Out in the group stage
1990	Out in the group stage

First final match of the European Championship against the USSR on May 7, 1980 in the Rostock Ostseestadion: Lothar Kurbjuweit (Jena), René Müller (Lok Leipzig), Thomas Dennstedt (Lok Leipzig), Bernd Schulz (BFC Dynamo), Rainer Troppa (BFC Dynamo), Artur Ullrich (BFC Dynamo), Ralf Sträßer (BFC Dynamo), Ronald Kreer (Lok Leipzig), Jürgen Raab (Jena), Jürgen Uteß (Rostock), Thomas Töpfer (Jena) (from left to right). In this game Dirk Stahmann (Magdeburg) and Frank Pastor (Halle) were substituted on. Hans-Jürgen Riediger (BFC Dynamo) also played in the second leg .

Record player

The U-23 and U-21 appearances are summarized in this list of players with more than 25 appearances.

Udo jewelry	42
Andreas Roth	40
Frank Terletzki	40
Reinhard Häfner	36
Joachim Müller	33
Peter Kotte	28
Dieter Kühn	28
Heiko Bonan	27
Joachim Fritsche	27
Rainer Jarohs	26th
Claus Boden	25th
Gerd Heidler	25th

literature

• Günter Simon (overall editor): football informative . Sportverlag Berlin , Berlin 1986, ISBN 3-328-00130-1 , pages 80-90.
• Klaus Querengässer: Football in the GDR 1945–1989. Part 4: The FDGB Cup. GDR youth football (= AGON Sportverlag statistics. Vol. 22). AGON Sportverlag, Kassel 1997, ISBN 3-89609-102-6 .
• Andreas Baingo , Michael Hohlfeld: Soccer selection player of the GDR. The lexicon . Sportverlag Berlin , Berlin 2000, ISBN 3-328-00875-6 , pages 278-293.
• Hanns Leske : Encyclopedia of GDR football . Verlag Die Werkstatt, Göttingen 2007, ISBN 978-3-89533-556-3 .

Footnotes

1. ↑ The publications mentioned in the literature section give different numbers in individual cases. Priority was given in cases of doubt to the standard work of the Berlin sports publisher on the statistics of GDR football, football informative , compiled by Günter Simon as a general editor .