Gerhard Elfert

Gerhard Elfert (born September 6, 1942 in Hanover ) is a former German soccer player who played 97 games in the Bundesliga from 1965 to 1971 for Borussia Mönchengladbach and Eintracht Braunschweig , scoring eight goals.

career

Arminia Hannover, until 1965

Gerhard "Amigo" Elfert ran through all youth classes with the "Blauen" from the stadium at Bischofsholer Damm , SV Arminia Hannover , and stood out with his outstanding technique as a passer and threader so that he won for the DFB in the 1960 and 1961 UEFA tournaments the German national youth team was used. In 1960 he played together with Karl-Heinz Bente , Kurt Haseneder and Stefan Reisch in Austria and in 1961, as captain, he led the team of DFB coach Helmut Schön in Portugal to third place. As captain, he had team- mates Fritz Boyens , Rolf Kahn , Reinhard Libuda , Sepp Maier , Wolfgang Overath , Bernd Patzke and Horst Wild at his side in 1961 . The Arminia talent played a total of 12 international youth matches.

In the senior division he belonged to the championship team from 1961/62 in the amateur league Lower Saxony-West, which won the promotion round to the Oberliga Nord against TSV Uetersen , Heider SV and SSV Delmenhorst with 12: 0 points and thus in the first class in the north rise. On September 20, 1961, the Lower Saxon amateur player made his debut in Odense in the international match against Denmark in the U-23 national team . With his Arminia team-mate Lothar Ulsaß he tried to put the tips of Gustav Flachenecker , Jürgen Schütz and Oskar Lotz in scene in the connector position. As a climber, Arminia finished tenth in the last major league season in 1962/63 in the north. Local rivals Hannover 96 ranked one place above. The inner storm with Ulsaß, Dieter Perau and Elfert was impressive. Elfert came to 28 games with eight goals. In the first year of the regional soccer league in 1963/64 , Arminia took third place behind master St. Pauli and runner-up Hannover 96. Elfert, Helmut Kafka , Ulsaß and Uwe Witt narrowly missed their entry into the Bundesliga promotion round. Internationally, Elfert played two more games in the U-23 national team in September and November 1963. The "Reds" from Hannover 96 got promoted to the Bundesliga in 1964/65 and "Amigo" Elfert and his teammates came fourth in the Regionalliga in 1965. After 56 regional league appearances with nine goals, Elfert accepted the offer of Bundesliga promoted Borussia Mönchengladbach and moved to the Lower Rhine for the 1965/66 round.

Bundesliga, 1965 to 1971

When Borussia Mönchengladbach made their debut in the Bundesliga on August 14, 1965 at Borussia Neunkirchen , “Amigo” Elfert scored the 1-0 lead for the team of coach Hennes Weisweiler in the 20th minute of the game . Elfert acted as a "hanging" left winger in the 1-1 draw in midfield. In the second year in Mönchengladbach, 1966/67, he formed the core line-up in midfield together with Günter Netzer and Herbert L Bäumen and played 28 games with two goals. In October and November 1966 he was called to two more assignments in the U-23. For the 1967/68 round he accepted the offer of the German champion of the year 1967, Eintracht Braunschweig, and moved to Lower Saxony.

In the first round with the team of coach Helmuth Johannsen , 1967/68, he played 22 Bundesliga games with the defending champion and scored three goals. In the European Champions' Cup, he played the first and last game of Eintracht. On September 15, 1967 he was at the premiere in Vienna against Rapid Vienna in action when Franz Hasil scored the 1-0 success of the Rapid-Elf and on March 20, 1968 he was in the decider against Juventus Turin in Bern's Wankdorf Stadium with one of the party. Roger Magnusson's goal decided the game for Juventus. Repeatedly thrown back by several injuries, his appearance was on February 27, 1971 in the 5-0 home win against MSV Duisburg, he was substituted on for Lothar Ulsaß in the 63rd minute, his last Bundesliga game. From 1967 to 1971 Elfert had played 55 games with four goals for Braunschweig.

End of career

In the Regionalliga Nord, at VfL Osnabrück at the Bremer Brücke, “Amigo” Elfert was involved in the rounds of 1971/72 and 1972/73 in the two runner-up championships in 1972 and 1973 and thus the respective entry into the Bundesliga promotion round. With coach Erwin Türk , VfL landed in 1972 in the promotion round behind the sovereign promoted Wuppertaler SV in second place. Elfert had played seven games with two goals alongside teammates Werner Kamper , Friedhelm Holtgrave and Volker Graul . He played his last game for Osnabrück on May 13, 1973 in a 1-0 away win against Itzehoer SV . Jürgen Bitter describes "Amigo" Elfert as "one of the greatest technicians who have ever been under contract at the Bremen Bridge".

Elfert later moved to Wiehl near Gummersbach, from where he worked as a representative for a large sporting goods company.

literature

• Hardy Grüne , Lorenz Knieriem: Encyclopedia of German League Football. Volume 8: Player Lexicon 1890–1963. AGON Sportverlag, Kassel 2006, ISBN 3-89784-148-7 .
• Jens Reimer Prüß (Ed.): Bung bottle with flat pass cork. The history of the Oberliga Nord 1947–1963. Klartext, Essen 1991, ISBN 3-88474-463-1 .
• Matthias Weinrich: Encyclopedia of German League Football. Volume 3: 35 years of the Bundesliga. Part 1. The founding years 1963–1975. Stories, pictures, constellations, tables. AGON Sportverlag, Kassel 1998, ISBN 3-89784-132-0 .
• Jürgen Bitter : Purple and white. The football history of VfL Osnabrück. Self-published, Osnabrück 1991.