Gottlieb Göller

Gottlieb Göller

Gottlieb Göller (born May 31, 1935 in Nuremberg ; † August 27, 2004 in Basel ) was a German soccer player , engineer and four-time soccer coach for the Togolese national teams .

Career as a football player

After a hopeful youth, Göller started his career as a football player at 1. FC Nürnberg , where he played from 1953 to 1955. For Nuremberg he played in two friendly games, but did not play any competitive games. He then played for FC Bayern Hof in 1955/56 and for VfL Neustadt from 1956 to 1961 . For Wormatia Worms he ran in a total of 19 missions in midfield in the 1961/62 season, the last station of his career was in the 1962/63 season of FK Pirmasens .

Career as a coach

National coach of Togo and Africa Cup of Nations 1972

Göller, who worked as an engineer in Togo , was entrusted with the responsibility of coaching the Togolese national team at the instigation of Harald Gann , then ambassador of the Federal Republic of Germany in Togo. From the players of the leading football clubs of Togo, Étoile Filante de Lomé , Modellé Lomé , Dynamic Togolais Lomé , Unisport and Essor, he put together a team with which he qualified for the first time Togo for the African Championship ( French Coupe d'Afrique des Nations, CAN ) managed. After successfully qualifying against strong opponents Ghana with a 0-0 in the first leg of the second qualifying round on October 13, 1971 and a 1-0 win in the second leg on October 27, Togo took part in the 1972 African Cup in Cameroon . After a 3: 3 against Mali , a 0: 2 defeat against the hosts Cameroon and a 1: 1 draw against Kenya , Togo was eliminated after the preliminary round. Edmond Apéti , known as Kaolo, contributed all 4 Togo goals .

Return to Togo and the 1984 African Championship

In the late 1970s, Göller was the coach of Julius Berger FC in Nigeria , a football club owned by the construction company Julius Berger Nigeria PLC , a subsidiary of Deutsche Bilfinger Berger . At the end of 1981 he took over the Nigerian national team, which had suffered a 2-0 defeat against Algeria in qualifying for the 1982 World Cup in Spain. The engagement lasted only a very short time and ended after a 1: 2 defeat in the second leg against Algeria. Göller left Nigeria again, worked briefly in Mozambique and finally returned to Togo.

For the African Cup of Nations 1984 in Ivory Coast , they qualified against Sierra Leone, Guinea and Ethiopia. As with the participation in 1972, Togo was eliminated in the preliminary round, after a 3-0 defeat against the host team from Ivory Coast , a 4-1 defeat against Cameroon and a goalless draw against Egypt , Togo ended the tournament as group A bottom .

Rebuilding and 1998 African Championship

In 1996 Göller returned to Togo as a coach and took over the Togolese national team from his predecessor Engot Babuama Sabe . With only a few professionals playing in Europe at the time, such as Bachirou Salou ( MSV Duisburg ), Koffi Fiawoo ( CS Louhans-Cuiseaux ), Affo Atty ( SC Charleroi ) and Apkalo Gnavor ( FC Tours ), Göller rebuilt the team. Within a short time, mainly due to the Bosman ruling , the number of Togolese players in Europe increased, which also benefited the national team trained by Göller. With a stronger team, Togo managed to qualify for the 1998 African Championship in Burkina Faso. Göller secured the cornerstone for entry into the group stage of qualification with a win against the Republic of the Congo. The group stage itself was largely directed by Messan Zougbede . After qualifying, the German coach Eberhard Vogel took over . After a 2-1 defeat against the Democratic Republic of the Congo , a 2-1 win against Ghana and a 1-3 defeat against Tunisia , Togo was eliminated from the tournament after the group stage. Vogel gave up the job after less than a year, and was succeeded by Mawuena Kodji .

Africa Cup of Nations 2000 and retirement

In 1999 Göller took over the coaching position one last time and successfully led Togo to the 2000 African Cup . Togo won 1: 1 against Ivory Coast on January 24, 2000, a 2: 0 against Ghana on January 27, 2000 in the absence of Goeller, who had criticized the Togolese federation before the game, and finally a 1: 0 win against Cameroon which, however, was not enough to qualify for the quarter-finals. Togo was eliminated as the bottom of group A after the preliminary round. Göller hadn't followed the last game either. Contrary to the alleged allegations of Göller's malaria disease, he resigned after his criticism before the second game. The reasons for his criticism were serious organizational deficiencies in the Togolese federation, outstanding salary payments and falling out with the president of the Togolese football association , the president's son Rock Balakiyem Gnassingbé .

Individual evidence

1. ↑ Ancien coach du Togo décédé, Gottlieb Goeller honoré ( Memento from May 3, 2007 in the web archive archive.today ), article at www.panapress.com
2. ↑ Player profile on a fan page of 1.FC Nuremberg
3. ↑ Player profile on the homepage of the Wormatia Worms club
4. ^ African Nations Cup 1972 , overview at rsssf.com
5. ^ African Nations Cup 1984 , overview at www.rsssf.com
6. ↑ 1996 Matches in Africa ( memento of January 29, 2008 in the Internet Archive ), overview at www.srcf.ucam.org
7. ↑ 1997 Matches in Africa ( Memento from June 2, 2008 in the Internet Archive ), overview at www.srcf.ucam.org
8. ^ African Nations Cup 1998 , overview at www.rsssf.com
9. ^ The disappearing coach , report in The Guardian
10. ↑ Togo's coach quits , message on news.bbc.co.uk from January 28, 2000
11. ↑ Togo's German trainers in a rage about the association , message on www.kicker.de from January 30, 2000