Hans Sturm (soccer player)

Hans "Hansi" Sturm (* 3. September 1935 in Schonau , † 24. June 2007 in Cologne ) was a German football player , the Senior career of 1. FC Cologne in the years 1962 and 1964 , the German football championship won and the football Oberliga West was champion four times in a row from 1960 to 1963.

career

Clubs until 1963

Hans Sturm was born in the Silesian Schönau in the district of Goldberg , in 1950 the family came to Cologne. She had previously spent five years after the end of the Second World War in Osterode am Harz . From the B-youth, Hans Sturm played in the youth of 1. FC Cologne. For the round 1955/56 he was taken over from the amateur team in the contract player line-up.

Under coach Hennes Weisweiler Sturm, who was mostly used as a half-striker or outside runner in the World Cup system, made his debut on the first round matchday, August 27, 1955, in the away game of the Oberliga West against SV Sodingen in the league team of the "billy goats". The attack by Cologne was made up of the players Walter Müller , Sturm, Berthold Nordmann , Josef Röhrig and Hans Schäfer in the 1: 3 defeat in the Herne district of Sodingen . Overall, he came in his first league season on twelve missions and scored three goals. From his second league year, 1957/58, he was a member of the Cologne team for eleven years.

Sturm's personal achievement was first recognized by the German Football Association (DFB) when he was appointed to the U 23 junior national team on February 26, 1958 . The strong-running, offensive and dangerous goal-scoring team player was popular with the fans and a key factor in the functioning team spirit within the team and became an integral part of 1. FC Köln in its successful years from 1958 to 1965. With two runners-up in 1958 and 1959 and winning four times the title 1960–1963 the FC represented in the last years of the old first-class league the top performance in the regional association West Germany. After the lost final for the German championship in 1960 against Hamburger SV , Sturm also belonged to the team that played on May 12, 1962 in the Berlin Olympic Stadium won the first German championship in the cathedral city with a 4-0 win against defending champion 1. FC Nürnberg . With Helmut Benthaus and Leo Wilden , he formed the runner series of the new German champions under the direction of Zlatko Čajkovski . In the last year of the old league system, 1962/63 , the defending champion moved into the final again in the final round. The West German runner-up Borussia Dortmund was able to turn the tables; he decided the final with 3-1 goals for himself. In total, Sturm completed 203 games in the Oberliga West from 1955 to 1963, scoring 58 goals. In addition there were another 31 games with eight goals in the finals for the German championship from 1958 to 1963.

1. FC Cologne (Bundesliga)

In the first year of the newly installed Bundesliga , 1963/64 , however, Hans Sturm - he played all 30 rounds and scored 13 goals - and his Cologne teammates under the guidance of coach Georg Knöpfle prevailed and celebrated winning the second German championship. As the defending champion, it was enough for the runner-up in 1965, before Hans Sturm's last two Bundesliga years at 1. FC Köln, 1966 and 1967, for the first time after eight years of consistent successes, no title win or a runner-up was recorded. On May 20, 1967, Sturm played his 113th and last Bundesliga game in a 2-1 home win against Rot-Weiss Essen , scoring 17 goals for his club. After twelve years of top football in the Oberliga and Bundesliga, he ended his activity at 1. FC Cologne in the summer of 1967 after a total of 407 competitive games with 100 goals and joined SC Viktoria Köln in the second -rate regional football league West for the 1967/68 round .

International competitions

With the city eleven of Cologne, the persistent storm first took part in the European competition for the trade fair cup against Birmingham on October 14, 1958 . He gained further experience with the selection of cities in the 1960 and 1961 games against Olympique Lyon and AS Roma.

From the 1961/62 season to the 1965/66 round, the endurance runner with an overview of the game and dreaded long-range shots in Cologne midfield in the European Cup then made 25 games with seven goals for the FC. In the trade fair cup in 1961/62 he failed after a play-off at Inter Milan (with Luis Suárez ) and in 1963/64 he and his teammates prevailed against La Gantoise Gent, Sheffield Wednesday and AS Roma with Jürgen Schütz and were only eliminated in the semi-finals against FC Valencia out. In Valencia, Cologne lost 1: 4 goals and led in the home game on April 29, 1964 with 2: 0 goals and was awarded a penalty in the 70th minute, but defender Fritz Pott could not convert it. In the European Cup of National Champions in 1962/63, “Hansi” Sturm also belonged to the “billy goat” eleven who returned to Cologne from Scotland with a devastating 8-1 defeat. The first leg on September 5, 1962 at the underestimated FC Dundee lost the team of coach "Tschik" Cajkovski after a demoralizing half-time score of 0: 5 goals with 1: 8 goals. On the return flight from Scotland, the broken trainer expressed his emotional state with the words: "Better if the plane crashes!"

Sturm and colleagues did better in 1964/65 with the national champions in the games against Partizan Tirana , Panathinaikos Athens and the three legendary games in February / March 1965 against English champions FC Liverpool . In the home game on February 10th, playmaker Hans Schäfer and left winger Heinz Hornig were absent . The clear game-determining team of coach Georg Knöpfle did not score against the "Reds" defensively set by manager Bill Shankly . In the second leg on March 17th at Anfield Road , Hornig was back, but captain Schäfer was still injured and center forward Christian Müller and stopper Leo Wilden had to be replaced at short notice . Liverpool started an assault, Cologne successfully fought against it with a defensive battle, and the second game between the two opponents also ended goalless 0-0. The decision game on March 24th in Rotterdam had to bring the decision. Now there were four goals, but the game also ended in a draw in Rotterdam. After a 2-2 win after extra time, the " Rotterdam coin toss " decided against Cologne. Sturm had worked diligently between the penalty areas in all three fiercely contested encounters and had worn himself out in the battle against the Liverpool offensive with Ian Callaghan , Roger Hunt , Ian St. John , Tommy Smith and Peter Thompson . The young Wolfgang Weber did not leave the field prematurely in Rotterdam with a broken fibula.

The veteran played the last games in the European Cup in 1965/66 in the trade fair cup against Union Luxemburg, Aris Saloniki and Újpest Budapest . On the Danube, the offensive playing art of the men around Ferenc Bene , László Fazekas , János Göröcs and Sándor Zámbó prevailed on February 16, 1966 in Budapest in the clear 4-0 home win of the violet-white Magyars and the international appearances of Hans Sturm were so ended.

Clubs from 1968 to 1971

From 1967 to 1971, one of the most popular Cologne players played 107 appearances in the Football Regionalliga West with 29 goals for Viktoria Cologne, before finally ending his playing career in the amateur camp at FSV Gebäudereiniger Köln and Post SV Köln.

National team 1958 to 1962

In June 1957, Sturm was invited to two friendly matches for the national team. From July 22nd to 28th, 1957, he took part in the first World Cup course in Munich. In 1958, the year of the soccer world championship in Sweden, Hans Sturm scored 18 goals in 29 league games in the Oberliga West. National coach Sepp Herberger tested the Cologne outside runner and half-striker in the second half of the season for the first time on February 26, 1958 in the junior national team U23. In the 4-1 win in Wuppertal against Belgium, he formed the runner row of the DFB selection with Karl Borutta and Ludwig Landerer . In the international match on March 19 in Frankfurt against Spain he was still on the bench, but played on March 26 in Basel in a German selection against a Swiss selection. On April 2, the Cologne -based player made his senior national team debut at the international match in Prague against Czechoslovakia. Germany lost the game with the internal trio Sturm, Fritz Walter and Hans Schäfer with 2: 3 goals. The national coach took Sturm to Sweden for the 1958 World Cup. There he came to his second international call on June 28 in Gothenburg when he played for third place against France. Without the previous tournament regulars Fritz Herkenrath , Erich Juskowiak , Horst Eckel , Fritz Walter, Uwe Seeler and Aki Schmidt , the German team had no chance against the French national football team, led by director Raymond Kopa and striker Just Fontaine , and lost the game with 3: 6 goals . Sturm formed the attack with Helmut Rahn , Alfred Kelbassa , Hans Schäfer and Hans Cieslarczyk .

In the run-up to the 1962 World Cup in Chile, Sturm moved back into the Herberger group's circle through various selection games (national team against clubs; West Germany against South Germany; on March 21, 1962 in Saarbrücken, the final test match of an A selection against a B selection). At the last international match before the World Cup, on April 11 in Hamburg against Uruguay, he was one of the reserve players. At the soccer World Cup in Chile in 1962 , the Cologne man was surprisingly nominated by national coach Herberger for the DFB-Elf's opening game on May 31st in Santiago against group favorites Italy. In his third international match, he had to fulfill the tactical task of a "hanging right winger" in order to strengthen the midfield. Defensive was the order of the day in Chile and the game ended in a 0-0 draw. On the return flight from South America, a DFB selection played a friendly against a DAFB selection in New York on June 17, where Sturm came into play as the left wing runner. He did not come to any other tournament appearances in Chile or any other national team appearances after the World Cup.

Personal

Hans Sturm was a trained plumber, ran a gas station in the Cologne-Sülz district and settled in the suburb of Widdersdorf . He was a guard member of the carnival society "Rote Funken" and intensively accompanied the football career of his son Ralf . Hans Sturm died in the night of June 24, 2007 of an inoperable brain tumor in the Cologne University Hospital .

In the obituary of the Kölner Stadt-Anzeiger on June 25th, he was honored by his long-time teammates Leo Wilden, Hans Schäfer and Wolfgang Overath : “Hansi was always a person who was much too modest. He never asked for anything, he was always decent and good-natured. He was the greatest player we've ever had. Hansi Sturm was great. As a footballer, but above all as a person. "

successes

• 1962 and 1964: German champion
• 1960, 1963 and 1965: German runner-up
• 1960 to 1963: West German champion

literature

• Matthias Kropp: Germany's big soccer teams, part 10: 1. FC Cologne . AGON Sportverlag, Kassel 1997, ISBN 3-928562-96-7 .
• Hardt / Hohndorf / Morbitzer / Dahlkamp / Greens : "Hennes & Co.". The history of 1. FC Köln . Verlag Die Werkstatt 2005, ISBN 3-89533-470-7 .
• Lorenz Knieriem, Hardy Grüne : Player Lexicon 1890 - 1963 . In: Encyclopedia of German League Football . tape 8 . AGON, Kassel 2006, ISBN 3-89784-148-7 .
• Jürgen Bitter : Germany's national soccer player: the lexicon . SVB Sportverlag, Berlin 1997, ISBN 3-328-00749-0 , p. 482 f .

Individual evidence

1. ↑ Hardt / Hohndorf / Morbitzer / Dahlkamp / Grüne: Hennes & Co., p. 85.