Heinz Wittmann (soccer player)

Heinz Wittmann
Personnel
birthday	September 12, 1943
place of birth	Zwiesel ,  Germany
size	175 cm
position	Defense
Men's
Years	station	Games (goals) 1
-1965	SC Zwiesel
1965-1972	Borussia Monchengladbach	123 (0)
1 Only league games are given.

Heinz Wittmann (born September 12, 1943 in Zwiesel ) is a former German soccer player who won the German soccer championship with Borussia Mönchengladbach in the Bundesliga in 1971 .

career

Amateur, until 1965

At SC Zwiesel , in the Lower Bavarian district of Regen , Heinz Wittmann played in the national league football until the 1964/65 season. Through his games in the Bavarian association selection , with which he won the 1965 national cup for amateurs with 3-2 goals against Westphalia, he had recommended himself for the German national soccer team of amateurs . In May and June 1965 he was used in three international matches for the DFB amateurs. He formed with Erhard Ahmann in the games against Italy (0: 1), Thailand (4: 2) and Holland (4: 2) the defenders of the team led by captain Gerhard Neuser . When he received a contract offer for the 1965/66 round from Bundesliga promoted Borussia Mönchengladbach, he moved from the Bavarian Forest to the Lower Rhine.

Borussia Mönchengladbach, 1965 to 1972

Coach Hennes Weisweiler had brought the newcomers Gerhard Elfert (Arminia Hannover), Berti Vogts (VfR Büttgen) and Heinz Wittmann (SC Zwiesel) to Mönchengladbach for the first year in the Bundesliga. On the starting day of the 1965/66 round, Saturday, August 14, 1965, Borussia played the first Bundesliga game in Saarland against Borussia Neunkirchen . The three newcomers were on the field in Ellenfeld, Vogts as left defender, Wittmann as center runner and "Amigo" Elfert on the left wing. Vogts (34 games) and Wittmann (31 games) were part of the regular cast throughout the round. The climber finished in 13th place. The man from Zwiesel added a game day in the second season and coach Weisweiler's team moved into the midfield to eighth place. With his appointments to the U23 junior national team , Wittmann was personally confirmed by the DFB for his excellent work on the defensive of Gladbach. On October 12 and November 16, 1966, he defended together with his teammate Berti Vogts in the international matches against Turkey and Romania in the DFB selection. He experienced his third use on May 3, 1967 in the 3-1 win against Czechoslovakia. In his third year in the Bundesliga, the defender made 33 appearances in the 1967/68 season to ensure that Mönchengladbach came in third. The previous positive one-way street of personal and team success changed radically for Heinz Wittmann on the sixth match day of the 1968/69 season. He suffered a broken leg on September 14, 1968 in the 26th minute of the game at Hannover 96 and therefore had to endure the first long break of his career in Mönchengladbach after six match days. In spring 1969 at the latest, he wanted to fight for points again in the Bundesliga. Complications recurring again and again did not allow Wittmann to play at all in the 1968/69 round. But that was not enough of the calamity for the ambitious athlete: He had to let the entire game year 1969/70 pass without an injured game. At the first German championship in 1970, Heinz Wittmann did not stand for a minute in the Bundesliga for Borussia. On August 22, 1970, it was the second match day of the 1970/71 round, Hennes Weisweiler changed the defender for Hartwig Bleidick in the 69th minute of the game, after almost two years injury break, for the first time in the Bundesliga at the away game at Hamburger SV . Wittmann made 20 appearances up to the 21st matchday, then the after-effects of his broken leg occurred again and the round was over for him. With his 20 appearances he belonged to the championship team of 1971 and had also played four games against EPA Larnax and FC Everton for the “foals” from Bökelberg in the European Cup of national champions . In the 1971/72 season, coach Weisweiler changed him to farewell in the 4-0 away win on June 23, 1972 at Rot-Weiß Oberhausen in the 83rd minute of play. With this short assignment, Heinz Wittmann's Bundesliga career was over after 123 appearances.

literature

• 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 .
• Ulrich Merk, André Schulin: Bundesliga chronicle 1965/66. Volume 3: Newcomers cause a sensation. AGON Sportverlag, Kassel 2005, ISBN 3-89784-085-5 .
• Karl-Heinz Heimann, Karl-Heinz Jens: KICKER football almanac 1993, Copress-Verlag. Munich 1992. ISBN 3-7679-0398-9 .