Josef Zenger

This article is about the soccer player Josef Zenger. For the clergy see Joseph Zenger .

Josef Zenger (born November 17, 1935 in Herzogenaurach ) is a former German soccer player who won the German championship as an active player with 1. FC Nürnberg in 1961 .

career

Oberliga Süd, 1956 to 1963

The strong offensive outside runner and endurance runner in midfield came in 1956 from FC Herzogenaurach from the amateur camp in Central Franconia to the "club" in the football league south . The Austrian ex-national player Franz Binder nominated the newcomer as coach immediately at the start of the round on August 19, 1956 in the away game against FSV Frankfurt. At 1-1 on Bornheimer Hang, Zenger, called by friends and teammates “Joe”, acted on the half-left connector role in the attack. The "Club" won the championship in the Oberliga Süd in 1956/57 and Zenger had nine goals in 19 league games alongside Max Morlockachieved. In the final round of the German football championship, he was used in the games against Hamburger SV and Duisburger SpV. In 1961 and 1962 , he and his teammates were able to bring two more championship titles to the Noris under the new “Club” coach Herbert Widmayer . He formed the standard runner series in these laps together with Ferdinand Wenauer and the young Stefan Reisch .

The stamina endurance runner with long-range shooting qualities experienced the sporting climax in the final round of the German championship in 1961. "Joe" Zenger played all six group matches against Werder Bremen, 1. FC Köln and Hertha BSC. June against 1. FC Köln as the scorer of the winning goal in the 61st minute. At the final on June 24, 1961 in Hanover against Borussia Dortmund , the “Club” runner row paralyzed the goal-threatening internal storm of Borussia with Aki Schmidt , Jürgen Schütz and Timo Konietzka and Nuremberg won the final with 3-0 goals.

In the 1961/62 round, the Franks were able to defend the southern German championship and gained international experience in the European Cup. In the first two rounds, Zenger and his teammates had four wins against Drumcondra FC and Fenerbahçe Istanbul . In the quarter-finals, the Widmayer protégés faced defending champions Benfica Lisbon . On February 1, 1962, a surprising 3-1 victory was achieved in the home game on Schneeboden. In Lisbon, however, the "club" went down in the storm of the Guttmann-Elf on February 22nd with 0: 6 goals. The Nuremberg defense could not stand up to the legendary Benfica attack with José Augusto , Eusébio , José Águas , Mário Coluna and António Simões . In the final round of the German championship it was enough against the rivals Tasmania 1900 Berlin, Borussia Neunkirchen and FC Schalke 04 to make it into the final again. 1. FC Köln gave the defending champion from Nuremberg no chance in their 4-0 win on May 12, 1962.

From 1956 to 1963 Zenger completed a total of 114 league games and scored 22 goals. In the finals there were another 15 missions with three goals.

End of the career

The last year in the Oberliga Süd, 1962/63, Zenger spent completely without a competitive game due to injury. Persistent health problems and serious disagreements with Herbert Widmayer's successor, Jenő Csaknády , meant that Zenger only played on the 18th matchday of the first Bundesliga round in 1963/64, in the 1-0 home win against Eintracht Frankfurt in the Bundesliga could play. He dissolved his contract in Nuremberg and took over his hometown club FC Herzogenaurach as a player-coach in the regional league Middle Franconia North for the 1964/65 round.

For the trained bricklayer and later retrained as a freight forwarder, Zenger joined the local rivals ASV Herzogenaurach, 1. FC Bamberg, TSV Hirschaid and the A-Juniors of 1. FC Nürnberg.

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 .
• Werner Skrentny (Ed.): When Morlock still met the moonlight. The history of the Oberliga Süd 1945–1963. Klartext, Essen 1993, ISBN 3-88474-055-5 .