Karl Schäffner

Karl Schäffner (born December 29, 1931 in Apolda ; † June 8, 1995 in Berlin ) was a German soccer player and soccer coach.

life and career

Karl Schäffner played football at SC Apolda from 1940 during the Second World War . After training as a businessman, he went to the GDR league promoted Dynamo Eisleben in 1953 at the age of 21 . At the end of the season he was delegated to SG Dynamo Dresden , the main team of the Dynamo sports association . There he had to move with the entire team to the newly founded SC Dynamo Berlin after the 11th matchday in November 1954 . He ended his active career as a football player at the age of 29. Mainly as a striker or midfielder, he had played 37 games in the league and scored seven goals.

In 1960, Schäffner completed a long-distance trainer course and then started working as a trainer. From 1961 to 1968 he continued to work at Dynamo / BFC Berlin, initially as assistant coach under János Gyarmati , then coach of the reserve team and from 1965 as head coach. In 1969 he was delegated to the regional league club Dynamo Frankfurt (Oder) together with five top division players from the BFC in order to help the team move up to the second-rate GDR league . The contract failed because the team only reached second place in the district league . Schäffner's next station was in 1970 the upper division BSG Stahl Riesa , where he stayed until the team was relegated in 1972. From 1974 to 1978 Schäffner Chemie Leipzig trained , whereupon the promotion to the league succeeded in 1975, but the class could not be held there and in 1976 the way led back to the league. Chemistry then missed the return to the league twice in a row in the promotion games. Thereupon he took over in 1978 the team from Stahl Brandenburg, which had narrowly escaped relegation from the GDR league in the previous season. In the following years Schäffner secured relegation and led Stahl to a relay victory in 1983. In the subsequent round of promotion, Brandenburg failed as before Chemie Leipzig under Schäffner's leadership. At the beginning of the 1984/85 season, Schäffner took over training at Union Berlin . There he finally managed to lead a second division team into the top division. In the following years he succeeded in securing Union's whereabouts in the league and celebrated his greatest success in 1986 when he reached the final of the GDR Cup competition . The final was lost, however, with 1: 5 against 1. FC Lokomotive Leipzig . When Union was at the bottom of the league table in the 1987/88 season after the season ended, Schäffner had to leave the club.

Further training stations are no longer transmitted. Karl Schäffner died on June 8, 1995 after a heart attack.