Klaus Schonz

Klaus Schonz (born November 21, 1940 in Gelsenkirchen ; † April 13, 2003 in Neuss ) was a German soccer player who played 160 games in the Regionalliga West as a goalkeeper for VfR Neuss from 1966 to 1972 .

career

Amateur / Oberliga West / Verbandsliga Niederrhein, until 1966

In the 1960/61 season, the 20-year-old talented goalkeeper Klaus Schonz won the championship in the Grevenbroich-Neuss regional league with his club VfR 06 Neuss and thus promotion to the Niederrhein association league . His achievements brought him a nomination for the German national soccer team of amateurs . On June 1, 1961, he guarded the goal of the DFB team at the international match in Oberhausen against Holland. The team around captain Heinz Höher won the match with 5: 3 goals. The DFB amateurs only played this game in 1961. For the 1961/62 round, Klaus Schonz moved to the Oberliga West for FC Schalke 04 . Coach Georg Gawliczek brought the talent from Neuss in the preliminary round only on the 11th match day, October 29, 1961, at the home game against Alemannia Aachen. Gawliczek trusted in the veteran Josef Broden and the success proved him right: Schalke won the runner-up and thus moved into the finals of the German championship in 1962. In February 1962 Schonz was able to prove his skills again in the league games against Marl-Hüls and Sodingen. In the last year of the league era 1962/63, Horst Mühlmann, a new number one came to Schalke and Schonz only made two appearances. After two rounds at Schalke 04, with five league games, the goalkeeper returned to Neuss in the Niederrhein Association.

Regionalliga West, 1966 to 1972

With the green-whites from VfR Neuss, Klaus Schonz landed in the first two rounds after his return on the fifth and fourth place in the Association League Niederrhein. His achievements earned him a second invitation to the amateur national team after a four-year hiatus. On June 2, 1965, the goalkeeper from Neuss played in the international match of the DFB amateurs in Winschoten against Holland in the German goal. Captain Gerhard Neuser scored two goals in a 4-2 win and defenders Erhard Ahmann and Heinz Wittmann were cornerstones of the defense around goalkeeper Schonz. In the round 1965/66, the team of coach Willi Koll won the association league championship and in the promotion round they prevailed against competitors Hammer SVg, SSV Hagen and Bonner SC and had thus achieved promotion to the Regionalliga West. The climber from the stadium on Hammer Landstrasse took the vigor of the climb with him and ended up in eighth place at the end of the round. The quick-reacting goalkeeper Klaus Schonz, the cleaner Josef Kokesch and the experienced striker Ulrich Kohn contributed significantly to this. The season opening game of the 1967/68 round then went into the annals of VfR. Bundesliga relegated Fortuna Düsseldorf opened the regional round on August 13, 1967 in Neuss. At halftime it was in front of 13,000 spectators, befitting 1: 3 for the clearly favored Fortuna. In a great second half of the game, center forward Kohn scored the 5-4 winner for Neuss in the 77th minute. With the new trainer Manfred Krafft, Neuss was able to take ninth place in 1969 and 1970, but the departures of Werner Tenbruck and Robert Begerau made themselves felt. In the summer of 1972 Neuss was relegated from the Regionalliga West, goalkeeper Schonz and Libero / Ausputzer Kokesch continued their careers at VfR. Until the 1977/78 round, the Neuss goalkeeper legend was still in the VfR goal in the Association League Niederrhein. When the introduction of the Amateur Oberliga Nordrhein Neuss slipped into the state league, the veteran ended his active playing career at the age of 37.

Other activity

As a youth coach at VfR 06 Neuss, he brought u. a. the later Bundesliga players Wolfgang Funkel , Hans-Jörg Criens and Günter Thiele . In the 80s he trained the 1st team at VfR 06 Neuss. Until the 1992/93 season, Klaus Schonz was still active as a youth and goalkeeper coach at VfR 06 Neuss.

literature

• Hans Dieter Baroth : Boys, Heaven is yours! The history of the Oberliga West 1947–1963. Klartext, Essen 1988, ISBN 3-88474-332-5 .
• Achim Nöllenheidt (ed.): Fohlensturm am Katzenbusch. The history of the Regionalliga West 1963–1974. Volume 2, Klartext, Essen 1995, ISBN 3-88474-206-X .