Klaus Thiele (soccer player)

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Klaus Thiele (born February 25, 1934 - † November 23, 2019 ) was a German football goalkeeper.

Klaus Thiele, around 1965

Athletic career

Klaus Thiele began his sporting career in 1946 at the age of 12 with Zentra Wismut Aue in the boys' team and temporarily moved to SG Zschorlau in 1951. In 1952 the section head Willy Schmalfuß of the BSG Wismut Aue became aware of him and brought him back to the squad in November of the same year. There was initially no getting past the goalkeepers Kurt Steinbach and Erhard Schmalfuß . Thiele did not play his first league game until September 19, 1954 for the Auer, who started as SC Wismut Karl-Marx-Stadt from November 1954 , in a 5-0 home win against BSG Empor Lauter . After this game he established himself in the starting eleven. The talented goalkeeper had a great career ahead of him, but it was suddenly interrupted.

On May 20, 1955, Klaus Thiele suffered a scaphoid fracture. His team missed him on June 19, 1955 in the FDGB Cup final , which SC Wismut won 4-0 against SC Empor Rostock in Leipzig . Despite being banned from training, he couldn't wait to get back on the team as soon as possible. Despite medical warnings, he secretly started training again and was soon back in goal - for example in 7 games in the transition round won by Wismut Karl-Marx-Stadt in 1955 . But the injury had not yet healed properly and further operations followed, which did not, however, lead to the desired success. When the end of his career threatened, the former team doctor and then Professor Dr. Rockstroh for one last operation that finally succeeded. Between February 1956 and the end of April 1957 he could not play any games.

Goalkeeper training with Heinz Kaden (left) and Kurt Steinbach (center)

But then things went up again for Klaus Thiele. From then on he shone with strong performances. While he was still injured in the first championship title in 1956 , he made a significant contribution to the second GDR championship title in 1957 with 19 missions . In the third championship title for SC Wismut Karl-Marx-Stadt in the 1959 season , he was not missing in any game. The following European Cup games were a highlight in Klaus Thiele's career. In the games 1957/58 against Gwardia Warsaw , Ajax Amsterdam , 1958/59 against Petrolul Ploieşti , IFK Göteborg and Young Boys Bern and 1960/61 against Rapid Vienna , he was 16 times in goal. In the other encounters Lothar Neupert held.

Through his experience and the strong performances in the EC games, Klaus Thiele also attracted the attention of Fritz Gödicke , the then new GDR selection coach . Thiele celebrated his international debut on May 1, 1958 in Tirana against Albania (1: 1). On that day there were five players from SC Wismut Karl-Marx-Stadt in the GDR team. In addition to Thiele, Bringfried Müller , Siegfried Wolf , Manfred Kaiser and Willy Tröger . It was also center forward Tröger who saved the GDR from an even greater disgrace with his goal in the 88th minute.

The second international match came for Thiele only on June 28, 1959 in Porto in the EM qualifier against Portugal (2: 3). Thiele completed his best international match in the international match under floodlights against Czechoslovakia on the occasion of the gymnastics and sports festival, when he secured a 2-1 victory for the GDR team with great parades. The subsequent game against Finland (2: 3) was his last international match. In the end, Thiele couldn't get past goalkeeper Karl-Heinz Spickenagel from ASK Vorwärts Berlin .

Klaus Thiele in action

Between 1960 and 1962 Klaus Thiele was no longer the absolute number one. Lothar Neupert and Manfred Hambeck were his competitors during this time. After Neupert's resignation and Hambeck's departure (together with Dieter Erler and Albrecht Müller to SC Karl-Marx-Stadt ), Klaus Thiele was the goalkeeper at Wismut Aue again until the 1965/66 season . But in 1966/67 he was finally replaced by Manfred Fuchs in the position of goalkeeper.

After many games in the reserve team (today's second teams), Klaus Thiele stood again at the age of 34 at the beginning of the 1968/69 season when he replaced the injured Manfred Fuchs in the games against FC Karl-Marx-Stadt and Chemie Leipzig had to. In the final minute of the game against Leutzscher, Thiele held a tough hand penalty from Manfred Walter in a great manner and secured Wismut Aue the 1-0 home win and the championship lead after the 3rd match day.

A week later on September 7, 1968, Klaus Thiele played his last championship game in the 3-2 defeat at 1. FC Magdeburg . Between 1954 and 1968 he played a total of 219 championship games. On September 9, 1970, Klaus Thiele and Lothar Killermann and Dieter Gerber were officially bid farewell to the Oberliga game against FC Rot-Weiß Erfurt (4-0).

Further career

After the end of his career, he worked as a miner for the SDAG Wismut and looked after the neighboring district league team of Traktor Alberoda for several years. Klaus Thiele died in November 2019; he lived in Aue to the end.

literature

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Obituary notice , in: Freie Presse , Auer Zeitung, November 30, 2019, p. 16.
  2. Veilchen mourn for Klaus Thiele , communication FC Erzgebirge Aue from November 27, 2019.