Kurt Meyer (soccer player)

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Kurt Meyer (born February 4, 1921 in Upper Silesia ; † August 23, 2008 in Recklinghausen ) was a German miner and amateur football player and coach. He became known to the general public when he scored a goal at the age of 79 in 2001, which was voted Goal of the Year .

Life

He began his professional career in 1949 in the König Ludwig colliery and worked as a cutter until 1987 . Meyer joined FC 29 Recklinghausen at the age of ten, and later moved to SpVgg Blau Weiß Post Recklinghausen . With this he went through various amateur leagues. Due to his number on the back, the nickname "Meyer 15" established itself. Meyer also looked after the club's youth teams for 35 years and also worked as a player coach for his own team . In the 1970s , he received a trophy in recognition of more than 300 goals scored in training within a year. He was also the first coach of the future Bundesliga - scorer and UEFA Cup winner Martin Max in Germany.

Meyer achieved nationwide fame in 2001. On January 20, a friendly match between the over-40s old league against FC Jungsiegfried Hillerheide took place on the occasion of his 80th birthday. The game ended 2-2 and Meyer contributed the first goal in the 38th minute. He accepted a pass into the barrel half to the left of the penalty area line with his right heel , turned and flicked the ball with his right foot into the top right corner of the goal when he saw it . As a WDR camera team was on site, the scene could be filmed. The viewers of the Sportschau voted Meyer's goal first as goal of the month and later, with 20.9 percent of the votes among twelve finalists, as goal of the year 2001. This makes him the oldest footballer to receive this honor, both relative to the time of the election and absolutely has been awarded so far.

The award attracted a lot of media attention and Meyer, who was allowed to sign in the Golden Book of the city of Recklinghausen, was a guest on stern TV as well as people, pictures, emotions on RTL and was invited to the ARD sports gala. The then manager of FC Schalke 04 Rudi Assauer organized a small celebration for the winner, and the DFB invited Meyer and his wife to the international match of the German national soccer team against Israel (7: 1) on February 13, 2002 in Kaiserslautern . As a result of the award, Meyer was able to conclude an advertising contract with the pharmaceutical manufacturer Queisser Pharma for the Doppelherz brand . In addition, he was after the award ceremony for goal of the month the guest of honor UEFA when on 24 August 2001 in Monaco's Stade Louis II discharged UEFA Super Cup - match between Bayern Munich and Liverpool FC : been (2 3).

Kurt Meyer died of heart failure in 2008 at the age of 87 .

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