Ludwig Merz (soccer player)

Ludwig Merz (born September 7, 1923 ) is a former German soccer player . From 1945 to 1959, the defensive player played 384 league games for 1. FC Schweinfurt 05 in the first-class Oberliga Süd and scored five goals. He is thus the top division record player of the zero five from Schweinfurt.

Career

The tall Ludwig "Lubber" Merz came to the former Gauligist 1. FC Schweinfurt 05 via the Schweinfurt district association TV Oberndorf. He played in the first year of the Oberliga Süd, 1945/46 , alongside other players such as Andreas Kupfer , Albin Kitzinger and Jakob Lotz , Paul Gorski , Rolf Baier, Fritz Käser , Karl Kupfer and "Molli" Kupfer. With the team from the industrial city of Lower Franconia, the initial defender and later long-time middle runner played in the top division of southern Germany for 14 years in the World Cup system . As a 35-year-old veteran, he ended his higher-class career after the 1958/59 season - in the year after the 1958 World Cup in Sweden he had again completed 26 league games.

The duels against the two Middle Franconian clubs of SpVgg Fürth and 1. FC Nürnberg were outstanding . The highlight of FC 05 has always been the defense and an excellent runner row. At the side of the exemplary ex-national players Albin Kitzinger, Andreas Kupfer and from 1946 by Robert Bernard , Merz developed over the years into a pillar of the Schweinfurt game and became the support and pillar of the game-carrying defense of the green-blacks from the Willy- Sachs stadium . When, for example, in 1949/50 Merz had played all 30 point games and the zero five had occupied twelfth place, this happened with 38:38 goals. SpVgg Fürth became champions of the Oberliga Süd with 39 goals conceded. Merz himself experienced a confirmation of his outstanding defensive performance by playing in the finals of the 1949/50 regional cup in the selection of the Bavarian Football Association on March 19, 1950 in Stuttgart in front of 89,000 spectators. In the 2-0 win against the Palatinate - in the men around Werner Baßler , Werner Kohlmeyer , Werner Liebrich , Georg Gawliczek and Ottmar Walter , the injured playmaker Fritz Walter was missing - he was the left defender and center forward Horst Schade scored both goals. When Merz and his teammates in 1951/52 with the 14th rank were just able to prevent relegation, the "Schnüdel" had scored the fewest in the entire league with 32 goals. In the following round, 1952/53 , Schweinfurt moved up to fifth place in the final table with 40 goals, while TSG Ulm 1846, being relegated to 16th place, had scored 41 goals.

Merz experienced his best lap result with Schweinfurt under coach Fritz Teufel in the 1954/55 season , when the zero fives reached third place, tied with runner-up SSV Reutlingen . Lower Franconia started the round on August 22, 1954 at Karlsruher SC with an 8-2 defeat. After the first half of the season Merz was eighth with his team with 15:15 points. In the second half of the season, 22:8 points were scored with 27:18 goals and thus reached third place. Outstanding were the duels between the Schweinfurt head of defense and the strikers in the south: Ernst-Otto Meyer , Lothar Grziwok , Helmut Preisendörfer , Horst Schade and Ulrich Biesinger .

"Lubber" Merz completed his last league game on April 5, 1959 in a 3-2 home win against BC Augsburg , where he again had to deal with their offensive beasts Biesinger and the young Helmut Haller . Schweinfurt finished tenth under coach Fritz Käser - previously long-time goalkeeper of the 05er - and Merz had played his last 26 league games of a total of 384 for Schweinfurt.

His class was confirmed by the two representative missions for southern Germany on April 20, 1952 against Berlin (2: 1) and on August 7, 1955 in Hamburg in the 3: 4 defeat against northern Germany. In Hamburg he formed together with goalkeeper Karl Bögelein , defender colleague Erich Retter and the runner row with Robert Schlienz , Rudolf Hoffmann and Karl Mai the defense of southern Germany.

literature

• Lorenz Knieriem, Hardy Greens : 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-Verlag, Essen 1993, ISBN 3-88474-055-5 .