Manfred Graul

Manfred Graul (born November 14, 1953 in Wurzen ) was a soccer player in the GDR . In their highest football league , he played for Chemie Leipzig and Chemie Böhlen .

Athletic career

Graul started playing soccer at SG Dynamo Wurzen in 1960. In 1969, when he was 15, he switched to the company sports club(BSG) Chemie Leipzig, where he first played in the youth team and then in the junior team. For the 1972/73 season, the 1.70 m tall Graul, who had meanwhile completed his apprenticeship as a locksmith, was nominated for the league team of Leipzig. However, Graul had to wait until matchday 19 until his first appearance in the league. On May 5, 1973 he was substituted on during the game Chemie Leipzig - Hansa Rostock in the 66th minute. Between the 22nd and the last game day, Graul came on another five full-time missions in the attack. He could not build on that in the 1973/74 season, because he was only a substitute and was only used in six league games, of which he played only one as a midfielder over 90 minutes.

At the end of the season, Chemie Leipzig had to relegate to the second-rate GDR league . As a result of a meniscus injury , Graul was only able to play seven point games and so had little share in the immediate return to the league in 1974/75. In the following league season 1975/76 Graul seemed to have made the leap to become a regular player, because in the first new league games he was used seven times in midfield. In November 1975, however, he was drafted for a year and a half of military service. During this time he was able to continue playing football in the GDR league with the army sports community Vorwärts Plauen .

In May 1977 Graul returned to Chemie Leipzig, but continued to play in the GDR league because of the 1976 relegation. The Leipzig failed in the promotion round as well as 1978. It was not until the 1978/79 season that they returned to the league. Graul played a key role in this success with 26 stakes in the game and five goals. In his fourth league season 1979/80 he was a fixture in midfield of the Leipzig midfield with 21 stakes.

After Graul was relegated again with Chemie Leipzig in the summer of 1980, he left the BSG initially with an unknown destination. In the second half of the 1980/81 season he played for the league promoted BSG Chemie Böhlen. Between the 14th and 24th matchday he was used in eight league games as a midfielder. The newcomer Böhlen did not manage to stay in the league, and so Graul went back to the GDR league with the Böhlenern. By the end of the first half of the 1981/82 season, he completed eight games in the GDR league before returning to Chemie Leipzig, still a GDR league team. With fourth place in the C-season, the league promotion remained a long way off, only in 1982/83 did the Leipzig manage to return to the league. Graul made a significant contribution to this with 22 stakes and four goals as in 1979. After this success, the now 30-year-old played his last league season. First he played the first 12 point games in full, then he injured himself in the 13th game and was then only used in three other league games between the 17th and 21st match day. Manfred Graul played his last league game on April 7, 1984 in Leipzig against FC Vorwärts Frankfurt. He was substituted on in the 73rd minute for the remainder of the season. With this game he had made a total of 64 league appearances, 56 for Chemie Leipzig, 8 for Chemie Böhlen. He scored a total of four goals, all of which he scored for Leipzig.

literature

• Hanns Leske : Encyclopedia of GDR football . Verlag Die Werkstatt, Göttingen 2007, ISBN 978-3-89533-556-3 , p. 169.
• Andreas Baingo, Michael Horn: The History of the GDR Oberliga. Verlag Die Werkstatt, Göttingen 2003, ISBN 3-89533-428-6 , pp. 299, 326.
• Uwe Nuttelmann (Ed.): GDR Oberliga. 1962-1991. Self-published, Jade 2007, ISBN 978-3-930814-33-6 .
• GDR sports newspaper Deutsches Sportecho , May 25, 1978, short biography

Web links

• Manfred Graul in the database of the German Football Association