Manfred Lefkes

Manfred Lefkes (born August 7, 1959 in Cologne ) is a former German soccer player . The midfielder and defender played 22 league games at 1. FC Köln from 1983 to 1985 in the Bundesliga and scored three goals.

career

The son of league player Manfred Lefkes sen. (SC Viktoria Köln, 1959-63, 87-25) started club football from 1973 to 1976 at SSV Vingst 1905 Cologne in their youth department. After the first year in the A-Youth at TuS Höhenhaus, 1976/77, he was a member of the A1-Youth of 1. FC Köln from the 1977/78 season. Under coach Josef Röhrig , he played as a libero in all championship games alongside fellow players like Stefan Engels and Jürgen Willkomm . In his youth he went through all selection teams: District and Middle Rhine selection as well as West German selection. He enrolled at the sports university for his studies and had a lot of stress due to various part-time jobs in addition to lectures and daily training and therefore did not meet the requirements of amateur trainer Gero Bisanz. The high school student spent the next three years in the second amateur team of FC, with which he was able to celebrate three promotions in a row. From the 1981/82 round he was taken over by Bisanz's successor Erich Rutemöller in the first amateur team of FC. For the 1983/84 season he was accepted into the professional squad while maintaining his amateur status. In addition, the A-youths Anthony Baffoe , Ralf Geilenkirchen , Andreas Gielchen , Michael Nißl and Hans-Werner Reif were given licensed player contracts. Coach Rinus Michels was replaced by Johannes Löhr on August 24, 1983 , and Lefkes made his debut in the Bundesliga on March 17, 1984 in a 2-1 home defeat by Borussia Mönchengladbach. He formed the defensive of Cologne in front of goalkeeper Harald Schumacher together with Dieter Prestin , Paul Steiner and Andreas Gielchen. At the end of the round, 1. FC Cologne finished 6th and Lefkes had played in eleven league games and scored two goals. In the DFB Cup he played on August 27, 1983 in the first main round in a 2-1 win against FC Gohfeld with the amateurs, as well as on October 9, 1983 in the 8-1 home defeat against Bundesliga club VfB Stuttgart . In his second round with the FC-Profis, 1984/85, he made eleven league appearances (1 goal) and the team of coach Löhr took 3rd place. Lefkes had also gained international experience in the UEFA Cup in September / October 1984 in the two games against Pogon Stettin (2-1, 1-0).

FC manager Karl-Heinz Thielen contacted SK Beveren to collect game practice, negotiations were successful, but Lefkes did not want to. He went to Union Solingen in the 2nd Bundesliga for the 1985/86 season . He formed a car pool with his ex-FC colleague "Hansi" Reif. In one round he experienced three coaches in Solingen: At the beginning Eckhard Krautzun was on duty, he was replaced by Rolf Müller and at the end of the round Manfred Krafft was on duty as a rescuer. At the side of teammates such as Volker Diergardt , Demir Hotić , Daniel Jurgeleit , Manfred Dum and Waldemar Steubing , Lefkes completed 27 second division games and scored three goals when reaching 15th place. With a 1: 3 away defeat at SC Freiburg on May 8, 1986 - Joachim Löw and Souleyman Sane were in action with the Breisgauelf - he ended his time in Solingen on the final day of the round and allowed himself to be reamateurised and moved to upper division Viktoria Köln for a year. The last stop in high-class football was for three years from 1987 to 1990 at VfB Remscheid.

From 1988 to 1992 he worked as a self-employed transport company. From 1992 he took over an insurance agency in Cologne and still runs it today. He lives in Rösrath at the gates of Cologne.

societies

• 1977–1985 1. FC Cologne
• 1985–1986 SG Union Solingen
• 1986–1987 SC Viktoria Cologne
• 1987–1990 VfB Marathon Remscheid

statistics

• Bundesliga

  22 games; 3 goals 1. FC Cologne

• 2nd Bundesliga

  27 games; 3 goals Union Solingen

• UEFA Cup Winners' Cup; UEFA Cup

  2 games 1. FC Köln

literature

• Dirk Innschuld, Thomas Hardt, Frederic Latz: Under the sign of the billy goat. The history of 1. FC Köln. Publishing house Die Werkstatt. Göttingen 2004. ISBN 978-3-7307-0127-0 .
• Dirk Innschuld, Frederic Latz: With the billy goat on his chest. All players, all coaches, all officials of 1. FC Köln. Publishing house Die Werkstatt. Göttingen 2013. ISBN 978-3-7307-0047-1 . Pp. 193/194.

Individual evidence

1. ↑ Manfred Lefkes - player profile. Retrieved June 8, 2019 .