Max König (soccer player)

from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Max König (born January 2, 1928 ) is a former German soccer player. He was active in top division football in both the GDR and the Federal Republic of Germany in the 1950s .

Athletic career

Coming from the Berlin SG Phönix Buch, Max König joined VfB Pankow for the 1949/50 season . At that time VfB was playing in the overall Berlin City League and at the end of the season reached eighth place out of twelve teams. Because the Berlin Football Association then introduced the contract player system, the GDR sports leadership withdrew the East Berlin football teams from the city league and integrated them into the league system of GDR football. This also affected VfB Pankow, which was classified in the DS-Oberliga, the highest GDR soccer class.

The 22-year-old König was one of the few VfB players who accepted the move to GDR football, so that the team had to start the 1950/51 season with numerous newcomers. He was part of the team from the start, initially serving as a left winger, while playing as a half right attacker in the second half of the season. Of the 34 league games played, he played 33 games, but only scored two goals. The thrown together team of VfB had no chance in the Oberliga and ended up bottom of the table on a relegation zone at the end of the season.

Since, in addition to VfB Pankow, SG Lichtenberg 47 was also relegated, East Berlin would only have been represented in the major league with BSG Motor Oberschöneweide in the coming season . Since the GDR leadership was keen to secure a positive sporting reputation for the "capital of the GDR", in the summer of 1951 they initiated the formation of a soccer section at the company sports association, Einheit Pankow, which was founded at the beginning of the year . The team, formed from a few VfB players and in turn numerous newcomers, was added to the 18 qualified teams in the league for the 1951/52 season. Of the VfB players, Max König also made the move to the BSG unit. There, too, he was part of the regular team from the start and was only missing on three of the 36 league game days. Coach Kurt Vorkauf tried him first in defense and in midfield, until after twelve matchdays he let him play again as a striker mainly on the left half. This time he scored four championship games. The attempt to establish Pankow unit as a league club failed. Again a Pankower team landed in last place in the league table, and this time relegation was finally sealed.

After a short interlude with the West Berlin city ​​league club BFC Alemannia 90 , König moved to TuS Bremerhaven 93 in the summer of 1952 , who played in the Oberliga Nord , one of the five highest soccer leagues in Germany at the time. In the 1954/55 season he reached second place with TuS in the league and thus the final round of the German championship . König played all eight final round matches, after which Bremerhaven was eliminated after the preliminary round. He was used as a striker in various positions and scored the opening goal in the game against Kickers Offenbach in the 2-0 victory. In the same season, the Bremerhaven -based company reached the quarter-finals in the DFB-Pokal , König was also involved in these three games and scored the opening goal again in a 3-1 win over Hamburger SV .

For the 1957/58 season, König returned to West Berlin and played there until 1960 for Berliner SV 1892 in the Oberliga Berlin . Then he said goodbye to higher-class football at the age of 32. In 1967/68 he was a trainer at Rapide Wedding .

literature

Web links

Single references

  1. ↑ Oberliga debut on August 24th, Lower Saxony Sport of August 25th, 1952, page 3
  2. ↑ Kicker-Almanach 1968, page 268
personal data
SURNAME King, Max
BRIEF DESCRIPTION German soccer player
DATE OF BIRTH January 2, 1928