Michael Grünewald

Michael Grünewald (born August 29, 1958 in Offenbach am Main ), nickname "Mike", is a former German football player who played 28 games with two goals for the OFC in the 1983/84 season in the Bundesliga in the Offenbacher Kickers completed.

In 1972 the student Michael Grünewald moved from Blau-Weiß Offenbach to the youth department of Kickers Offenbach. In the A-youth of the Kickers Grünewald came in September 1976 to two appearances in the DFB youth against Sweden. For the 1978/79 round he got a licensed player's contract at Bieberer Berg for the 2nd Bundesliga , coming from the amateur team, like the two years younger Rudi Völler from the Kickers youth team . Coach Horst Heese finished sixth with the OFC and Grünewald had scored two goals in 20 appearances. When he was able to increase his personal record to 39 appearances with nine goals in his second season, the DFB also had the Offenbach home grown in their sights. Grünewald played the last three games of the German national team of amateurs from October 10 to November 14, 1979 .

From the 1980/81 season onwards, the OFC was turbulent: Financially always on the verge of bankruptcy, athletically always on the move to the Bundesliga. With the second place in 1981 Offenbach had qualified for the playoff against the second in the group north, Eintracht Braunschweig . In total, Offenbach failed by one goal in the two games in June 1981. In the following year, 1982, Offenbach again had the chance to achieve promotion through the relegation games against the third bottom of the Bundesliga, Bayer 04 Leverkusen . But the Offenbachers were also subject to relegation. In the third attempt in a row, in the 1982/83 season, the promotion worked with coach Lothar Buchmann as second in the table in the single-track 2. Bundesliga. "Mike" Grünewald had made his contribution through 31 missions and two hits.

Now there were two relegations in a row: 1984 from the 1st division, 1985 even seamlessly from the 2nd division. In keeping with Offenbach, the OFC was twice champions in the amateur league Hessen in the next two rounds. 1986 coach Wilfried Kohls relied on Grünewald, in 1987 the team player helped coach Franz Brungs to the championship. In 1986 SSV Ulm 1846 and FSV Salmrohr prevailed in the promotion round in the south to the 2nd Bundesliga . Before the promotion round in 1987, Franz Brungs was given leave of absence in Offenbach and Robert Jung was hired specifically for this. Together with SpVgg Bayreuth , Michael Grünewald and his OFC teammates were promoted to the 2nd Bundesliga. On the 32nd matchday, Grünewald played his only game in the 1987/88 season and switched to the amateur class at SpVgg Dietesheim in the summer of 1988 , which he had already planned in 1986 and had failed because of the Offenbacher's refusal to release, and thus finally said goodbye to the 2. Football Bundesliga.

Michael Grünewald played a total of 28 Bundesliga and 178 second division games in which he scored two and 23 goals respectively.

literature

• Matthias Weinrich: Encyclopedia of German League Football. Volume 3: 35 years of the Bundesliga. Part 1. The founding years 1963–1975. Stories, pictures, constellations, tables. AGON Sportverlag, Kassel 1998, ISBN 3-89784-132-0 .
• 25 years 2nd division . AGON, 2000, ISBN 3-89784145-2 .
• KICKER, football almanac 1993 . Copress-Verlag, 1992, ISBN 3-7679-0398-9 .

Individual evidence

1. ↑ Michael Grünewald - player profile. Accessed January 30, 2019 .