Peter Zierau

Peter Zierau (born February 25, 1950 in Magdeburg ) was a football player in the GDR . He played for FC Vorwärts Frankfurt (Oder) in the Oberliga , the highest GDR soccer class.

After Zierau had already started the organized soccer game at the age of eight at SC Aufbau Magdeburg under coach Ernst Kümmel , he won his first football title in 1966 when he was GDR youth champion with the successor club 1. FC Magdeburg . After completing his school education, he completed an apprenticeship as a pipe fitter. When he had become eligible to play for the men's division, Zierau moved to local rivals Turbine Magdeburg for the 1968/69 season , where he played as a center forward in the third-class district league. In May 1969 he was drafted into military service, but was able to continue playing football in the second-rate GDR league with the Vorwärts Stralsund army sports community . In the 1970/71 season he was the top scorer in the GDR League North Relay with 15 goals and was instrumental in the Stralsund's ascent to the league with 26 appearances in a total of 30 point games.

Since Vorwärts Stralsund was a training association for the army focus club FC Vorwärts Frankfurt, Zierau was delegated to the upper division to Frankfurt (Oder) at the beginning of the 1971/72 season . There he was first used in the second team playing in the GDR league before he came to his first league assignment on November 28, 1971. In the match of the 8th match day FCV - Hansa Rostock (1-0) he played center forward and also scored the winning goal. During the entire season, the tall Zierau was used in a total of 14 league games in which he scored four goals. He was initially a center forward or left winger , in the last four games of the season he was in defense. In the 1972/73 season he played only on the 3rd, 6th and 8th matchday in the league, and later considerations were made in the club management to give Zierau to a GDR league team of the Army Sports Association. After a year of absence from the league, however, he came from the 12th match day of the 1973/74 season again in the first team of the FCV and then completed all of the remaining league point games. He crowned his comeback with ten goals, with which he became the team's top scorer.

At the beginning of 1974, Zierau was targeted by the GDR State Security Service after contacts with West Berlin had been established. After months of spying, the army command was informed in July, which Zierau then dismissed from army service on August 31, 1974 because of the illegal contacts with the West. This was also connected with the dismissal from the army club, the GDR football association also pronounced a life-long league ban. The public was not informed about the process, his departure from FCV was reported by the sports press without comment and without specifying the new team.

In fact, in September 1974, Zierau moved to the GDR league club Stahl Eisenhüttenstadt , known as a reservoir for players in trouble. There he stayed for three seasons and in 1976 was the top scorer of the steel team with 14 goals. For the 1977/78 season, Zierau joined the GDR league club Energie Cottbus . There he proved his scoring qualities again in 1978/79 and 1979/80, when he was again top scorer of his league season with 17 and 19 goals, as in 1971. After Cottbus had failed in the promotion round to the league in 1980, the promotion to the first class was achieved in 1981. Zierau had made a significant contribution to this success with 26 point and promotion games and 13 goals, but did not enjoy it because he could not participate in the league games due to his suspension. In the season preview of the sports newspaper Deutsches Sportecho it was therefore “Departures: Peter Zierau (competitive sports career ended)”. The then 31-year-old had scored 64 goals in 112 games for Energie Cottbus. He then worked for a few years as a trainer in the Cottbus youth division.

literature

• Hanns Leske : Encyclopedia of GDR football . Verlag Die Werkstatt, Göttingen 2007, ISBN 978-3-89533-556-3 .
• Andreas Baingo, Michael Horn: The History of the GDR Oberliga. Verlag Die Werkstatt, Göttingen 2003, ISBN 3-89533-428-6 .
• Uwe Nuttelmann (Ed.): GDR Oberliga. 1962-1991. Self-published, Jade 2007, ISBN 978-3-930814-33-6 .