Rolf Birkholz

Rolf Birkhölzer (born September 29, 1949 in Morsbach ) is a former German football player who played twelve Bundesliga games for 1. FC Köln as a goalkeeper in the 1968/69 season .

career

Rolf Birkhölzer, whose father was one of the founding members of 1. FC Köln, was born in the Bergisches Land but grew up in Cologne, so that he was already in goal for 1. FC Köln as a youth . As a 14-year-old, Birkhölzer was part of the German national student team, but was never used here. As an 18-year-old, he finally made it into the DFB's youth team through various regional national teams, for which he played seven international matches, including a UEFA tournament in southern France.

As a 19-year-old, he received a two-year licensed player's contract with 1. FC Köln for the 1968/69 round and was used twelve times in his debut season by the then FC coach, Hans Merkle . In the following season Manfred Manglitz was signed as the new goalkeeper, so that Birkholz came to no more Bundesliga appearances and the billy goats left at the end of the 1969/70 season. He went to the southern regional division KSV Hessen Kassel , with whom he narrowly missed promotion to the Bundesliga in 1971, but three years later, in 1974, the Hessians also missed qualification for the newly introduced 2nd Bundesliga . Birkhölzer now moved to the upper division VfB Giessen , where he stayed until 1978, in the last three seasons he acted as a player-coach. He then worked in the same position at his next club, TuSpo Ziegenhain . With the league club he won the Hessen Cup in 1981 .

In the same year he ended his active career and, in addition to his job as a teacher, initially worked for the relegated second division FSV Frankfurt from July 1, 1981 . Birkhölzer managed to return directly to the 2nd Bundesliga with the Bornheimers, but when the FSV only finished penultimate after 15 match days, Birkhölzer was dismissed on November 15, 1982; the FSV got down at the end of the round. This was followed by a few more coaching stations in the Hessian amateur camp.

societies

As a player

• 1968–1970: 1. FC Cologne
• 1970–1974: KSV Hessen Kassel
• 1974–1978: VfB Giessen
• 1978–1981: TuSpo Ziegenhain

As a trainer

• July 1981 to November 1982: FSV Frankfurt
• from 1984: Schrecksbach , Bad Homburg vor der Höhe , TuSpo Ziegenhain

statistics

• Seven youth internationals

• 1st National League

  Twelve games 1. FC Cologne

• Regional league south

  72 games KSV Hessen Kassel

• DFB Cup

  Two games 1. FC Cologne

• UEFA Cup Winners' Cup

  Two games 1. FC Cologne

successes

• 1970: DFB Cup final (Manglitz played)
• 1979: Promotion to the Oberliga Hessen
• 1981: Hessen Cup winner

as a trainer:

• 1982: Promotion to the 2nd Bundesliga

In addition to football

During his time in Kassel and Gießen, Birkhölzer studied sports and art to become a teacher and was then a secondary school teacher. From 1988 to 2003 he worked in the sports department of the Wetzlarer Neue Zeitung .

Web links

• Rolf Birkhölzer in the database of fussballdaten.de
• Profile at ksvhessenkassel.de ( Memento from September 24, 2007 in the Internet Archive )