Theodor Schöffler

Theodor Schöffler (born January 15, 1877 in Leipzig ; † March 19, 1903 ibid) was a German football pioneer and driving force in the early years of Leipzig football . In 1896 he initiated the founding of VfB Leipzig , which seven years later would become the first German football champion. In 1900 he was also one of the initiators for the establishment of the German Football Association and in the same year played a major role in the establishment of the Association of Central German Ball Game Clubs (VMBV) in Leipzig. He acted in football as was customary as a player, coach and official , and also won in 1897 the first marathon on German soil.

Life and work

Schöffler grew up in Leipzig and began studying law at the University of Leipzig in 1895 . He belonged to a football team in the general gymnastics club in Leipzig (ATV Leipzig) , but the goings-on in the gymnast-dominated club as a whole was viewed with suspicion.

As a result, Schöffler initiated the founding of his own football club: “Bodens Deutsche Trinkstube” was the site of the founding meeting of the new VfB Leipzig on May 13, 1896 ; none of the founding members was older than 20 years. Schöffler became the first chairman and two days later submitted the association's statutes to the responsible police authority. In addition to his position as chairman, which he initially held until 1897 and again from 1900 to 1903, he acted as a player and coach of the club's soccer team, which after him was known colloquially as the "Schöffler Club" for a long time.

On September 5, 1897, Schöffler won in 3:35:31 hours a "distance run over 40 km" organized by the Leipzig Sport Club Sportbrüder . This is the then valid distance of a marathon that was created a year earlier as a discipline for the Summer Olympics in 1896 . On the route from Paunsdorf to Bennewitz and back, 18 runners started, 13 reached the finish. The run is considered the first marathon in Germany and an early forerunner of the Leipzig Marathon . Schöffler also tried to develop athletics as an independent sport in VfB Leipzig.

From 1896 to 1898 Schöffler headed the game committee of the Leipziger Ballspiel-Vereine (VLBV) , the football association for Leipzig and the surrounding area, which his club co-founded in July 1896. After the German Football Association (DFB) was created at the founding meeting on January 28, 1900 in the Leipziger restaurant Zum Mariengarten - Schöffler had also suggested this merger - Schöffler, Johannes Kirmse and some players from other Leipzig clubs wanted an association of all Central German clubs establish. Thus, on December 26, 1900, the Association of Central German Ball Game Clubs was founded in the Zum Mariengarten restaurant .

Schöffler, who had enormous ambition as a coach and placed great emphasis on stamina and playing ability, created the basis for VfB Leipzig to develop into the leading club in Central Germany in the period from the turn of the century to the First World War . While Schöffler was still alive, VfB u. a. with the players Edgar Blüher , Adalbert Friedrich and Heinrich Riso in 1903 for the first time the Gaume Championship in Leipzig / Northwest Saxony . Since he had died unexpectedly a few weeks earlier at the age of 26, Schöffler was no longer able to witness winning the Central German championship with a 4-0 final win against Dresdner SC on May 3, 1903 - just as little as the first major title the club only four weeks later: winning the first German soccer championship on May 31, 1903.

Honors

In 2010, a street in the Engelsdorf district of Leipzig was named Schöfflerweg after Theodor Schöffler.

literature

Jürgen Bitter : Germany's football. The encyclopedia. All names, all terms in more than 14,500 entries. With statistics and tables. Herbig, Munich 2008, ISBN 978-3-7766-2558-5 .
Gerhard Fischer: The eleven of the century. Footballers who made history. Munich 2013, ISBN 978-3-86497-087-0 ( digitized version ).
Frank Gottert: Marathon Mecca Leipzig. 30 years of the Leipzig Marathon. 1977 to 2006. Leipzig 2007, ISBN 978-3-00-021486-8 .

Individual evidence

^ Gerhard Fischer: The eleven of the century. Footballers who made history. Munich 2013, ISBN 978-3-86497-087-0 , p. 14 ( digitized version ).
^ Frank Gottert: Marathon Mecca Leipzig. 30 years of the Leipzig Marathon. 1977 to 2006. Leipzig 2007, ISBN 978-3-00-021486-8 , p. 6.
^ Theodor Schöffler: VfB-Meistermacher und Marathonmann ( Memento from March 4, 2014 in the Internet Archive ) In: Leipziger Internet Zeitung, June 5, 2010, accessed on November 8, 2013.
^ Gerhard Fischer: The eleven of the century. Footballers who made history. Munich 2013, ISBN 978-3-86497-087-0 , p. 18 ( digitized version ).
^ City administration Leipzig: street naming 1/2010. (PDF; 3.1 MB) Leipzig, April 2010, p. 1, accessed on November 5, 2013.

personal data
SURNAME	Schöffler, Theodor
BRIEF DESCRIPTION	German football pioneer and sports official
DATE OF BIRTH	January 15, 1877
PLACE OF BIRTH	Leipzig
DATE OF DEATH	March 19, 1903
Place of death	Leipzig

[1] Gerhard Fischer: The eleven of the century. Footballers who made history. Munich 2013, ISBN 978-3-86497-087-0 , p. 14 ( digitized version ).

[2] Frank Gottert: Marathon Mecca Leipzig. 30 years of the Leipzig Marathon. 1977 to 2006. Leipzig 2007, ISBN 978-3-00-021486-8 , p. 6.

[3] Theodor Schöffler: VfB-Meistermacher und Marathonmann ( Memento from March 4, 2014 in the Internet Archive ) In: Leipziger Internet Zeitung, June 5, 2010, accessed on November 8, 2013.

[4] Gerhard Fischer: The eleven of the century. Footballers who made history. Munich 2013, ISBN 978-3-86497-087-0 , p. 18 ( digitized version ).

[5] City administration Leipzig: street naming 1/2010. (PDF; 3.1 MB) Leipzig, April 2010, p. 1, accessed on November 5, 2013.