Thomas Klein (soccer player, 1971)

Thomas Klein (born March 23, 1971 ) was a football player in the GDR upper league . In the top division of the GDR Football Association (DFV) he played for Halleschen FC Chemie . Klein is a multiple junior national player for the DFV.

Soccer career

Klein grew up in Halle (Saale) , attended the Halle children's and youth sports school “Robert Koch” from 1985 and played in the youth department of the Halle FC Chemie (HFC), the football focus of the GDR district of Halle . Between 1988 and 1989 Klein played for the HFC as a defender in the GDR junior league, at the same time he was part of the squad of the GDR selection teams U-17 to U-19. He played five youth internationals.

As an 18-year-old Klein already played his first games in the GDR league. He made his debut there on April 29, 1989 in the match on the 21st match day HFC - Union Berlin (3-0). He came on in the 80th minute. By the end of the season he played another four league games, where he was involved in the last three games from the start. For the 1989/90 season, the 1.73 m tall small, at that time an apprentice, was officially accepted into the squad of the Halle league team. At the same time he was appointed to the GDR's soccer team, with which he played several test matches. Even before the start of the qualifying games for the 1992 Olympics, the team was withdrawn in the course of German reunification . In the first five point games of the league season 1989/90 he was set as a midfielder, paused four games and was then used again on November 8, 1989 for 74 minutes.

Then Klein used the opening of the GDR borders to move to the Federal Republic. He joined the Bundesliga club 1. FC Köln , who did not use him in the Bundesliga until the end of the season. Then Klein returned to Halleschen FC in the summer of 1990. He was taken back into the league squad, but coach Bernd Donau only used him in a point game. On October 6, 1990, Klein played in the game of the 7th league day 1. FC Lok Leipzig - HFC (0: 3) his last first division game after being substituted on in 55 minutes. This meant that he had only made twelve league stakes in three seasons without scoring a goal. He later no longer appeared in higher-class football.

literature

• Andreas Baingo, Michael Horn: The History of the GDR Oberliga. Verlag Die Werkstatt, Göttingen 2003, ISBN 3-89533-428-6 , p. 319.
• Uwe Nuttelmann (Ed.): GDR Oberliga. 1962-1991. Self-published, Jade 2007, ISBN 978-3-930814-33-6 .

Web links

• Thomas Klein in the database of the German Football Association