Volker Graul

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Volker Graul (born June 18, 1952 in Gütersloh ) is a former German soccer player who, as a player for Arminia Bielefeld in the first second division season 1974/75, became the top scorer in the 2nd Bundesliga North with 30 goals . He is the son of Franz Graul , who played for Werder Bremen in the Oberliga Nord between 1947 and 1950 .

career

Youth and regional league, until 1974

Growing up in Gütersloh and developing football skills in the youth department of SVA Gütersloh , the attacker's talent attracted the interest of the DFB even in the A-youth. On October 18, 1969, the striker made his debut in the international match of the youth team in Geleen against the Netherlands at the side of teammates Uli Hoeneß and Rainer Bonhof in the German youth team. He was used in the Atlantic Cup in Las Palmas in February 1970, in the qualifying matches for the UEFA tournament in March and April and in the UEFA tournament in Scotland in May for the DFB team. He completed a total of seven youth international matches and scored two goals.

For the first senior year 1970/71, the striker's hope signed a contract with VfL Osnabrück in the Regionalliga Nord . The team from the Bremer Brücke stadium, located in the heart of the Schinkel district, won the championships in the north in 1969 and 1970. Graul belonged under "Sergeant" Fritz Langner in 1970/71 to the renewed championship team and in 1971/72 he won the runner- up with trainer Erwin Türk . In the two rounds of promotion in 1971 and 1972 to the Bundesliga, VfL could not prevail. In the preliminary round 1972/73, the young striker completed ten games with four goals for Osnabrück and then moved to the Dutch honor division for FC Den Bosch in December 1972 . He has played a total of 49 games and scored 22 goals in the Regionalliga Nord.

When DSC Arminia Bielefeld had to worry about staying up in the last regional round of the old second division, 1973/74 , after the preliminary round with 8:28 points, Volker Graul returned to his East Westphalian homeland and played for the team from the "Alm". In 16 games he scored eleven goals and thus had a significant share in the 14th place in the table of Arminia and the associated nomination for the second Bundesliga, which was newly introduced from the 1974/75 season. In addition to the newcomer Graul, the Arminen had three trainers in action: Norbert Lessle, Willy Nolting and, as the “rescuer”, Rudi Faßnacht , who had also brought Libero Jonny Hey with him.

2nd Bundesliga and 1st Bundesliga, 1974 to 1981

Bielefeld improved significantly in the debut year of the 2nd Bundesliga, 1974/75, compared to the last regional round and, with coach Erhard Ahmann in the north relay, finished with 50:26 points behind champions Hannover 96, runner-up Bayer 05 Uerdingen and FC St . Pauli took the excellent fourth place. The shooter on duty, Volker Graul, took the top scorer's crown in the northern relay with 30 hits. He and Arminia benefited from the newcomer Ewald Lienen , who overran the opposing defensive rows from the wing and also shone with good assists on the center forward after his dribbling. Through this round, Graul was again targeted by the DFB. He was used on October 8, 1975 in the international match of the B national team in Duisburg against Romania. In the 2-0 victory of the German team, the attack was occupied by Reiner Geye , Karl-Heinz Handschuh , Graul, Bernd Gersdorff and Josef Pirrung . Since Bielefeld prevented the willing striker from transferring to FC Bayern Munich (only tenth in the 1974/75 round) and Hamburger SV (fourth in 1974/75) with excessive transfer charges , the demotivated attacker only made 24 appearances in the 1975/76 season still to eleven goals and signed for the new round in 1976/77 with Preußen Münster. From 1974 to 1976 Bielefeld had played 61 games in the second division and scored 40 goals.

Münster came sixth in the 1976/77 series with the coaches Rudi Faßnacht and Werner Biskup (from April 1977). Uerdingen, Hanover 96, Münster, Aachen, SW Essen and Osnabrück were tied on points four to nine in the final table. Graul had scored 13 goals in 32 games and accepted an offer from Jean Loering , President of SC Fortuna Cologne , for the 1977/78 season . In the cathedral city he increased his hit rate to 18 goals, but Fortuna only reached fourth place under the coaches Ernst-Günter Habig and Rudi Faßnacht (from January 1978) and could not achieve the longed-for return to the Bundesliga. He only stayed at the beginning of the preliminary round in 1978/79 in Cologne's Südstadt district - he played a total of 47 second division games with 22 goals for Fortuna - and returned to Bielefeld in October 1978, which had been promoted to the Bundesliga in 1977/78 and to stay in the league fought. On his debut on October 14th in a 1-1 home draw against VfB Stuttgart, he contributed the point-winning goal. Two points behind Schalke 04, Bielefeld with coaches Milovan Beljin and Otto Rehhagel (from October 10, 1978) took 16th place and was relegated to the 2nd division. Graul had played 26 games and scored six goals.

When Bielefeld in 1979/80 sovereignly won the championship in the 2nd Bundesliga with the coaches Otto Rehhagel and Hans-Dieterippenhauer (from October 1979) ahead of Rot-Weiss Essen with a twelve point lead and thus achieved the immediate return to the Bundesliga, Graul was no longer part of the game to the top goal scorers of Arminia. Christian Sackewitz , Norbert Eilenfeldt and Gerd-Volker Schock had overtaken him within the team. In 16 missions he contributed with two hits to the championship and promotion. He ended his professional career with Arminia Bielefeld after the 1980/81 season, when the Arminen with 15th place just managed to stay in the Bundesliga and Graul had completed another 19 top-class games - but without a goal. In the end he had 45 games (6 goals) in the 1st and 156 games (78 goals) in the 2nd Bundesliga.

Amateur camps, players' agents and real estate agents

From the 1981/82 round he played at FC Gütersloh in the amateur league of Westphalia. In the 1983/84 season he was involved with Roland Peitsch in the “FC Gütersloh” affair and successfully sued his promised “salary” in a total amount of 180,000 DM in a civil court , whereupon the Westphalian Football and Athletics Association caused him to violate the amateur regulations sentenced to a fine of 15,000 marks and a three-year ban. Graul ended his active career out of annoyance, and for the next three years only played football in the Borgholzhausen old men team from TuS Solbad Ravensberg and traded in used cars. Later he worked as a player agent and worked part-time as a real estate agent and also as a manager of FC Gütersloh. For a few days in September 1998 Graul looked after the club as an interim coach in the second division season 98/99 and sat on the bench once against the Stuttgarter Kickers on the 6th game day of Güterslohern, who were falling at the end of the season .

Corruption scandals

In 2006 Graul played a central role together with players' agent Fali Ramadani in the infidelity investigation against the ex-manager of Bayer 04 Leverkusen , Reiner Calmund , in which the Osmanis , an Albanian clan from Hamburg, are said to have been involved . In 2007, Graul and Ramadani were again involved in a scandal over player transfers with TuS Koblenz .

literature

  • Kirschneck / Linnenbrügger: Arminia Bielefeld, Verlag Die Werkstatt, 1997, ISBN 3-89533-182-1
  • Matthias Weinrich: Second League Almanac. All players. All clubs. All results. AGON Sportverlag, Kassel 2001, ISBN 3-89784-190-8 .
  • LIBERO, IFFHS, II. Bundesliga 1974–1976, No. D2, 1991, page 41, biography of Ulrich Matheja

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Matthias Arnhold: Volker Graul - Matches and Goals in Bundesliga . Rec.Sport.Soccer Statistics Foundation. February 28, 2013. Retrieved March 13, 2013.
  2. ↑ a b Handelsblatt : How corrupt is the Bundesliga?
  3. ↑ Der Spiegel : Calmund affair - public prosecutor has to detain
  4. ^ Hamburger Morgenpost : Calli and the Albanian Clan
  5. ↑ Der Tagesspiegel : Of sole rulers and obscure players' agents
  6. ↑ Volksfreunde.de: 17 witnesses, a crucial question
personal data
SURNAME Graul, Volker
BRIEF DESCRIPTION German soccer player
DATE OF BIRTH June 18, 1952
PLACE OF BIRTH Gutersloh