Walter Fritzsch
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Walter Fritzsch (born November 21, 1920 in Planitz ; † October 15, 1997 in Dresden ) was a football coach in the GDR . With five GDR championship titles and two FDGB cup wins in the 1970s, he is the most successful of all Dynamo Dresden coaches and, at the age of nine, the longest reigning one.
Life
Fritzsch began his active career as a soccer player at Planitzer SC in 1927 . In 1940 he moved to VfL Leisnig and played there until 1943. Other stations between 1943 and 1947 were BC Hartha , the sports association Döbeln and Zwickau-Oberhohndorf . His last sports community was the BSG Wismut Cainsdorf near Zwickau, where he played until 1950.
Due to a back injury, Fritzsch ended his career as a football player and began working as a coach for the second division club BSG Zentra Wismut Aue in 1950 . He led the team in the first year to promotion to the GDR league and in the first league year to a secure 7th place. He then moved for one season to local and upper division rivals Empor Lauter and in 1953 took over the upper division Motor Dessau . With the Dessauers Fritzsch rose in 1954 to the second-rate GDR league , where he remained active for another year. At the beginning of the 1956 season he took over the league team of the newly founded SC Motor Karl-Marx-Stadt . Also with this team, Fritzsch descended after two years of activity in 1957 and had to train the third division club BSG Stahl Riesa in 1958 . In 1959 he began a seven-year coaching career at SC Empor Rostock . He led the Ostseestädter between 1962 and 1964 three times to the runner-up and in 1960 to the final of the GDR soccer cup (2: 3 against Motor Jena). When SC Empor only reached 5th place in the league in 1965, the club separated from Fritzsch, who then went back to BSG Stahl Riesa, which was now playing in the GDR league. The Riesaer also led Fritzsch in 1968 in the upper league.
On June 30, 1969, Walter Fritzsch, who still did not have a coaching diploma, went to Dresden , and the most successful period in the history of Dynamo Dresden began . In his nine-year tenure - the longest in the club's history shortly before that of Helmut Petzold - the black and yellow fought five GDR championship titles and two GDR cup victories and played 42 European cup games . Further successes of the small and strict coach were the development of 15 national players during his activity and the discovery of talents such as Ulf Kirsten and Matthias Sammer .
At the end of the 1977/78 season, 57-year-old Fritzsch was ceremoniously bid farewell to Dynamo Dresden. He then worked for the GDR Football Association until 1989 , where he was responsible for the junior division and the training of junior coaches. The connection to Dynamo Dresden was maintained, however, where his expertise was still in demand, even after the team had arrived in the 1st Bundesliga . Walter Fritzsch coached a total of 1900 games and recorded 1163 victories.
On October 15, 1997, Walter Fritzsch died of the consequences of Alzheimer's disease in Dresden. The burial took place in the circle of close friends, former companions and players on the Dresden Heidefriedhof . A memorial stone at the Dynamo Stadium and the annual Walter Fritzsch memorial tournament commemorate an outstanding coach.
On June 26, 2020 the new Dynamo Dresden training center was opened in the Ostragehege and named the Walter Fritzsch Academy .
filming
In 2008 the film The Little General was released and later on DVD. The feature-length documentary by Uwe Karte describes the coaching career of Walter Fritzsch, especially his successful years in Dresden. ZEIT calls the film “a wonderful GDR explanatory film”.
Web links
- Walter Fritzsch in the database of weltfussball.de
Individual evidence
- ↑ Inauguration of the “AOK Plus Walter Fritzsch Academy” for young talent. In: medienservice.sachsen.de. June 26, 2020, accessed June 28, 2020 .
- ↑ Christoph Dieckmann: The losers. 2008, accessed on November 11, 2013 (in: ZEIT of May 28, 2008).
| personal data | |
|---|---|
| SURNAME | Fritzsch, Walter |
| BRIEF DESCRIPTION | German soccer coach |
| DATE OF BIRTH | November 21, 1920 |
| PLACE OF BIRTH | Planitz |
| DATE OF DEATH | October 15, 1997 |
| Place of death | Dresden |