Walter Zimmermann (soccer player)

from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Walter Zimmermann (born April 17, 1929 in Heusenstamm ; † January 14, 2018 in Offenbach am Main ), nicknamed Langer , was a German football goalkeeper . He played from 1950 to 1960 at Kickers Offenbach in the football league south . With the club he reached the finals of the German soccer championship three times .

Kickers Offenbach

Beginning

In 1950 Walter Zimmermann moved from the district league club TSV Heusenstamm , from what was then the fourth highest German league, to the Offenbacher Kickers. He played his first game on October 15, 1950 on Bieberer Berg against FC Bayern Munich .

Regular players

From the 15th match day of the following season 1951/52, on December 9, 1951, Walter Zimmermann became the goalkeeper of the OFC. He stood in all the following season games up to the 4th day of the 1955/56 season between the posts. After a finger fracture, he had to pause five games. During this period, the Kickers lost four out of five games. His return to goal was in October 1955 against local rivals Eintracht Frankfurt . The game was won 4-0 in front of 20,000 spectators on the Bieberer Berg. From this point on, Walter Zimmermann played all competitive games up to the penultimate matchday of the 1959/60 season on April 24, 1960.

After the first two attempts in the finals for the German soccer championship in 1955 and 1957, the Offenbacher Kickers reached the finals again in the 1958/59 season . A basis was the best defense performance of the Kickers in the 1950s with only 31 goals conceded in 30 games. Including 472 minutes without a goal between the 7th and 13th matchday. Defenders Karl Waldmann and Alfred Schultheis as well as the runner series Heinz Lichtl , Helmut Sattler and Ernst Wade played in front of Walter Zimmermann in goal .

Kickers Offenbach went down in the history of the DM finals in 1959 as the team of the last few minutes. After a 2-0 deficit against Hamburger SV, they turned the game around and won with a goal from Hermann Nuber in the 84th minute with 3-2. Against Westfalia Herne scored the 2-1 winner in the 88th minute. In the decisive game against Tasmania Berlin, Tasmania led 2-0 four minutes before the end. But then something incredible happened:

“Men who have grown old in the curves of the sports fields confessed: 'We have never seen that before! They said it as if touched by a miracle '( Sport-Illustrierte ). What had happened that nearly drowned the whole arena in the most incredible game of all time? Nuber had scored the next goal in the 87th minute. Berti Kraus equalized in the 88th minute. Helmut Preisendörfer took the leather out of the air halfway up in the 89th minute - the five-meter space and the goal line were crammed with Tasmania players - put it between defender Bäsler and the post - 3: 2, the 'most beautiful goal of my life 'said the striker afterwards, and Berlin's middle runner Peschke :' I still don't understand how the three Offenbach goals could fall. "

- Werner Skrentny : When Morlock still met the moonlight.

The subsequent final of the German soccer championship took place on June 28, 1959 in the Berlin Olympic Stadium. The Kickers lost 3: 5 after extra time against Eintracht Frankfurt, who were trained by the former long-time Kickers trainer Paul Oßwald . At the end of regular time it was 2-2.

Walter Zimmermann has guarded the Offenbach goal in 254 games in the Oberliga Süd. He ranks 42nd among the players with the most games in the history of the Oberliga Süd from 1945 to 1963. As a goalkeeper he was only surpassed by Fritz Käser with 278 games for FC Schweinfurt 05 .

In addition to his sporting successes, he was also able to collect many unforgettable impressions away from the field by traveling with Kickers Offenbach. This includes his first international game against FC Barcelona in the Camp de Les Corts stadium in 1952. The five-week East Asia trip in 1953 with the Philippines, Hong Kong, Japan, Calcutta and Pakistan, as well as trips to the Soviet Union and the USA in 1958.

End of the playing career

For the 1960/61 season he moved back to TSV Heusenstamm. He played there with his former teammate from Kickers Offenbach, the player-coach Helmut Preisendörfer for another two years. In both years the vice championship was fought in the 1st amateur league. Then Zimmermann was player-coach of the TSV until 1965 and from 1965 to 1967 as the sports director of BSC 99 Offenbach .

Profession and private life

Walter Zimmermann was a trained toolmaker . He practiced this profession during and after his sporting career. Most recently, he was the technical manager at Löhr & Bromkamp in Offenbach am Main.

Up to the age of 83 he was actively involved in breeding pigeons. He had two sons. Zimmermann died on January 14, 2018.

literature

  • Werner Skrentny (Ed.): When Morlock still met the moonlight. The history of the Oberliga Süd 1945–1963. Klartext, Essen 1993, ISBN 3-88474-055-5 .
  • Raphael Keppel, The German Football League 1946–1963, Edgar Hitzel Sports and Games Publishing House , 1989, ISBN 3-9802172-3-X .
  • Klaus Querengässer: The German football championship. Part 2: 1948–1963 (= AGON-Sportverlag statistics. Vol. 29). AGON-Sportverlag, Kassel 1997, ISBN 3-89609-107-7 .

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Werner Skrentny (Ed.): When Morlock still met the moonlight - The history of the football Oberliga Süd 1945 to 1963. Klartext Verlag , Essen 1993, ISBN 3-88474-055-5 , p. 50.
  2. ↑ Steffen Müller: Predecessor of GKN Driveline in Offenbach: Toolmaker was once upon a time. In: op-online.de. June 11, 2016, accessed June 13, 2016 .
  3. ↑ Kickers Offenbach: Mourning goalkeeping legend Walter Zimmermann. In: op-online.de. January 20, 2018, accessed January 20, 2018 .
personal data
SURNAME Zimmermann, Walter
BRIEF DESCRIPTION German soccer player
DATE OF BIRTH April 17, 1929
PLACE OF BIRTH Heusenstamm
DATE OF DEATH January 14, 2018
Place of death Offenbach am Main