Werner Drews (soccer player, 1940)

Werner Drews (born February 18, 1940 in Gdansk ) was a football player in the GDR , he played two international matches for the GDR national football team .

Drews, whose later regular position was that of the left wing striker, began his football career at the age of 12 in the III. Youth team of the district league club Motor Rostock . As a 17-year-old he was used for the first time in the junior national team of the GDR and was therefore predestined to be delegated to the neighboring SC Empor Rostock . After being relegated to the league in 1956, the sports club had to spend a year in the second -rate first league in the GDR , but managed to get promoted there again and even reached the final of the GDR soccer cup , which was lost 2-1 to SC Lok Leipzig . For years, the storm of the uplift team suffered from failure, in 1957 the average age of the regular attackers was 27 years. In the future, Drews was supposed to provide a fresh breeze on the Baltic coast in addition to the newly acquired striker Heino Kleiminger and was intended for the outer lanes in the storm. After Drews passed his Abitur with distinction and started an apprenticeship as an engine fitter at the Rostock diesel engine factory, he was used for the first time in the Oberligaelf of the SC Empor on February 8, 1959 in a friendly match at Einheit Greifswald after serving in the reserve team . His first league game he played on March 8, 1959 in the meeting Empor Rostock - Turbine Erfurt (1: 1), as he, after 72 minutes Horst Zedel came on. In his first league year he played 22 of 26 games, mostly as a left winger.

Its first climax in the men's area experienced Drews by reaching the final of the East German football Cup 1960. On October 7, met the Rostock in Magdeburg on the SC Motor Jena , and after 30 minutes it was Werner Drews, of his team in the lead lap. In the end, however, the Rostock lost 2: 3 after extra time. The GDR selection officials had not lost sight of the young winger. After appearances in the youth team, Drews was called up for the first time in the senior national team on October 22, 1961. In the away game against Poland he got a chance in his regular position as a left winger, but could not revive the overall weak storm game of the GDR selection and finally experienced a 1: 3 defeat. A year later, Drews came again during a tour of Africa in the game against Mali on December 9, 1962 for an international match. However, since his position was regularly filled by Roland Ducke , Drews did not play any more A international matches and was only used a few times in the B selection.

In the meantime, his club team had developed into a top team in the league and between 1962 and 1964 won the runner-up title three times. In the 1963/64 season, Drews was Rostock's top scorer with 10 goals. Drews' last career highlight came in 1967, when his team, now performing as FC Hansa Rostock , reached the cup final for the fourth time. But even on April 30, 1967, it was not enough to win the cup, because Motor Zwickau won the game 3-0. Although Werner Drews played for the Hanseatic League until the 1969/70 season, he was denied a title win. At the end of this season, Drews had completed 268 league point games and scored 58 goals. This balance earned him second place in the Rostock record lists at GDR league games and fourth place as a top division shooter. At the age of 30, Werner Drews ended his 13-year career in the GDR league.

While he was still active, he had a degree in mechanical engineering and so in 1970 he became a research assistant in the Rostock Directorate for Maritime Transport and Port Management. Later he taught as a teacher at a Rostock vocational school.

Career in numbers
268 GDR league games 58 major league goals 33 GDR Cup games (6 goals) 6 European Cup games (4 goals) 2 games in the senior national team 6 international B matches 5 youth internationals 7 junior internationals

literature

• Uwe Krüger: Hansa Rostock. Data - facts - pictures (Ostdeutsche Traditionsvereine, Vol. 2 / Agon Statistics 33), Agon, Kassel 1998 ISBN 3-89609-127-1