Wolfgang Höfig

Wolfgang Höfig (born April 22, 1940 ) is a former German football player. Between 1958 and 1970, the defender for SV Waldhof Mannheim completed a total of 309 league games for the blue-blacks from Alsenweg and scored five goals in the soccer Oberliga Süd and Soccer Regionalliga Süd .

career

The defensive talent Wolfgang Höfig, who came to SV Waldhof from the youth of the Mannheim district club TSV Schönau, continued to develop on Alsenweg and was accepted into the youth national team of the DFB through the North Baden youth selection in the spring of 1958 . He formed on March 12, 1958 in Bolton in the 2-1 success of the DFB Juniors together with goalkeeper Peter Kunter and defender Friedel Rausch the final triangle at the international match against England. At the UEFA youth tournament in April, he played three games against Austria (2-1), Czechoslovakia (3-1) and Belgium (2-2). The defensive talent had already gained experience as A-Junior in the 1957/58 season in the Waldhöfer league team when they won the championship in the 2nd South League . He made his debut in the Oberliga Süd on October 19, 1958 in a 1-1 away draw against SSV Reutlingen. Goalkeeper Kurt Lennert , defenders Fritz Rößling and Albert Preis as well as Walter Kleber , Karl-Heinz Kott and Reinhold Cornelius in the runner row formed the defense in the World Cup system at that time . The junior experienced a sporting debacle in his second league game on November 2nd, at the home game against FC Bayern Munich . The "Reds" from Munich, whose ranks included goalkeeper Árpád Fazekas and field players Hans Bauer , Kurt Sommerlatt , Karl Mai , Peter Grosser and Gerhard Siedl , won 9-1 goals. At the end of the round, Waldhof was relegated to the bottom of the 2nd league south with 18:42 points; Höfig had played in 15 games.

By return of post in 1959/60 with the championship win in front of Jahn Regensburg and SV Wiesbaden, the immediate return to the Oberliga Süd succeeded. The last and decisive home game against the neighbor Amicitia Viernheim won the Waldhof-Elf, trained by coach Árpád Medve , on May 15, 1960 in front of 10,000 spectators with 5-1 goals. Höfig and Friedrich Behnke formed the defender couple. On June 24th, Höfig led the city selection of Mannheim to a 2-1 victory against the selection of Ludwigshafen as a middle runner. In his second league season, 1960/61, he completed all 30 league games and Waldhof took 13th place. His lap performance led him to the U23 junior national team . On May 13, 1961 he formed the final triangle of the DFB selection with goalkeeper Günter Bernard and defender colleague Jürgen Neumann , which won the international match with 3-1 goals against Belgium in Waterschei. From June 14 to July 5, 1961, he strengthened a North Baden selection, which played seven games in North America at the invitation of the German-American Football Association (DAFB). In the world championship year 1962 Höfig had to cope with Waldhof but the second relegation from the league. The 2-5 defeat at fourth in the table Kickers Offenbach decided the relegation decision on the last day of the game. The Kickers attack around Oskar Lotz , Hermann Nuber , Engelbert Kraus , Siegfried Gast and Hans Weber proved to be superior to the Waldhof defense around the runner row with Rolf Lederer , Höfig and Manfred Klein . With third place in the 1962/63 round in the 2nd South League, Höfig and his teammates from SV Waldhof qualified for the debut round of the South Regional Football League, which was newly introduced for the 1963/64 season.

In the rounds of 1964/65 (4th) and 1965/66 (3rd), Höfig and Waldhof placed in the top group. In the second regional league season, 1964/65 , the center runner and head of defense, especially with his defensive performance in the games against Hessen Kassel (2-1 home win in the preliminary round; against an attack with strikers like Jozsef Burjan , Rolf Fritzsche , Ernst Kuster , Karl-Heinz Bente and Gerd Becker ); VfR Mannheim (1-0 home win in the preliminary round; with center forward and striker Rudolf Bast ); Kickers Offenbach (0-0 on December 6, 1964 in Offenbach with their attackers Siegfried Gast , Sigfried Held , Georg Tripp ) and the two 1-1 draw games against champions and Bundesliga promoted FC Bayern Munich, put their class to the test. At Bayern, attackers Rudolf Nafziger , Rainer Ohlhauser , Gerd Müller , Dieter Koulmann and Dieter Brenninger stormed on the offensive in the promotion round and scored 146 goals when they won the championship.

When coach Fred Hoffmann even managed to reach third place in the next round in 1965/66 , the outstanding quality of the Waldhof runner series with Hubert Burger , Höfig and Rolf Lederer , as well as the tricky and dangerous winger Heinz Schmitt at 19 in the attack , was often Hits, responsible for success. After the league games, Höfig took part in the competition for the European Football Championship for national railway teams in Alma-Ata at the end of May with a selection of railway workers. After an adventurous 40-hour train journey from Hanover to Moscow, which opened the journey, we took the plane to our destination in Alma-Ata.

In the next few rounds Waldhof could no longer play for the places at the top of the table and rose after the 1969/70 season , it was Höfig's 13th game year at SV Waldhof in the league team, even in the amateur camp. The Waldhof Presidium tried to prevent the fall by making changes to the coaching chair, but the change from Helmuth Berninger to Klaus Sinn, who was followed by Hans Wendlandt from the beginning of December 1969, before Sinn took over responsibility again in mid-May 1970, did not prevent Waldhof's relegation prevent. Wolfgang Höfig had played 32 league games and scored two goals alongside the talents Bernd Bartels , Karl-Heinz Harm and Günter Sebert .

After a total of 309 league games (not including the games in the 2nd League South) with five goals, the long-time defensive player ended his playing career in the summer of 1970.

literature

• Christian Karn, Reinhard Rehberg: Encyclopedia of German League Football. Volume 9: Player Lexicon 1963-1994. Bundesliga, regional league, 2nd league. Agon-Sportverlag, Kassel 2012, ISBN 978-3-89784-214-4 .
• Gerhard Zeilinger: Triumph and decline in Mannheim's football sport. Football archive, Mannheim 1995, ISBN 3-929295-14-8 .
• Günter Rorbacher-List: blue and black. The SV Waldhof. Waldkirch publishing house, Mannheim 2004, ISBN 3-927455-15-6 .

Individual evidence

1. ^ Zeilinger: Triumph and decline in Mannheim's football sport. P. 196