Wolfgang Pfeifer (soccer player)

Wolfgang Pfeifer (born July 3, 1935 ) was a soccer player in the GDR and a two-time GDR national soccer player.

Athletic career

When Wolfgang Pfeifer came from SG Mickten in 1954 and played his first league games at SC Einheit Dresden , serious changes were in the making in Dresden football. Since 1950, with Dynamo and Rotation (forerunner of the SC unit), two Dresden teams had shaped the level of the GDR Oberliga . With the decision of the Dynamo sports association to relocate their Dresden team to Berlin, SC Einheit was the only team to represent the traditional soccer stronghold of Dresden in the top GDR soccer class from November 1954.

The 19-year-old Pfeifer succeeded the retired regular players Werner Clemens and Rolf Dietz, who had previously been the team's game designers. Pfeifer quickly belonged to the regular team and was used in the junior national team for the first time internationally in 1957. In 1958 he won his only title by winning the GDR soccer cup . In the final on December 14, 1958, he initiated the 2-1 victory of SC Einheit Dresden over SC Lok Leipzig with his 1-1 equalizer .

A month earlier, on November 2, 1958, Pfeifer had already played his first international A match in the encounter between the GDR and Norway (4-1). Pfeifer was also used again in the next international match of the GDR, in the away encounter on February 11, 1959 against Indonesia (2: 2) he played in the left midfield position, while he was called up as a stopper (central defense) on his first assignment. Pfeifer was no longer used for other international A matches, as his positions B. were in firm hands with Werner Heine and Waldemar Mühlbächer . There were only other international missions in the junior (5) and B national team (7).

A year after winning the cup, the SC Einheit Dresden began to trend downwards. After two twelfth places in 1959 and 1960, the team ended up in 13th place at the end of the 1961/62 season, and that meant relegation to the GDR league . There Pfeifer played one more season and then after 187 league games (including transition round) for SC Einheit at the beginning of the 1963/64 season to local rivals Dynamo Dresden. This played after a short league guest appearance in 1962/63 also in the GDR league. With Pfeifer's help, however, the immediate ascent was achieved. The Dynamos had replaced the SC unit, whose football team was downgraded to FSV Lokomotive Dresden in 1966 , as the leading force in Dresden football. Pfeifer did not manage to stand out again from the mediocrity, but had a regular place at Dynamo. When he ended his league career at the end of the 1969/70 season at the age of 35, he had completed 100 league games for Dynamo Dresden. With a total of 287 league games, Wolfgang Pfeifer is ranked 53rd among all footballers in the top division of the GDR.

Career at a glance
Oberliga / GDR League
1953-1962	Oberliga	Unity Dresden	187 games
1962/63	1st GDR League	Unity Dresden	26 games
1963/64	GDR League	Dynamo Dresden	26 games
1964-1968	Oberliga	Dynamo Dresden	98 games
1968/69	GDR League	Dynamo Dresden	20 games
1969/70	Oberliga	Dynamo Dresden	2 games
1970/71	GDR League	Dynamo Dresden II	6 games

International
1957	Junior national team	1 game
	Junior national team	5 games
	B national team	7 games
1958-1959	A national team	2 games

literature

• German sport echo : born 1954–1970. ISSN  0323-8628
• Hanns Leske : Encyclopedia of GDR football . Verlag Die Werkstatt, Göttingen 2007, ISBN 978-3-89533-556-3 , p. 357.
• Andreas Baingo, Michael Horn: The History of the GDR Oberliga. 2nd Edition. Verlag Die Werkstatt, Göttingen 2004, ISBN 3-89533-428-6 , pp. 306-307.

Web links

• Wolfgang Pfeifer in the database of the German Football Association
• Wolfgang Pfeifer in the database of fussballdaten.de
• Wolfgang Pfeifer in the database of weltfussball.de
• Wolfgang Pfeifer League game statistics at rsssf.com