Detlef Enge (born 12 April 1952 in

Schwanebeck Schwanebeck is a small town in the district of Harz, in Saxony-Anhalt, Germany. It is part of the ''Verbandsgemeinde'' ("collective municipality") Vorharz. The municipal area is situated northeast of Halberstadt, on the '' Bundesstraße 245'' h ...

) is a former

East German East Germany, officially the German Democratic Republic (GDR; german: Deutsche Demokratische Republik, , DDR, ), was a country that existed from its creation on 7 October 1949 until its dissolution on 3 October 1990. In these years the state ...

football player who played in the DDR-Oberliga for 1. FC Magdeburg. He won the Oberliga championship three times, the East German Cup—

FDGB-Pokal The FDGB-Pokal (Freier Deutscher Gewerkschaftsbund Pokal or Free German Trade Union Federation Cup) was an elimination football tournament held annually in East Germany. It was the second most important national title in East German football af ...

—once and the

European Cup Winners' Cup The UEFA Cup Winners' Cup was a European football club competition contested annually by the winners of domestic cup competitions. The cup was, chronologically, the second seasonal inter-European club competition organised by UEFA. The tournam ...

in 1974 with the club. He played in 46 matches for the youth national teams. Enge began his playing career in the school sports club in his home town of Schwanebeck, north of the

Harz The Harz () is a highland area in northern Germany. It has the highest elevations for that region, and its rugged terrain extends across parts of Lower Saxony, Saxony-Anhalt, and Thuringia. The name ''Harz'' derives from the Middle High German ...

. In November 1967, at age 15, the talented defender won his first cap to the youth national team. He would go on to play for his country in all youth levels, winning the UEFA junior tournament in 1970. In 1967, 1. FC Magdeburg signed talented Enge, and after playing in the Juniors' Oberliga, Enge had his debut in the senior team at age 17, when he played in the Cup Winners' Cup match against Académica Coimbra (a 0–2 away loss for Magdeburg) on 26 November 1969. He would have to wait another nine months for his first Oberliga match, until 22 August 1970 when he played in the 1–0 home win against

FC Vorwärts Berlin 1. FC Frankfurt is a German football club based in Frankfurt (Oder), Brandenburg. The club was founded as the army club SV VP Vorwärts Leipzig in Leipzig in East Germany in 1951. The club won six East German championships as ASK Vorwärts Berl ...

as a right-back. Playing in 23 of 26 matches of the 1970–71 season Enge quickly established himself as a regular in the team. One year later, he won his first senior title, winning the Oberliga championship, playing in 24 of 26 matches. On 1 May 1973 he won the

when 1. FC Magdeburg beat

1. FC Lokomotive Leipzig 1. Fußballclub Lokomotive Leipzig e.V. is a German football club based in the locality of Probstheida in the Südost borough of Leipzig, Saxony. The club may be more familiar to many of the country's football fans as the historic side VfB Lei ...

3–2. The 1973–74 season became a season of records for the 22-year-old. On 6 April 1974 Magdeburg won their second championship, beating FC Vorwärts Frankfurt 3–2. Due to a long injury, Enge only played in 14 of 26 matches. In May, Enge finished second with the East Germany Under-23 national team in the UEFA Under-23 championship, playing in 12 matches for the team. The most important football match of his career would come on 8 May 1974. Enge played in the

1974 European Cup Winners' Cup Final The 1974 European Cup Winners' Cup Final was a football match of the 1973–74 European Cup Winners' Cup and the 14th European Cup Winners' Cup final. It was contested between Magdeburg of East Germany and the defending champions, Milan of Italy, ...

De Kuip Stadion Feijenoord (), more commonly known by its nickname De Kuip (, the Tub), is a stadium in Rotterdam, Netherlands. It was completed in 1937. The name is derived from the Feijenoord district in Rotterdam, and from the club with the same na ...

Rotterdam Rotterdam ( , , , lit. ''The Dam on the River Rotte'') is the second largest city and municipality in the Netherlands. It is in the province of South Holland, part of the North Sea mouth of the Rhine–Meuse–Scheldt delta, via the ''"Ne ...

, beating

A.C. Milan Associazione Calcio Milan (), commonly referred to as AC Milan or simply Milan, is a professional Association football, football club in Milan, Italy, founded in 1899. The club has spent its entire history, with the exception of the 1980–81 ...

2–0. In the next season, however, the end of Enge's playing career was already on the horizon. Although he could celebrate his third championship with 1. FC Magdeburg, he could only play in five matches due to injuries. After he could not play a single game in the 1975–76 season and only one match in 1976–77 season, Enge ended his Oberliga career at the age of 25. During his eight-year stay with Magdeburg, he played in 125 competitive matches, 91 in the Oberliga, 20 in the FDGB-Pokal and 14 on European level. At the end of his playing career, Enge joined

DDR-Liga The DDR-Liga (English: GDR League or ''East German League'') was, prior to German reunification in 1990, the second level of football competition in the DDR (Deutsche Demokratische Republik or German Democratic Republic, commonly East Germany), bei ...

side BSG Chemie Schönebeck until their relegation in 1978. In an interview, his former teammate Wolfgang Seguin said that he and his teammates had had no contact with Enge since the late 1970s.

Honours

: 1973–74 * DDR-Oberliga: 1971–72, 1973–74, 1974–75 *

: 1972–73 * UEFA junior tournament: 1970 * UEFA Under-23 championship: Runner-up 1974

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Enge, Detlef 1952 births Living people People from Harz (district) East German footballers German footballers Footballers from Saxony-Anhalt Association football defenders 1. FC Magdeburg players DDR-Oberliga players