Günter Bernard (born 4 November 1939) is a German former professional

footballer A football player or footballer is a sportsperson who plays one of the different types of football. The main types of football are association football, American football, Canadian football, Australian rules football, Gaelic football, rugby le ...

who played as a

goalkeeper In many team sports which involve scoring goals, the goalkeeper (sometimes termed goaltender, netminder, GK, goalie or keeper) is a designated player charged with directly preventing the opposing team from scoring by blocking or intercepting o ...

. He is the son of Robert Bernard who was a German international football player himself.

Club career

Bernard was born in

Schweinfurt Schweinfurt ( , ; ) is a city in the district of Lower Franconia in Bavaria, Germany. It is the administrative centre of the surrounding district (''Landkreis'') of Schweinfurt and a major industrial, cultural and educational hub. The urban agg ...

, Germany. He joined

SV Werder Bremen Sportverein Werder Bremen von 1899 e. V. (), commonly known as Werder Bremen (), Werder or simply Bremen, is a German professional sports club based in Bremen, Bremen (state), Free Hanseatic City of Bremen. Founded on 4 February 1899, they are be ...

in the founding year of

Bundesliga The Bundesliga (; ), sometimes referred to as the Fußball-Bundesliga () or 1. Bundesliga (), is a professional association football league in Germany. At the top of the German football league system, the Bundesliga is Germany's primary footba ...

from boyhood outfit Schweinfurt 05, for whom he had played top-tier matches in the

Oberliga Süd Oberliga ( en, Premier league) may refer to: Association football * Oberliga (football), currently the fifth tier of the German football league system, formerly the first * DDR-Oberliga, the first tier of football in East Germany until 1990, re ...

since 1958. He stayed loyal to Bremen until his retirement in 1974 and was the club's first choice in their surprise Bundesliga winning campaign in 1965. He altogether played 287 times on that level for the North Germans.

International career

His West Germany career started with a youth call-up in 1961 that prompted

Sepp Herberger Josef "Sepp" Herberger (28 March 1897 – 28 April 1977) was a German football player and manager. He is most famous for being the manager of the West German national team that won the 1954 FIFA World Cup final, a match later dubbed ''The Mirac ...

to take him to the senior level a year later. Competing with Wolfgang Fahrian and

Hans Tilkowski Hans Tilkowski (12 July 1935 – 5 January 2020) was a German footballer who played as a goalkeeper. He played for West Germany, and was a member of the team that lost the 1966 World Cup final to England. Career Born 1935 in Husen, Dortmund, ...

for the job in goal of West Germany at that time, Bernard made his first West Germany appearance under contract with 1. FC Schweinfurt 05 on 24 October 1962. The Bundesliga trophy he won with Werder Bremen, three years later, helped him to achieve a spot in

Helmut Schön Helmut Schön (15 September 1915 – 23 February 1996) was a German football player and manager. He is best remembered for his exceptional career as manager of the West German national team in four consecutive World Cup tournaments, including ...

's squad for the

1966 FIFA World Cup The 1966 FIFA World Cup was the eighth FIFA World Cup, a quadrennial football tournament for men's senior national teams. It was played in England from 11 July to 30 July 1966. The England national football team defeated West Germany 4-2 in the ...

, but did not give him the competitive edge he had been longing for. So Hans Tilkowski was the West German keeper at the tournament. Bernard made his fifth and final game for West Germany as a substitute for Horst Wolter against

Wales Wales ( cy, Cymru ) is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is bordered by England to the Wales–England border, east, the Irish Sea to the north and west, the Celtic Sea to the south west and the ...

in 1968.

Honours

Werder Bremen *

: 1964–65, runner-up 1967–68 Germany *

FIFA World Cup The FIFA World Cup, often simply called the World Cup, is an international association football competition contested by the senior men's national teams of the members of the ' ( FIFA), the sport's global governing body. The tournament ha ...

: runner-up

1966 Events January * January 1 – In a coup, Colonel Jean-Bédel Bokassa takes over as military ruler of the Central African Republic, ousting President David Dacko. * January 3 – 1966 Upper Voltan coup d'état: President Maurice Yaméogo i ...

References

1939 births Living people People from Schweinfurt Sportspeople from Lower Franconia German footballers Footballers from Bavaria Association football goalkeepers Germany international footballers 1966 FIFA World Cup players Bundesliga players 1. FC Schweinfurt 05 players SV Werder Bremen players {{Germany-footy-goalkeeper-stub