Hans-Jörg Criens (18 December 1960 – 26 December 2019) was a German

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 ...

who played as a striker. He spent most of his 15-year professional career with Borussia Mönchengladbach, amassing

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 ...

totals of 303 games and 94 goals over the course of 12 seasons.

Club career

Born in

Neuss Neuss (; spelled ''Neuß'' until 1968; li, Nüss ; la, Novaesium) is a city in North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany. It is located on the west bank of the Rhine opposite Düsseldorf. Neuss is the largest city within the Rhein-Kreis Neuss district. It ...

North Rhine-Westphalia North Rhine-Westphalia (german: Nordrhein-Westfalen, ; li, Noordrien-Wesfale ; nds, Noordrhien-Westfalen; ksh, Noodrhing-Wäßßfaale), commonly shortened to NRW (), is a state (''Land'') in Western Germany. With more than 18 million inha ...

, Criens signed with Borussia Mönchengladbach in 1980 from his local club. He only appeared in three

games in his first three seasons combined, his debut coming on 4 December 1982 in a 0–3 away loss against

1. FC Kaiserslautern 1. Fußball-Club Kaiserslautern e. V., also known as 1. FCK, FCK (), FC Kaiserslautern () or colloquially Lautern (), is a German sports club based in Kaiserslautern, Rhineland-Palatinate. In addition to football, the club also operates in sev ...

after having come on as a late substitute for Kurt Pinkall; additionally, also from the bench, he appeared in the 1984 final of the

DFB-Pokal The DFB-Pokal ( is a German knockout football cup competition held annually by the German Football Association (DFB). Sixty-four teams participate in the competition, including all clubs from the Bundesliga and the 2. Bundesliga. It is considered ...

, coming in for

Uwe Rahn Uwe Rahn (born 21 May 1962) is a German former professional footballer who played as an attacking midfielder. Career Rahn played 318 Bundesliga matches in his professional career, scoring the majority of his 107 Bundesliga goals in his eight ...

and converting his attempt in the

shootout A shootout, also called a firefight or gunfight, is a fight between armed combatants using firearms. The term can be used to describe any such fight, though it is typically used to describe those that do not involve military forces or only invo ...

, a 6–7 loss against FC Bayern Munich. Over the following seven campaigns Criens was as essential offensive fixture, initially forming an attacking trio with Rahn and

Frank Mill Frank Mill (born 23 July 1958) is a German former professional footballer who was a member of the 1990 FIFA World Cup winning squad of West Germany. Further, he participated at the 1984 and at the 1988 Summer Olympics, where he won the bronze ...

and going on to score in double digits in six of those. ''Gladbach'' achieved three consecutive top-four finishes in the league and also reached the semifinals in the 1987

UEFA Cup A cup is an open-top used to hold hot or cold liquids for pouring or drinking; while mainly used for drinking, it also can be used to store solids for pouring (e.g., sugar, flour, grains, salt). Cups may be made of glass, metal, china, clay ...

, with him being club top scorer from 1988 to 1992 in spite of missing most of the latter season due to injury; he captained the side to another domestic cup final in 1992, but it ended in the same fashion, now against Hannover 96. By the 1993–94 season Criens had fallen down the attacker pecking order, behind

Martin Dahlin Dan Martin Nataniel Dahlin (born 16 April 1968) is a Swedish former professional footballer who played as a striker. In his prime, he was considered one of the world's best strikers. Starting off his career with Malmö FF in 1987, he was the 1 ...

Heiko Herrlich Heiko Herrlich (born 3 December 1971) is a German football manager and former player who played as a striker. He last managed FC Augsburg. Club career Herrlich played 258 matches (1989–2004) in the Bundesliga and scored 75 goals for Bayer 04 ...

and Martin Max, and in October 1993, the 33-year-old signed for 1. FC Nürnberg, suffering team relegation and then playing his last year as a professional in the

second division In sport, the Second Division, also called Division 2 or Division II is usually the second highest division of a league, and will often have promotion and relegation with divisions above and below. Following the rise of Premier League style compet ...

. At the time of his retirement his 92 goals put him third in his main club's all-time scorers list, behind Jupp Heynckes and

Herbert Laumen Herbert Laumen (born 11 August 1943) is a German former professional footballer who played as a striker. He scored more than 120 Bundesliga goals. Laumen won two caps for the West Germany national team in the late 1960s. Honours Borussia M� ...

Honours

: Runner-up 1983–84, 1991–92

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Criens, Hans-Jorg 1960 births 2019 deaths Sportspeople from Neuss Footballers from Düsseldorf (region) German men's footballers Men's association football forwards Bundesliga players 2. Bundesliga players Borussia Mönchengladbach II players Borussia Mönchengladbach players 1. FC Nürnberg players 20th-century German people West German men's footballers