Hans Jürgen Riediger (born 20 December 1955) is a former

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 ...

from

East Germany 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 ...

. Riediger played for BFC Dynamo, scoring 105 goals / 196 DDR-Oberliga matches. He participated in

1976 Summer Olympics Events January * January 3 – The International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights enters into force. * January 5 – The Pol Pot regime proclaims a new constitution for Democratic Kampuchea. * January 11 – The 1976 P ...

and received the gold medal.

Career

Born in

Finsterwalde Finsterwalde (, dsb, Grabin) is a town in the Elbe-Elster district (German: Landkreis), in Lower Lusatia, Brandenburg, Germany. Overview It is situated on the Schackebach, a tributary of the Kleine Elster, 28 m. W.S.W of Cottbus by rail. Pop. ...

, Riediger began playing football at BSG Traktor Sonnewalde in 1964, played for BSG Motor Finsterwalde Süd from 1965 to 1970, and joined the

youth academy In sporting terminology, a youth system (or youth academy) is a youth investment program within a particular team or league, which develops and nurtures young talent in farm teams, with the vision of using them in the first team in the future if t ...

of BFC Dynamo in August 1970. The striker came to prominence with 34 matches for the East German Junior team. He participated in XXVI.UEFA Turnire 1973. He scored goals for East Germany in the semi-final and the final. East Germany eventually lost the final 3–2 a.e.t. to

England England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe b ...

at the Stadio Comunale and received the silver medal. Riediger made his first appearance for DDR-Oberliga with the senior squad of BFC Dynamo on 20 June 1973 (the penultimate matchday of the season 1972–73, away match against BSG Sachsenring Zwickau under the trainer Günter Schröter), and the next and last matchday of the season, on 23 June 1973, he scored twice (37min. 2–0 and 39 min. 3–0) against Wismut Aue in Sportpark. He was promoted to the senior squad of BFC Dynamo in the summer of 1973. Riediger made his debut for the East Germany national team against

Bulgaria Bulgaria (; bg, България, Bǎlgariya), officially the Republic of Bulgaria,, ) is a country in Southeast Europe. It is situated on the eastern flank of the Balkans, and is bordered by Romania to the north, Serbia and North Macedo ...

on 26 March 1975　in Berlin

Friedrich-Ludwig-Jahn-Sportpark The Friedrich-Ludwig-Jahn-Sportpark is a multi-purpose sports complex located in the western part of the locality of Prenzlauer Berg in the borough of Pankow in Berlin. The sports complex covers an area of approximately 22 hectares and comprises ...

under the trainer

Georg Büchner Karl Georg Büchner (17 October 1813 – 19 February 1837) was a German dramatist and writer of poetry and prose, considered part of the Young Germany movement. He was also a revolutionary and the brother of physician and philosopher Ludwig Büch ...

, playing on snow for 90 minutes.　His first goal came on 31 July 1975, a friendly match with

Canada Canada is a country in North America. Its ten provinces and three territories extend from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean and northward into the Arctic Ocean, covering over , making it the world's second-largest country by tot ...

in Ottawa (28min. 2–0). Riediger participated in the

in Montreal with experienced teammates

Jürgen Croy Jürgen Croy (born 19 October 1946) is a former footballer who played as a goalkeeper. He made 86 appearances for the German Democratic Republic national team. Club career Born in Zwickau, Germany, Croy spent his entire footballing career at ...

Hans-Jürgen Dörner Hans-Jürgen "Dixie" Dörner (25 January 1951 – 19 January 2022) was a German football player and coach. He distinguished himself during his career by being named East Germany's player of the year three times (1977, 1984 and 1985) – the o ...

, Reinhard Häfner, Reinhard Lauck et al. He played three matches there including the final 31 July 1976 and scored at the quarter-finals 25 July 1976 against

France France (), officially the French Republic ( ), is a country primarily located in Western Europe. It also comprises of overseas regions and territories in the Americas and the Atlantic, Pacific and Indian Oceans. Its metropolitan area ...

. Riediger and teammates beat the defending champion

Poland Poland, officially the Republic of Poland, is a country in Central Europe. It is divided into 16 administrative provinces called voivodeships, covering an area of . Poland has a population of over 38 million and is the fifth-most populou ...

with 3–1 in raining

Olympic Stadium ''Olympic Stadium'' is the name usually given to the main stadium of an Olympic Games. An Olympic stadium is the site of the opening and closing ceremonies. Many, though not all, of these venues actually contain the words ''Olympic Stadium'' as ...

and won the gold medal. Then he won the silver medal at

1978 UEFA European Under-21 Championship Events January * January 1 – Air India Flight 855, a Boeing 747 passenger jet, crashes off the coast of Bombay, killing 213. * January 5 – Bülent Ecevit, of CHP, forms the new government of Turkey (42nd government). * January 6 � ...

under the trainer Dr. Rudolf Krause, scoring at the second leg of the final against

Yugoslavia Yugoslavia (; sh-Latn-Cyrl, separator=" / ", Jugoslavija, Југославија ; sl, Jugoslavija ; mk, Југославија ;; rup, Iugoslavia; hu, Jugoszlávia; rue, label=Pannonian Rusyn, Югославия, translit=Juhoslavija ...

(14min. 3–1) in Bijeli Brijeg Stadium,

Mostar , settlement_type = City , image_skyline = Mostar (collage image).jpg , image_caption = From top, left to right: A panoramic view of the heritage town site and the Neretva river from Lučki Bridge, Koski Mehmed Pasha ...

. With his numerous goals he was heavily involved in the five DDR-Oberliga won by BFC Dynamo between 1979 and 1983. Altogether, Riediger made 193 top level appearances and scored 105 goals. Despite his outstanding goal ratio he never became top scorer of the top level league in East Germany. Mainly because there was Joachim Streich. Neverless, Riediger became second placed league top goal scorer in the successful 1978–79 season with 20 goals. The season saw BFC Dynamo winning their first DDR-Oberliga. For European Cup's, he played 17 matches and scored 10 goals for BFC Dynamo in total, including goals against

Crvena zvezda Fudbalski klub Crvena zvezda ( sr-Cyrl, Фудбалски клуб Црвена звезда, lit=Red Star Football Club, ), commonly known as Red Star Belgrade in English-language media, is a Serbian professional Association football, foot ...

(a hat trick),

Peter Shilton Peter Leslie Shilton (born 18 September 1949) is an English former professional footballer who played as a goalkeeper. His 30-year career included spells at 11 clubs and he has the distinction of playing over 1,000 league games, including in ...

's Nottingham Forest F.C.,

Michel Platini Michel François Platini (born 21 June 1955) is a French football administrator and former player and manager. Regarded as one of the greatest footballers of all time, Platini won the Ballon d'Or three times in a row, in 1983, 1984 and 1985, a ...

's AS Saint-Étienne and

Hamburger SV Hamburger Sport-Verein e.V. (), commonly known as Hamburger SV () or Hamburg (), is a German sports club based in Hamburg, with its largest branch being its football section. Though the current HSV was founded in June 1919 from a merger of three ...

. The 1982–83 season was his last season and at the same time also his strongest. Riediger scored 16 goals in the first 15 league matches. However, he badly hurt his knee, which meant that both the season and his career were prematurely terminated. Riediger finished as the third best goalscorer of the 1982-83 DDR-Oberliga, despite only being able to play 15 matches before his injury. The best goalscorer, Joachim Streich of 1. FC Magdeburg, scored 19 goals in 25 matches. Riediger was registered to

Jürgen Bogs Jürgen Bogs (born 19 January 1947) is a German football coach who led BFC Dynamo to ten consecutive DDR-Oberliga titles from 1979 to 1988. Bogs was a youth coach at BFC Dynamo before becoming the coach of the first team in 1977. The ten consec ...

's 1983–84 squad but could never play again. Riediger made 41 international appearances for the East Germany national football team and scored six goals in total. He, together with

Lothar Kurbjuweit Lothar Kurbjuweit (born 6 November 1950 in Riesa) is a former German footballer and football manager. Career Kurbjuweit played for Stahl Riesa (1965–1970) and FC Carl Zeiss Jena (1970–1983). International career On the national level he ...

and

Hartmut Schade Hartmut Schade (born 13 November 1954 in Radeberg, East Germany) is a German former football player and won the gold medal with the East German Olympic team at the 1976 Summer Olympics. He played for Dynamo Dresden Sportgemeinschaft Dynamo ...

, officially retired from the national team on 20 October 1984, award presentation was held before the match between

and

. After his career ended, Riediger worked as a youth coach at BFC Dynamo. In addition, he was also coach of the local clubs TSG Fredersdorf and FSV Eintracht 1910 Königs Wusterhausen. His son Marcel Riediger is also a football player. Amongst other clubs, he has played for BFC Dynamo and

Hallescher FC Hallescher FC, sometimes still called by its former popular name Chemie Halle, is a German association football club based in Halle an der Saale, Saxony-Anhalt. The club currently plays in the 3. Liga, the third highest level in the German footb ...

. Ridiger's chant sung by the opponents was "der Riediger, der Riediger, der ist ein selbst befriediger".

References

External links

* *
Hans-Jürgen Riediger
at imago-images.de 1955 births Living people People from Finsterwalde People from Bezirk Cottbus German footballers East German footballers Footballers from Brandenburg Berliner FC Dynamo players Footballers at the 1976 Summer Olympics Olympic footballers of East Germany Olympic gold medalists for East Germany East Germany international footballers Olympic medalists in football DDR-Oberliga players Medalists at the 1976 Summer Olympics Association football forwards {{Germany-Olympic-medalist-stub