Hermann Neuberger (12 December 1919 – 27 September 1992) was the seventh president of the German Football Association (''Deutscher Fußball-Bund'', DFB) from 1975 until his death in office in 1992.

Career

Neuberger, son of two teachers, grew up in the Saarbrücken Malstatt workers district and attended the Sasbach boarding school until graduating with Abitur in 1938. He was then drafted to the

Wehrmacht The ''Wehrmacht'' (, ) were the unified armed forces of Nazi Germany from 1935 to 1945. It consisted of the ''Heer'' (army), the '' Kriegsmarine'' (navy) and the ''Luftwaffe'' (air force). The designation "''Wehrmacht''" replaced the previo ...

and was operational in Africa and Italy during the Second World War, where he was later Captain for the Generals in Rome. After returning from British captivity in November 1945, he worked from 1946 as an editor at the Saarbrücken Sport-echo and from 1951 onwards in the advertising department of the Karlsberg brewery in Homburg. In 1955 he took over the management of Saarland-Sporttoto GmbH, where he was director from 1961 to 1984. From 1976 to 1984 he also managed its subsidiary, Saarland Spielbank GmbH. He was elected President of the DFB at the DFB Bundestag on 25 October 1975 in

Hamburg (male), (female) en, Hamburger(s), Hamburgian(s) , timezone1 = Central (CET) , utc_offset1 = +1 , timezone1_DST = Central (CEST) , utc_offset1_DST = +2 , postal ...

. Before his election to the DFB, Neuberger was already active as a sports functionary. During the time of independent Saarland, he was president of the

Saarland Football Association The Saarland Football Association (german: Saarländischer Fussball-Verband), the ''SFV'', is one of 21 state organisations of the German Football Association, the ''DFB'', and covers the state of Saarland.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 ...

. He was the chief organizer of the 1974 FIFA World Cup in the

Federal Republic of Germany Germany,, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It is the second most populous country in Europe after Russia, and the most populous member state of the European Union. Germany is situated between ...

. In 1974, he was elected vice president of the FIFA World Cup, and later became the organizer of the World Championships from 1978 to

1990 File:1990 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: The 1990 FIFA World Cup is played in Italy; The Human Genome Project is launched; Voyager I takes the famous Pale Blue Dot image- speaking on the fragility of humanity on Earth, astrophysicist ...

. He held the position of FIFA vice-president and the DFB president until his death. During his term of office, championships won include the European Championship in 1980, the world championships in 1982 and

1986 The year 1986 was designated as the International Year of Peace by the United Nations. Events January * January 1 **Aruba gains increased autonomy from the Netherlands by separating from the Netherlands Antilles. **Spain and Portugal enter ...

, and the World Championship title 1990 in Italy. The national team managers during his term were

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 ...

(1964-1978),

Jupp Derwall Josef "Jupp" Derwall (10 March 1927 – 26 June 2007) was a German professional football manager and player. He was head coach of the West Germany national team between 1978 and 1984, winning the UEFA Euro 1980 and reaching the final of the 198 ...

(1978-1984), Franz Beckenbauer (1984-1990) and Berti Vogts (1990-1998). BurbachWaldfriedhofGrabHermannNeuberger

Hermann Neuberger died on 27 September 1992, at the University Hospital in Homburg, following a battle with cancer. The headquarters of the DFB in

Frankfurt Frankfurt, officially Frankfurt am Main (; Hessian: , " Frank ford on the Main"), is the most populous city in the German state of Hesse. Its 791,000 inhabitants as of 2022 make it the fifth-most populous city in Germany. Located on it ...

- the Hermann-Neuberger-Haus - as well as the Hermann-Neuberger-Sportschule in Saarbrücken are named after him today. His birthplace, Völklingen, has named a sports hall, a stadium and a high school after him and placed a monument in his honor.

Hermann-Neuberger Award

Since 2005, the Landessportverband for the Saarland has been awarding the Hermann-Neuberger-Award to clubs that have made a special contribution to the search and development of new talent, and the development of high performance sports in Saarland: * 2012 - SV 64 Zweibrücken (handball) * 2011 - Saarländischer Turnerbund (STB) * 2009 - Saarland Triathlon Union

References

External links

Hermann Neuberger auf Saarländische Biografien
* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Neuberger, Hermann 1919 births 1992 deaths People from Völklingen Knights Commander of the Order of Merit of the Federal Republic of Germany Recipients of the Saarland Order of Merit German football chairmen and investors