Horst Buhtz (21 September 1923 – 22 March 2015) was a German
football
Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kicking a ball to score a goal. Unqualified, the word ''football'' normally means the form of football that is the most popular where the word is used. Sports commonly c ...
manager
Management (or managing) is the administration of an organization, whether it is a business, a nonprofit organization, or a government body. It is the art and science of managing resources of the business.
Management includes the activities o ...
and former football player who played as a
midfielder
A midfielder is an outfield position in association football.
Midfielders may play an exclusively defensive role, breaking up attacks, and are in that case known as defensive midfielders. As central midfielders often go across boundarie ...
.
Club career
Buhtz began his playing career at
Fortuna Magdeburg
SV Fortuna Magdeburg is a German association football club from the city of Magdeburg in Saxony-Anhalt.
History
The club was founded 1 August 1911 as Magdeburger Fußball-Verein Fortuna 1911. An earlier unrelated side known as Fussball Club ...
where he played for the senior team aged 16, after a special permit had been obtained. After the war, Buhtz left the
Soviet occupation zone
The Soviet Occupation Zone ( or german: Ostzone, label=none, "East Zone"; , ''Sovetskaya okkupatsionnaya zona Germanii'', "Soviet Occupation Zone of Germany") was an area of Germany in Central Europe that was occupied by the Soviet Union as a c ...
and went to play for
Kickers Offenbach
Offenbacher Kickers, also known as Kickers Offenbach, is a German association football club in Offenbach am Main, Hesse. The club was founded on 27 May 1901 in the Rheinischer Hof restaurant by footballers who had left established local clubs in ...
, winning a
South German championship with the team in 1949. In 1950 he was part of the Offenbach team that lost to
VfB Stuttgart
Verein für Bewegungsspiele Stuttgart 1893 e. V., commonly known as VfB Stuttgart (), is a German sports club based in Stuttgart, Baden-Württemberg. The club's football team is currently part of Germany's first division, the Bundesliga. VfB Stu ...
in the
German football championship
German(s) may refer to:
* Germany (of or related to)
**Germania (historical use)
* Germans, citizens of Germany, people of German ancestry, or native speakers of the German language
** For citizens of Germany, see also German nationality law
**Ger ...
final. Between 1950 and 1952 he played for
VfB Mühlburg
Karlsruher SC is a Football in Germany, German association football club, based in Karlsruhe, Baden-Württemberg that currently plays in the 2. Bundesliga, the second tier of German football. Domestically, the club was crowned German champion in ...
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 ...
, then the highest level of football in the area. In his five years in that league, Buhtz managed to score 69 goals in 143 matches.
In 1952, Buhtz became the second German to play in Italy's
Serie A
The Serie A (), also called Serie A TIM for national sponsorship with TIM, is a professional league competition for football clubs located at the top of the Italian football league system and the winner is awarded the Scudetto and the Coppa ...
– the first had been
1860 Munich
, commonly known as TSV 1860 München (; lettered as ) or 1860 Munich, is a sports club based in Munich. The club's football team currently plays in the 3. Liga, the third tier of German football.
1860 Munich was one of the founding members of ...
's
Ludwig Janda
Ludwig Janda (13 January 1919 – 22 August 1981) was a German football player and manager who played for SpVgg Fürth, 1860 Munich, AC Fiorentina and Novara Calcio.
In 1949, he transferred from 1860 Munich to Fiorentina for a fee of DM 30,0 ...
. For five years, "il tedesco" (the German), as the fans called him, would play for
AC Torino
Torino Football Club (), commonly referred to as Torino or simply Toro, is an Italian professional football club based in Turin, Piedmont. They currently play in Serie A.
Founded as ''Foot-Ball Club Torino'' in 1906, Torino are among the mo ...
, earning as much as 150,000
DM per season, an amount of money that a player in Germany "would have had to play a decade for".
Buhtz was one of the stars of the newly formed Torino team that had to be rebuilt after 18 players had died in the
Superga air disaster
The Superga air disaster occurred on 4 May 1949, when a Fiat G.212 of Avio Linee Italiane (Italian Airlines), carrying the entire Torino football team (popularly known as the ''Grande Torino''), crashed into the retaining wall at the back of th ...
in 1949. Buhtz quickly became a regular and scored about 20 goals per season. In 1957, he left Torino for Switzerland, where he was player-manager for
FC Young Fellows in Zurich and
AC Bellinzona
AC Bellinzona is a Swiss football club based in Bellinzona. It was founded in 1904, and won the Swiss Super League in 1948. After being folded in 2013 declaring bankruptcy, the team played the Ticino Group of 2.Liga, the sixth tier of the Swi ...
.
As Buhtz was similar in playing style to
Fritz Walter
Friedrich "Fritz" Walter (, ; 31 October 1920 – 17 June 2002) was a German footballer who spent his entire senior career at 1. FC Kaiserslautern. He usually played as an attacking midfielder or inside forward. In his time with the Germany a ...
and the
German FA
The German Football Association (german: Deutscher Fußball-Bund ; DFB ) is the governing body of football in Germany. A founding member of both FIFA and UEFA, the DFB has jurisdiction for the German football league system and is in charge of ...
disapproved of
professional players, especially if they were playing abroad, Buhtz never played in a match for
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 betwe ...
.
Managerial career
After his playing career, Buhtz became a full-time manager. This development was already on the horizon when he was player-manager in Switzerland. Between 1962 and 1985, Buhtz went on to manage 13 clubs in Germany and Turkey.
Saarbrücken and Neunkirchen
He began his managing career at
Oberliga Südwest club
Sportfreunde Saarbrücken Sportfreunde (''English: Sport friends'') is the name of a number of German sports clubs an may refer to:
Association football
* Sportfreunde Baumberg
* Vereinigte Breslauer Sportfreunde
* Sportfreunde Eisbachtal
* Sportfreunde Köllerbach
* Sp ...
and led them to a respectable 6th place. After the season, he signed a contract with
Borussia Neunkirchen
Borussia VfB Neunkirchen is a German association football club based in Neunkirchen, Saarland. The club ''SC Borussia Neunkirchen'' was founded out of the 1907 merger of ''FC 1905 Borussia'' and ''SC Neunkirchen''.
History
From 1912 through t ...
who had finished second in the 1962–63 season and were controversially omitted from the newly formed
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 ...
. Buhtz' team won the
Regionalliga Süd in 1964 and they were thus promoted to the Bundesliga. After finishing mid-table in their first season, the team was relegated following a 17th place in 1966.
Hannover 96
Following the relegation, Buhtz left the club and took over as manager of
Hannover 96
Hannoverscher Sportverein von 1896, commonly referred to as Hannover 96 (), Hannover, HSV or simply 96, is a German professional football club based in the city of Hanover, Lower Saxony. They played in the Bundesliga for a total of 30 years betwe ...
, another Bundesliga side. With Hannover, Buhtz reached a 9th place in 1967 but was fired on 12 February 1968. Buhtz' work at Hannover had suffered from the fact that in October 1967 the club had already signed a new manager for the 1968–69 season.
Wuppertaler SV
In July, Buhtz became manager of
Regionalliga West
The Regionalliga West is a German semi-professional football division administered by the Western German Football Association based in Duisburg. It is one of the five German regional football associations. Being the single flight of the Western ...
side
Wuppertaler SV
Wuppertaler SV is a German association football club located in Wuppertal, North Rhine-Westphalia. The city was founded in 1929 out of the union of a number of smaller towns including Elberfeld, Barmen, Vohwinkel, Cronenberg and Ronsdorf – e ...
, the club he would manage for the following six years. However, the relationship got off to a rocky start, when Buhtz was not present for the start of training on 9 July 1968, despite having set the date himself. Under Buhtz the club constantly improved, eventually winning the league and qualifying for the Bundesliga promotion play-offs, in which Wuppertal won all eight of their matches, a feat unmatched in all eleven seasons featuring that playoff format. After promotion, Buhtz extended his contract until 1 July 1975. In their first year, Wuppertal finished on a sensational
fourth place and qualified for the
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 Solid, solids for pouring (e.g., sugar, flour, grains, salt). Cups may be made of glass, metal, porcela ...
, where they would go on to succumb to a
first-round aggregate defeat by Polish side
Ruch Chorzów
Ruch Chorzów () is a Polish association football club based in Chorzów, Upper Silesia. It is one of the most successful football teams in Poland: fourteen-time national champions, and three-time winners of the Polish Cup. Currently the team play ...
. In the second year, however, the team could no longer keep up their performance, only barely avoiding relegation with a 2–2 draw at
VfB Stuttgart
Verein für Bewegungsspiele Stuttgart 1893 e. V., commonly known as VfB Stuttgart (), is a German sports club based in Stuttgart, Baden-Württemberg. The club's football team is currently part of Germany's first division, the Bundesliga. VfB Stu ...
on the final day of the season. The third year started out even worse, and Buhtz was sacked ten games into the season on 20 October 1974 after a 4–1 loss at
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 ...
. Despite that, Buhtz's only win of the
1974–75 campaign became a memorable one, as WSV managed to defeat the defending
German champions
The German football champions are the annual winners of the highest Football in Germany, association football competition in Germany. The history of the German football championship is complex and reflects the turbulent history of the country thr ...
and
European Cup
The UEFA Champions League (abbreviated as UCL, or sometimes, UEFA CL) is an annual club football competition organised by the Union of European Football Associations (UEFA) and contested by top-division European clubs, deciding the competit ...
winners
Winners Merchants International L.P is a chain of off-price Canada, Canadian department stores owned by TJX Companies.
It offers brand name clothing, footwear, bedding, furniture, fine jewelry, beauty products, and housewares. Products are at a ...
Bayern Munich
Fußball-Club Bayern München e. V. (FCB, ), also known as FC Bayern (), Bayern Munich, or simply Bayern, is a German professional sports club based in Munich, Bavaria. It is best known for its professional men's football team, which pla ...
who were having a disappointing domestic campaign despite eventually managing to
defend their European Cup title. After Buhtz's departure, Wuppertal still only managed one more victory and were relegated with the second-worst record in Bundesliga history to date.
Beşiktaş and Dortmund
At the end of the year Buhtz went to Turkey and took over
Beşiktaş J.K. with a contract running until June 1975. With Beşiktaş he finished 5th in the league, but the club won the
Turkish Cup
The Turkish Cup ( Turkish: ''Türkiye Kupası'') is a football cup competition in Turkish football, run by the Turkish Football Federation since 1962. During a brief sponsorship period with Fortis, its sponsored name was ''Fortis Türkiye Kupası ...
for the first time. Originally, Buhtz had intended to return to the Bundesliga in July 1975, but instead stayed on as Beşiktaş manager. However, in January 1976, Buhtz was sacked and in February took over as manager of then
2. Bundesliga Nord side
Borussia Dortmund
Ballspielverein Borussia 09 e. V. Dortmund, commonly known as Borussia Dortmund (), BVB (), or simply Dortmund (), is a German professional sports club based in Dortmund, North Rhine-Westphalia. It is best known for its men's professional footb ...
. This was not intended as a long-time assignment and in April that year Buhtz signed a two-year contract as manager of
1. FC Nürnberg, starting in June. Buhtz led Dortmund to a second place in the league, allowing them to take part in the promotion play-offs against the second-placed team of
2. Bundesliga Süd: 1. FC Nürnberg. In view of the fact that Buhtz had already signed a contract with Nürnberg for the next season, he was sacked before the play-offs.
1. FC Nürnberg and Bayer Uerdingen
At Nürnberg, Buhtz reached only a fifth place in 2. Bundesliga Süd in 1976–77, but in the following season the club finished second and qualified for the play-offs on the 37th day of the season. However, like in Dortmund, Buhtz was sacked before the play-offs began.
His next station was 2. Bundesliga Süd side
Bayer 05 Uerdingen
KFC Uerdingen 05 is a Football in Germany, German football club in the Uerdingen district of the city of Krefeld, North Rhine-Westphalia. The former Bundesliga side enjoyed its greatest successes in the 1980s but now plays in the fifth-level Obe ...
where he took over in October 1978. Again he finished second in the league, and this time was not sacked before the play-offs, but instead celebrated promotion to the Bundesliga in 1979. However, Uerdingen did not play a great role in the Bundesliga. They finished 15th in
1979–80 and an 18th place in
1980–81 meant relegation. Two matchdays before the end of the season, Buhtz was sacked.
Alemannia Aachen, Stuttgarter Kickers and Fortuna Köln
In December 1981, Buhtz was the fourth manager brought in at Alemannia Aachen. Aachen were in eighth position when Buhtz took over, but he could not noticeably improve their position and finished ninth. In the following season Aachen started well, but after a slump in results, the club lost touch with the promotion ranks and Buhtz was sacked.
In January 1983,
2. Bundesliga side
Stuttgarter Kickers
Stuttgarter Kickers is a German association football club that plays in Stuttgart, Baden-Württemberg, founded on 21 September 1899 as FC Stuttgarter Cickers.
History
In its early years the club had a decent local squad that played in the Südk ...
signed Buhtz on a contract running until June of that year. Buhtz won his first match, but in the long run he could not get the club out of their 2. Bundesliga dejection. After a catastrophic beginning of the 1983–84 season with only one win in 13 matches, Buhtz was dismissed on 22 October 1984.
After his spell in Stuttgart, where Buhtz had worked with future stars such as
Jürgen Klinsmann
Jürgen Klinsmann (, born 30 July 1964) is a German professional football manager and former player. Klinsmann played for several prominent clubs in Europe including VfB Stuttgart, Inter Milan, Monaco, Tottenham Hotspur, and Bayern Munich. He ...
or
Guido Buchwald
Guido Ulrich Buchwald (born 24 January 1961) is a German former professional football player. Throughout his career he played as a defender. He is currently director of football of Stuttgarter Kickers.
The best game of Buchwald's career was th ...
, he all but retired, only taking over at 2. Bundesliga side
Fortuna Köln
Fortuna ( la, Fortūna, equivalent to the Greek goddess Tyche) is the goddess of fortune and the personification of luck in Roman religion who, largely thanks to the Late Antique author Boethius, remained popular through the Middle Ages until at ...
for a few months in the 1986–87 season.
Retirement
Buhtz lived in the town of
Langenfeld, Rhineland
Langenfeld ( Ripuarian: ''Langefääl'') is a town in North Rhine-Westphalia (Germany) in the district of Mettmann. The suburban city is located between Düsseldorf and Cologne. Langenfeld was formed from the two localities of Richrath and Reu ...
, between
Cologne
Cologne ( ; german: Köln ; ksh, Kölle ) is the largest city of the German western States of Germany, state of North Rhine-Westphalia (NRW) and the List of cities in Germany by population, fourth-most populous city of Germany with 1.1 m ...
and
Düsseldorf
Düsseldorf ( , , ; often in English sources; Low Franconian and Ripuarian: ''Düsseldörp'' ; archaic nl, Dusseldorp ) is the capital city of North Rhine-Westphalia, the most populous state of Germany. It is the second-largest city in th ...
. His original club of Fortuna Magdeburg made him an honorary president in 1992. He died at the age of 91 on 22 March 2015.
References
{{DEFAULTSORT:Buhtz, Horst
German footballers
German football managers
Kickers Offenbach players
Karlsruher SC players
Torino F.C. players
Serie A players
AC Bellinzona players
AC Bellinzona managers
Hannover 96 managers
Süper Lig managers
Beşiktaş J.K. managers
German expatriate footballers
Expatriate footballers in Italy
Expatriate footballers in Switzerland
Borussia Dortmund managers
1. FC Nürnberg managers
Alemannia Aachen managers
Stuttgarter Kickers managers
SC Young Fellows Juventus managers
Bundesliga managers
1923 births
2015 deaths
SC Young Fellows Juventus players
KFC Uerdingen 05 managers
Wuppertaler SV managers
Borussia Neunkirchen managers
Association football wingers
Sportspeople from Magdeburg