Joachim Walter (23 October 1940 – 9 May 2021) 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 le ...

who played as a

forward Forward is a relative direction, the opposite of backward. Forward may also refer to: People * Forward (surname) Sports * Forward (association football) * Forward (basketball), including: ** Point forward ** Power forward (basketball) ** Sm ...

for SC Aufbau Magdeburg, later renamed 1. FC Magdeburg in the

DDR-Oberliga The DDR-Oberliga (English: ''East German Premier League'' or ''GDR Premier League'') was the top-level association football league in East Germany. Overview Following World War II, separate sports competitions emerged in the occupied eastern ...

, the

East German 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 ...

top flight. He won the East German cup competition

FDGB-Pokal The FDGB-Pokal (Freier Deutscher Gewerkschaftsbund Pokal or Free German Trade Union Federation Cup) was an elimination football tournament held annually in East Germany. It was the second most important national title in East German football aft ...

three times and played for his country four times at junior level.

Career

Walter's footballing career began in 1947 in

Burg bei Magdeburg Burg (also known as Burg bei Magdeburg to distinguish from other places with the same name) is a town of about 22,400 inhabitants on the Elbe–Havel Canal in northeastern Germany, northeast of Magdeburg. It is the capital of the Jerichower Land ...

where he played for BSG Lokomotive Burg (until 1954) and BSG Einheit Burg. In 1959 the talented attacker joined the regional focus club, SC Aufbau Magdeburg. The

Magdeburg Magdeburg (; nds, label=Low Saxon, Meideborg ) is the capital and second-largest city of the German state Saxony-Anhalt. The city is situated at the Elbe river. Otto I, the first Holy Roman Emperor and founder of the Archdiocese of Magdebur ...

club had just won promotion to the DDR-Oberliga and 19-year-old Walter played his first match right on the first day of the 1960 season. After mixed results in the league, SC Aufbau won their first title in the 1963–64 season when they won the

. In the final against

SC Leipzig 1. Fußballclub Lokomotive Leipzig e.V. is a German football club based in the locality of Probstheida in the Südost borough of Leipzig, Saxony. The club may be more familiar to many of the country's football fans as the historic side VfB Lei ...

on 13 June 1964 Walter played as an outside forward on the right flank and scored two goals, leveling the game after Magdeburg had already trailed 2–0. In the next season, SC Aufbau again reached the

cup final The FA Cup Final, commonly referred to in England as just the Cup Final, is the last match in the FA Cup, Football Association Challenge Cup. It has regularly been one of the List of sports attendance figures, most attended domestic football ev ...

and it was again Walter who scored an important goal: the 1–1 equalizer against

SC Motor Jena FC Carl Zeiss Jena is a German football club based in Jena, Thuringia. Formed in 1903 and initially associated with the Carl Zeiss AG factory, they were one of the strongest clubs in East Germany from the 1960s to the 1980s, winning the DDR-Obe ...

. The match ended 2–1, with Magdeburg winning their second title. however, the 1965–66 season ended in disappointment when the club was relegated. Walter only played one year in the second-tier

DDR-Liga The DDR-Liga (English: GDR League or ''East German League'') was, prior to German reunification in 1990, the second level of football competition in the DDR (Deutsche Demokratische Republik or German Democratic Republic, commonly East Germany), bei ...

, his 4 goals in 13 matches helping the club secure immediate re-promotion. After finishing third in the 1867–68 season Magdeburg and Walter won their third title, beating

FC Karl-Marx-Stadt Chemnitzer Fußballclub e.V. is a German association football club based in Chemnitz, Saxony. The club competes in Regionalliga Nordost, the fourth tier of German football. The roots of the club go back to its establishment as Chemnitzer BC 193 ...

4–0 in the FDGB-Pokal final. Walter scored his fourth cup final goal, making it 2–0 to Magdeburg. This remains a record which he shares with Jena's famed

Peter Ducke Peter Ducke (born 14 October 1941) is a Sudeten German and a former East German football player. He was born in Bensen, Sudetenland, Germany during World War II. His older brother Roland was also a successful footballer. Ducke played most of h ...

. Between 1959 and 1962 Walter had played for East Germany's youth teams on four occasions. By winning the cup, Magdeburg qualified for the

European Cup Winners' Cup The UEFA Cup Winners' Cup was a European football club competition contested annually by the winners of domestic cup competitions. The cup was, chronologically, the second seasonal inter-European club competition organised by UEFA. The tournam ...

, allowing Walter to gather more experience on international level. Altogether the club played 13 matches during Walter's career and he missed but one: The first leg in the quarter final match of the

1965–66 European Cup Winners' Cup The 1965–66 season of the European Cup Winners' Cup club football tournament was won by Borussia Dortmund in an extra-time final victory over Liverpool at Hampden Park in Glasgow. This season of the Cup Winners' Cup was the first instance of the ...

against

West Ham United West Ham United Football Club is an English professional football club that plays its home matches in Stratford, East London. The club competes in the Premier League, the top tier of English football. The club plays at the London Stadium, hav ...

. In the return leg, Walter scored for Magdeburg to take the lead, but in the end the club suffered a 2–1

aggregate Aggregate or aggregates may refer to: Computing and mathematics * collection of objects that are bound together by a root entity, otherwise known as an aggregate root. The aggregate root guarantees the consistency of changes being made within the ...

defeat and the match remained Walter's last international competitive match. Walter stayed with 1. FC Magdeburg until the end of the 1969–70 season, playing in 278 competitive matches: 228 in the DDR-Oberliga, 13 in the DDR-Liga, 25 in the FDGB-Pokal and 12 in the Cup Winners' Cup. Altogether Walter scored 85 goals for the club.

Honours

1. FC Magdeburg *

1964 Events January * January 1 – The Federation of Rhodesia and Nyasaland is dissolved. * January 5 - In the first meeting between leaders of the Roman Catholic and Orthodox churches since the fifteenth century, Pope Paul VI and Patriarch ...

1965 Events January–February * January 14 – The Prime Minister of Northern Ireland and the Taoiseach of the Republic of Ireland meet for the first time in 43 years. * January 20 ** Lyndon B. Johnson is Second inauguration of Lyndo ...

1969 This year is notable for Apollo 11's first landing on the moon. Events January * January 4 – The Government of Spain hands over Ifni to Morocco. * January 5 **Ariana Afghan Airlines Flight 701 crashes into a house on its approach to ...

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Walter, Joachim East German footballers 1940 births 2021 deaths 1. FC Magdeburg players DDR-Oberliga players Association football forwards