Jörg Berger (13 October 1944 – 23 June 2010) was a German
football manager and player, who last managed
Arminia Bielefeld.
Career
As an active he played for
1.FC Lok Leipzig.
Coaching career
In 1970, Berger was forced to retire due to a muscle injury and started his managing career after the studying at the
DHfK Leipzig. Berger was a reputable manager in
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 ...
who was planned to manage the
national team
A national sports team (commonly known as a national team or a national side) is a team that represents a nation, rather than a particular club or region, in an international sport.
The term is most commonly associated with team sports, for exa ...
as successor of longtime manager
Georg Buschner some day.
Berger managed the youth team of the GDR. In 1979, he used a match in
Yugoslavia
Yugoslavia (; sh-Latn-Cyrl, separator=" / ", Jugoslavija, Југославија ; sl, Jugoslavija ; mk, Југославија ;; rup, Iugoslavia; hu, Jugoszlávia; rue, label=Pannonian Rusyn, Югославия, translit=Juhoslavija ...
to flee to West Germany. He signed with
Second Bundesliga side
SV Darmstadt 98. As a GDR refugee he suffered many threats by the East German secret police
Stasi. He survived being poisoned whilst managing
KSV Hessen Kassel
KSV Hessen Kassel is a semi-professional German football club based in Kassel, Hesse. KSV competes in the German Regionalliga Südwest, the fourth tier of German football. Nicknamed "Die Löwen" (the lions), the club was founded as FC Union ...
in the mid-1980s. Evidence of the threats to his life were not available until 1990 when Germany was
reunified, after which he was able to search his Stasi files.
He was renowned as a great motivator, helping clubs threatened with relegation, but with little chance to build up teams over a longer period. Berger became the ’’fireman’’ of the Bundesliga after he twice failed to gain promotion to the Bundesliga with
KSV Hessen Kassel
KSV Hessen Kassel is a semi-professional German football club based in Kassel, Hesse. KSV competes in the German Regionalliga Südwest, the fourth tier of German football. Nicknamed "Die Löwen" (the lions), the club was founded as FC Union ...
, ending up in fourth position in the Second division of the Bundesliga (1984 and 1985). His greatest achievements were two third positions with
Eintracht Frankfurt
Eintracht Frankfurt e.V. () is a professional sports club based in Frankfurt, Hesse, Germany. It is best known for its football club, which was founded on 8 March 1899. The team is currently playing in the Bundesliga, the top tier of the Germa ...
in 1990 and with
FC Schalke 04 in 1996. He was replaced as manager of Schalke by
Huub Stevens in October 1996 shortly before they won 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 solids for pouring (e.g., sugar, flour, grains, salt). Cups may be made of glass, metal, china, clay ...
in 1997.
Berger's last big success was reaching 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 ...
final with
Alemannia Aachen, a side from the Second division of the Bundesliga. However his contract was cancelled, by mutual agreement, after they lost to the then current champions (
SV Werder Bremen) and failed to gain promotion to the Bundesliga.
From 17 November 2004 until 14 August 2005, he was the manager of
FC Hansa Rostock
FC Hansa Rostock () is a German association football club based in the city of Rostock, Mecklenburg-Vorpommern. The club is also called as "the cog" because of its club crest. They have emerged as one of the most successful clubs from the forme ...
. He was fired after a 1–4 defeat by
TSV 1860 München
A tab-separated values (TSV) file is a simple text format for storing data in a tabular structure, e.g., a database table or spreadsheet data, and a way of exchanging information between databases. Each record in the table is one line of the te ...
. On 18 May 2009, was named as the new Head Coach from
DSC Arminia Bielefeld
DSC Arminia Bielefeld (; full name: ; commonly known as Arminia Bielefeld (), also known as ''Die Arminen'' or ''Die Blauen'' ), or just Arminia (), is a German sports club from Bielefeld, North Rhine-Westphalia. Arminia offers the sports of ...
. His contract ran until 30 June 2009. He left the club on this date.
Personal life
Berger was the father of three children. In 2002, he had to interrupt his time as Alemannia Aachen manager due to an operation on an intestinal tumour. In 2005, he was operated on again, this time on
liver
The liver is a major organ only found in vertebrates which performs many essential biological functions such as detoxification of the organism, and the synthesis of proteins and biochemicals necessary for digestion and growth. In humans, it ...
metastasis
Metastasis is a pathogenic agent's spread from an initial or primary site to a different or secondary site within the host's body; the term is typically used when referring to metastasis by a cancerous tumor. The newly pathological sites, then ...
. He released his biography ''"Meine zwei Halbzeiten: Ein Leben in Ost und West"'' (English: ''My Two Halves: A Life in the East and in the West'') over the
Leipzig
Leipzig ( , ; Upper Saxon: ) is the most populous city in the German state of Saxony. Leipzig's population of 605,407 inhabitants (1.1 million in the larger urban zone) as of 2021 places the city as Germany's eighth most populous, as ...
based
Rowohlt Verlag
Rowohlt Verlag is a German publishing house based in Hamburg, with offices in Reinbek and Berlin. It has been part of the Georg von Holtzbrinck Group since 1982. The company was created in 1908 in Leipzig by Ernst Rowohlt.
Divisions
* Kinder
* ...
in March 2009. Berger died on 23 June 2010 of an
enteric
The gastrointestinal tract (GI tract, digestive tract, alimentary canal) is the tract or passageway of the digestive system that leads from the mouth to the anus. The GI tract contains all the major organs of the digestive system, in humans and ...
tumor
A neoplasm () is a type of abnormal and excessive growth of tissue. The process that occurs to form or produce a neoplasm is called neoplasia. The growth of a neoplasm is uncoordinated with that of the normal surrounding tissue, and persists ...
.
Keine Rettung für den Retter
See also
* List of Eastern Bloc defectors
References
External links
Jörg Berger at eintracht-archiv.de
*
{{DEFAULTSORT:Berger, Jorg
1944 births
2010 deaths
Sportspeople from Gdynia
People from West Prussia
German football managers
German footballers
East German footballers
East German defectors
East German football managers
1. FC Lokomotive Leipzig players
Fortuna Düsseldorf managers
Hannover 96 managers
SC Freiburg managers
SV Darmstadt 98 managers
Eintracht Frankfurt managers
1. FC Köln managers
FC Schalke 04 managers
FC Basel managers
Karlsruher SC managers
Bursaspor managers
KSV Hessen Kassel managers
Alemannia Aachen managers
FC Hansa Rostock managers
Arminia Bielefeld managers
Bundesliga managers
Expatriate football managers in Switzerland
Expatriate football managers in Turkey
Deaths from cancer in Germany
Deaths from colorectal cancer
2. Bundesliga managers
East German emigrants to West Germany
DDR-Oberliga players
Association football forwards