Jürgen Moll (born 16 November 1939 in Karlsbad; died 16 December 1968 on

Bundesautobahn 7 is the longest German Autobahn and the longest national motorway in Europe at 963 km (598 mi). It bisects the country almost evenly between east and west. In the north, it starts at the border with Denmark as an extension of the Danish part o ...

near

Egestorf Egestorf is a municipality in the district of Harburg, in Lower Saxony, 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, ...

in a car crash) 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 ...

player.

Early life

Moll was born in Karlsbad,

Sudetenland The Sudetenland ( , ; Czech and sk, Sudety) is the historical German name for the northern, southern, and western areas of former Czechoslovakia which were inhabited primarily by Sudeten Germans. These German speakers had predominated in the ...

in 1939, but came to

Braunschweig Braunschweig () or Brunswick ( , from Low German ''Brunswiek'' , Braunschweig dialect: ''Bronswiek'') is a city in Lower Saxony, Germany, north of the Harz Mountains at the farthest navigable point of the river Oker, which connects it to the Nor ...

as a refugee with his family at the end of

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...

Career

Moll spent his entire ten-year professional career with

Eintracht Braunschweig Braunschweiger Turn- und Sportverein Eintracht von 1895 e.V., commonly known as Eintracht Braunschweig () or BTSV (), is a German association football, football and sports club based in Braunschweig, Lower Saxony. The club was one of the founding ...

, including six seasons in the

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 ...

, starting with the league's foundation in 1963. He joined the club for the 1957–58 season from

Leu Braunschweig HSC Leu 06 Braunschweig, commonly known as Leu Braunschweig, is a German association football club based in Braunschweig, Lower Saxony. History The club was founded as ''BV Wacker Braunschweig'' in 1906. In 1911, Wacker was merged into ''MTV B ...

, at the time the city's second best team. During the early 1960s he succeeded the retiring

Werner Thamm Werner Thamm (24 August 1926 – 20 October 1987) was a German footballer. Career Thamm began his senior career with Amateuroberliga Niedersachsen club TSV Goslar (now Goslarer SC 08), before joining Eintracht Braunschweig in the first division ...

as Eintracht's most prolific goal scorer. Moll was also the player to score Eintracht Braunschweig's first ever Bundesliga goal. However, later in his career he was turned from a

center forward Forwards (also known as attackers) are Glossary of association football terms#O, outfield positions in an association football team who play the furthest up the pitch and are therefore most responsible for scoring Goal (sport)#Association footbal ...

into a defender by Eintracht Braunschweig manager Helmuth Johannsen. Moll stayed one of the club's key player in his new position as well, starting every single game in the team's 1966–67 championship-winning season.

Personal life

Moll was married to the actress Sigrid Mollwitz. The pair had two daughters.

Death

Moll and his wife died in a car accident while on return from vacation during the winter break of the 1968–69 season. Two charity matches were played for the benefit of the Molls' children, the first featured West Germany's

1954 FIFA World Cup The 1954 FIFA World Cup was the fifth edition of the FIFA World Cup, the quadrennial international football tournament for senior men's national teams of the nations affiliated to FIFA. It was held in Switzerland from 16 June to 4 July. Switzerla ...

winning squad in the line-up of the tournament's final, the second saw a combined squad of Eintracht Braunschweig and rivals

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 ...

take on a Bundesliga all-star team. Moll's funeral in Braunschweig was attended by 4,000 people, including the West German national team and the entire squad of Hannover 96.

Honours

champion: 1966–67

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Moll, Jurgen 1939 births 1968 deaths Sportspeople from Braunschweig Sportspeople from Karlovy Vary People from Sudetenland German footballers Association football forwards Association football defenders Eintracht Braunschweig players Bundesliga players Road incident deaths in Germany Footballers from Lower Saxony