Jürgen Nöldner (22 February 1941 – 21 November 2022) was a German footballer who was active 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 ...

. He was the son of Erwin Nöldner, a resistance fighter killed by the

Nazis Nazism ( ; german: Nazismus), the common name in English for National Socialism (german: Nationalsozialismus, ), is the far-right totalitarian political ideology and practices associated with Adolf Hitler and the Nazi Party (NSDAP) in Na ...

in 1944.

Career

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 ...

, Nöldner began his senior career in 1959 with

ASK Vorwärts Berlin 1. FC Frankfurt is a German football club based in Frankfurt (Oder), Brandenburg. The club was founded as the army club SV VP Vorwärts Leipzig in Leipzig in East Germany in 1951. The club won six East German championships as ASK Vorwärts Berl ...

. He was to spend his entire career with the army side, staying with the club when it moved to

Frankfurt/Oder Frankfurt (Oder), also known as Frankfurt an der Oder (), is a city in the German state of Brandenburg. It has around 57,000 inhabitants, is one of the easternmost cities in Germany, the fourth-largest city in Brandenburg, and the largest German ...

in 1971. He did not like commuting between Berlin and Frankfurt/Oder and ended his career in late 1972, aged 31. During this time he was East German champion five times, and won the

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 1970. He also played internationally for

, winning 30 caps and scoring 16 goals, including a first-minute goal against

Austria Austria, , bar, Östareich officially the Republic of Austria, is a country in the southern part of Central Europe, lying in the Eastern Alps. It is a federation of nine states, one of which is the capital, Vienna, the most populous ...

which was the fastest in the national team's history. He was part of the East German Olympic squad that represented the United German team at the Tokyo Olympic Games in 1964, winning the

bronze medal A bronze medal in sports and other similar areas involving competition is a medal made of bronze awarded to the third-place finisher of contests or competitions such as the Olympic Games, Commonwealth Games, etc. The outright winner receive ...

. In 1966 Nöldner was voted

East German Footballer of the Year The title Footballer of the Year (German: ''Fußballer des Jahres'') has been awarded in Germany since 1960. Eligible are German players as well as non-German players playing in Germany. In 1996, the title Women's Footballer of the Year (German ...

, and such was his reputation that he was nicknamed "the

Puskás Puskás is a Hungarian surname. Notable people with the surname include: *Ferenc Puskás (1927–2006), Hungarian football player and manager **FIFA Puskás Award, the player judged to have scored the most aesthetically significant and "most beauti ...

of the DDR".

Sports journalism

Nöldner retired in 1973 and became a sports journalist. He edited the ''Neue Fußballwoche'', an East German football magazine, from 1984 to 1990, and served as Berlin editor of ''kicker'' sports magazine from 1990 until his retirement in 2006.

Death

Nöldner died in

Berlin Berlin ( , ) is the capital and largest city of Germany by both area and population. Its 3.7 million inhabitants make it the European Union's most populous city, according to population within city limits. One of Germany's sixteen constitue ...

on 21 November 2022, at the age of 81.

Honours

Vorwärts Berlin *

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 ...

: 1960, 1962, 1965, 1966, 1969 *

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 ...

: 1970

References

External links

* * 1941 births 2022 deaths Footballers from Berlin German men's footballers German journalists German male journalists German male writers East German men's footballers East Germany men's international footballers Men's association football midfielders Olympic footballers for the United Team of Germany Olympic bronze medalists for the United Team of Germany Olympic medalists in football Footballers at the 1964 Summer Olympics Medalists at the 1964 Summer Olympics 1. FC Frankfurt players DDR-Oberliga players {{Germany-Olympic-medalist-stub