Klaus Urbanczyk (born 4 June 1940 in Halle (Saale)), nicknamed Banne, is a former

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 ...

football player and manager. Urbanczyk began his football career at Turbine Halle in 1948. Beginning in 1960, he played for the team, which was renamed Chemie Halle and later Hallescher FC Chemie – in the DDR-Oberliga. His first Oberliga match was against Wismut Karl-Marx-Stadt on 20 March 1960, as a right midfielder. During his career, however, he transitioned to play the position of right defender. He appeared in 250 East German top flight matches (12 goals). At the beginning of the 1960s, Urbanczyk was believed to be one of the best right defenders in the world, on account of his speed and his slide-tackling skills. He played for East Germany between 1961 and 1969. In a survey among managers of the magazine "

Deutsches Sportecho ''Deutsches Sportecho'' was an East German daily sports newspaper of the Deutscher Turn- und Sportbund (DTSB). History ''Deutsches Sportecho'' was first published on 5 May 1947. The paper had a circulation of 185,000 copies. The paper sponsored ...

", Urbanczyk was voted the best right defender of the 1962–63 season. At the

Olympic Games The modern Olympic Games or Olympics (french: link=no, Jeux olympiques) are the leading international sporting events featuring summer and winter sports competitions in which thousands of athletes from around the world participate in a vari ...

Tokyo Tokyo (; ja, 東京, , ), officially the Tokyo Metropolis ( ja, 東京都, label=none, ), is the capital and List of cities in Japan, largest city of Japan. Formerly known as Edo, its metropolitan area () is the most populous in the world, ...

in 1964, Urbanczyk's popularity rose further. He was one of the key figures of East Germany's team (representing the

United Team of Germany The United Team of Germany (german: Gesamtdeutsche Mannschaft) was a combined team of athletes from West Germany and East Germany that competed in the 1956, 1960 and 1964 Winter and Summer Olympic Games. In 1956, the team also included athletes f ...

) that reached the semi-final of the tournament. In the semi-final against the

Czechoslovakia , rue, Чеськословеньско, , yi, טשעכאסלאוואקיי, , common_name = Czechoslovakia , life_span = 1918–19391945–1992 , p1 = Austria-Hungary , image_p1 ...

, Urbanczyk collided with his own goalkeeper Jürgen Heinsch and suffered a complicated knee injury, including torn cruciates. East Germany lost the semi-final, but won the bronze medal against

Egypt Egypt ( ar, مصر , ), officially the Arab Republic of Egypt, is a transcontinental country spanning the northeast corner of Africa and southwest corner of Asia via a land bridge formed by the Sinai Peninsula. It is bordered by the Medit ...

. In the same year, Urbanczyk won the East German Sportsperson of the Year award – the only time that a footballer was given an individual award. Urbanczyk also won the East German Footballer of the Year award in 1964. In 1971, Urbanczyk was part of the HFC Chemie team that were involved in the Hotel 't Silveren Seepaerd fire while staying in Eindhoven for a

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 ...

tie. Urbanczyk rescued several people and suffered severe injuries. After ending his active career due to his injuries sustained in the fire, Urbanczyk enjoyed success managing several Oberliga clubs, starting at HFC Chemie, then

FC Rot-Weiß Erfurt FC Rot-Weiß Erfurt is a German association football club based in Erfurt, Thuringia. History Foundation to World War II The club has roots that go back to a cricket club founded in 1895. As they broadened their interests they came to be calle ...

. From 1976 to 1982 he was manager of 1. FC Magdeburg, winning the FDGB-Pokal in 1978 and 1979. His team was represented in the European competitions in every season, reaching the quarter-finals three times. After managing several other clubs, he returned to his home club in 1992, now called Hallescher FC, to manage them until 1994. Later, he enjoyed a small measure of success at FSV Lok Altmark Stendal who he guided to 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 ...

quarter-final in 1995.

Personal life

Klaus Urbanczyk is married and the father of two daughters.

References

External links

Klaus Urbancyzk's
national team games at dfb.de * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Urbanczyk, Klaus 1940 births Living people People from the Province of Saxony Sportspeople from Halle (Saale) Footballers from Saxony-Anhalt German footballers German football managers East German footballers East German football managers East Germany international footballers Olympic footballers of 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 DDR-Oberliga players Hallescher FC players 1. FC Magdeburg managers Association football defenders Recipients of the Patriotic Order of Merit in bronze People from Bezirk Halle