Maurice "Mucki" Banach (9 October 1967 – 17 November 1991) was a German professional footballer who played as a forward.

Career

Born in Münster, Banach was the son of a German seaman and an American GI. During his youth career he played for SC Preußen Münster, but he later transferred to the youth team of Borussia Dortmund, until, at seventeen, he signed his first professional contract. Until 1988 he played 14 games for Borussia, scoring two goals. In the summer of 1988, Banach transferred to the second tier team SG Wattenscheid 09. In 1990, he was the highest scorer in the league – with 22 goals. This attracted attention from

1. FC Köln 1. Fußball-Club Köln 01/07 e. V., commonly known as simply FC Köln () or FC Cologne in English, is a German professional football club based in Cologne in North Rhine-Westphalia. It was formed in 1948 as a merger of the clubs ''Kölner Ballspi ...

, to whom he moved in the summer of 1990, playing until the end of 1991. His last two of overall 26 Bundesliga goals came in a 4–1 victory against Fortuna Düsseldorf on 9 November 1991. One week later, he played in his final game against Schalke 04, which his team lost 3–0.

Death

The morning after this match Banach was killed in a car crash on the Autobahn near Remscheid. In the struggles after his death, the team, family and friends were supported by the "FC pastor" Heinz Baumann, who also held the funeral service.

Honors

1. FC Köln * DFB-Pokal: runner-up 1990–91

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Banach, Maurice 1967 births 1991 deaths Sportspeople from Münster German footballers German people of American descent Germany under-21 international footballers Association football forwards Borussia Dortmund players Borussia Dortmund II players SG Wattenscheid 09 players 1. FC Köln players Bundesliga players 2. Bundesliga players Road incident deaths in Germany Footballers from North Rhine-Westphalia