Rüdiger Abramczik (born 18 February 1956) is a former 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 and coach, best known for his ability to cross the ball (''"Flankengott"'').

Club career

Abramczik was born in

Gelsenkirchen Gelsenkirchen (, , ; wep, Gelsenkiärken) is the 25th most populous city of Germany and the 11th most populous in the state of North Rhine-Westphalia with 262,528 (2016) inhabitants. On the Emscher River (a tributary of the Rhine), it lies ...

-Erle. He, whose younger brother Volker later became also a professional footballer for

FC Schalke 04 Fußballclub Gelsenkirchen-Schalke 04 e. V., commonly known as FC Schalke 04 (), Schalke 04 (), or abbreviated as S04 (), is a professional German football and multi-sports club originally from the Schalke district of Gelsenkirchen, North Rhi ...

, joined the ranks of the city's biggest club, Schalke 04, from native SV Erle 08 at the age of ten after former German international

Bernhard Klodt Bernhard "Berni" Klodt (26 October 1926 – 23 May 1996) was a German football player. He was born in Gelsenkirchen-Bismarck; the goalkeeper Hans Klodt was his brother. Football career In his club career, Klodt played mainly for FC Schalke 04 ...

spotted him. Schalke's former

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 ...

player

Friedel Rausch Friedel Rausch (27 February 1940 – 18 November 2017) was a German football player and manager. As a manager, he won with FC Luzern the Swiss championship in 1989 and the cup in 1992, thereby becoming the most successful manager in the club's h ...

was partly coaching him in the youth of Schalke then, getting impressed by his unique mobility and pace. It was Rausch who warmly recommended young ''Abi'' to Schalke's manager Ivica Horvath, feeling the schoolboy international (23 caps) could already do a job on the highest level. For the kick-off of the 1973–74 Bundesliga season, FC Schalke 04 travelled to

VfB Stuttgart Verein für Bewegungsspiele Stuttgart 1893 e. V., commonly known as VfB Stuttgart (), is a German sports club based in Stuttgart, Baden-Württemberg. The club's football team is currently part of Germany's first division, the Bundesliga. VfB Stu ...

to see Horvath handing him a starting role. Schalke lost, with Stuttgart's

Hermann Ohlicher Hermann Ohlicher (born 2 November 1949 in Bräunlingen) is a retired German football player. He spent ten seasons in the Bundesliga with VfB Stuttgart, playing 318 matches in the West German top-flight. Honours ;VfB Stuttgart * Bundesliga ...

's hat-trick the only goals in the game, but Abramczik's appearance on that 11 August made him the youngest ever player used on Bundesliga level at that time. Making fourteen appearances in his Bundesliga debut season, he went on to become a key player for his club in less than three years, netting ten goals for Schalke in 1976–77, when they finished runner-up behind

Borussia Mönchengladbach Borussia Verein für Leibesübungen 1900 e. V. Mönchengladbach, commonly known as Borussia Mönchengladbach (), Mönchengladbach () or Gladbach (; abbreviated as Borussia MG, BMG), is a professional Association football, football club based in ...

. The yield of ten goals scored by the then 20-year-old Abramczik remained the best effort of a young Bundesliga player until

Lukas Podolski Lukas Josef Podolski (; born Łukasz Józef Podolski, , on 4 June 1985) is a German professional footballer who plays as a forward for Ekstraklasa club Górnik Zabrze. Known for his powerful and accurate left foot, he is known for his explosive ...

hit ten for 1. FC Köln as an eighteen-year-old in 2003–04. Joining FC Schalke 04's bitter arch-rival

Borussia Dortmund Ballspielverein Borussia 09 e. V. Dortmund, commonly known as Borussia Dortmund (), BVB (), or simply Dortmund (), is a German professional sports club based in Dortmund, North Rhine-Westphalia. It is best known for its men's professional footb ...

at the end of the 1979–80 season, Abramczik's days in Dortmund lasted until he joined 1. FC Nürnberg in 1983. That worked out to be a disastrous career move for the Gelsenkirchen-born, his new club was relegated from

with him getting suspended by the club for committing misconduct. He then showed up for Galatasaray Istanbul under

Jupp Derwall Josef "Jupp" Derwall (10 March 1927 – 26 June 2007) was a German professional football manager and player. He was head coach of the West Germany national team between 1978 and 1984, winning the UEFA Euro 1980 and reaching the final of the 1982 ...

and had a spell with

Rot-Weiß Oberhausen Rot-Weiß Oberhausen is a German association football club in Oberhausen, North Rhine-Westphalia. The club was formed as ''Oberhausener SV'' in December 1904 out of the merger of ''Emschertaler SV'' (1902) and the football enthusiasts of ''Oberh ...

in the 2. Bundesliga before heading back to hometown club FC Schalke 04 in October 1987. Coming to action in four further Bundesliga matches in the space of five weeks for them, a campaign in which Schalke was chanceless to avoid the drop to 2. Bundesliga, Abramczik decided to retire from the professional game to go on playing on amateur level for

Wormatia Worms VfR Wormatia 08 Worms is a German association football club that plays in Worms, Rhineland-Palatinate. The club and its historical predecessors were regular participants in regional first-division football competition until the formation of the ...

and

FC Gütersloh FC may refer to: Businesses, organisations, and schools * Fergusson College, a science and arts college in Pune, India * Finncomm Airlines (IATA code) * FranklinCovey company, NYSE stock symbol FC * Frontier Corps, a paramilitary force in Pakis ...

International career

Köln's Müngersdorfer Stadion witnessed Rüdiger Abramczik's Germany debut when the side of

Helmut Schön Helmut Schön (15 September 1915 – 23 February 1996) was a German football player and manager. He is best remembered for his exceptional career as manager of the West German national team in four consecutive World Cup tournaments, including ...

beat

Northern Ireland Northern Ireland ( ga, Tuaisceart Éireann ; sco, label= Ulster-Scots, Norlin Airlann) is a part of the United Kingdom, situated in the north-east of the island of Ireland, that is variously described as a country, province or region. Nort ...

(5–0) on 27 April 1977. Abramczik, who was forming a formidable striker duo with

Klaus Fischer Klaus Fischer (born 27 December 1949) is a German former professional footballer and coach. He was a key player on the West Germany national team that lost the 1982 World Cup final to Italy. As a forward, he was noted for his bicycle kicks, and ...

for Schalke at that time, was called up further by Schön and with the

1978 FIFA World Cup The 1978 FIFA World Cup was the 11th edition of the FIFA World Cup, a quadrennial international football world championship tournament among the men's senior national teams. It was held in Argentina between 1 and 25 June. The Cup was won by t ...

at stage, Abramczik enjoyed his taking part in it for the defending champion. Tipped to be a delight for Germany, failing to produce greater consistency in his game appeared to be the bar to his further proceedings in ''Die Nationalmannschaft''. His life as a German international lasted for only nineteen caps in between 1977 and 1979, with a 3–1 win against Malta at

Gżira Gżira ( mt, Il-Gżira) is a town in the Central Region of Malta. It is located between Msida and Sliema, also bordering on Ta' Xbiex. It has a population of 8,029 as of March 2014. The word ''Gżira'' means "island" in Maltese, and the ...

his last

international cap In sport, a cap is a player's appearance in a game at international level. The term dates from the practice in the United Kingdom of awarding a cap to every player in an international match of rugby football and association football. In the ea ...

, an abrupt end furthered by a voiced conflict with then DFB president

Hermann Neuberger Hermann Neuberger (12 December 1919 – 27 September 1992) was the seventh president of the German Football Association (''Deutscher Fußball-Bund'', DFB) from 1975 until his death in office in 1992. Career Neuberger, son of two teachers, gre ...

Coaching career

Abramczik's career in coaching was caused by his decision to work as assistant-manager of

Peter Neururer Peter Neururer (born 26 April 1955) is a German professional football manager, notable for coaching a number of Bundesliga clubs. Managerial career Neururer had a minor playing career in the lower leagues before moving into coaching at TuS Hal ...

at 1. FC Saarbrücken when he run a dyeworks shop in

. A year later, Saarbrücken appointed him Neururer's successor in 1992. He managed

Antalyaspor Antalyaspor Kulübü is a Turkish professional football club located in the city of Antalya. The club's colours are red and white. They play their home matches at the Antalya Stadium. In Turkey, the club won the First League twice in 1982 and 1 ...

from 1999 to 2000.

Career statistics

:''Scores and results list West Germany's goal tally first, score column indicates score after each Abramczik goal.''

References

External links

* * * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Abramczik, Ruediger 1956 births Living people German footballers Germany international footballers Germany B international footballers West German footballers West German expatriate footballers German expatriate footballers German football managers FC Schalke 04 players Borussia Dortmund players 1. FC Nürnberg players Galatasaray S.K. footballers Süper Lig players Rot-Weiß Oberhausen players 1978 FIFA World Cup players Bundesliga players 2. Bundesliga players Sportspeople from Gelsenkirchen PFC Levski Sofia managers FC Gütersloh 2000 players Expatriate footballers in Turkey German expatriate football managers Expatriate football managers in Austria Expatriate football managers in Bulgaria Expatriate football managers in Latvia Expatriate football managers in Turkey 1. FC Saarbrücken managers Antalyaspor managers FC Kärnten managers FK Liepājas Metalurgs managers Wormatia Worms players Biography articles needing translation from German Wikipedia Sports articles needing translation from German Wikipedia Association football forwards Footballers from North Rhine-Westphalia