Friedhelm "Timo" Konietzka (2 August 1938 – 12 March 2012) was a German professional

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 manager who played as a striker. He earned his nickname "Timo" due to a supposed resemblance to the

Soviet The Soviet Union,. officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR),. was a List of former transcontinental countries#Since 1700, transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 to 1991. A flagship communist state, ...

commander

Semyon Timoshenko Semyon Konstantinovich Timoshenko (russian: link=no, Семён Константи́нович Тимоше́нко, ''Semyon Konstantinovich Timoshenko''; uk, Семе́н Костянти́нович Тимоше́нко, ''Semen Kostiantyno ...

Biography

Konietzka was born in

Lünen Lünen is a town in North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany. It is located north of Dortmund, on both banks of the River Lippe. It is the largest town of the Unna district and part of the Ruhr Area. In 2009 a biogas plant was built to provide electric p ...

Province of Westphalia The Province of Westphalia () was a province of the Kingdom of Prussia and the Free State of Prussia from 1815 to 1946. In turn, Prussia was the largest component state of the German Empire from 1871 to 1918, of the Weimar Republic and from 1918 ...

, and started his football career at his hometown club VfB 08 Lünen. In his youth (for five years since the age of 14) he worked in a coal mine.

Max Merkel Max Merkel (7 December 1918 – 28 November 2006) was an Austrian footballer who played international football for both Germany and Austria as a defender. At club level, he played for Rapid Wien, Wiener SC, and Luftwaffen SV Markersdorf. Manag ...

, coach of

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 that time, discovered his talent when Konietzka was 20 and included him in the Dortmund squad. Together with fellow striker Jürgen Schütz, he formed the most dangerous attack of the

Oberliga West Oberliga ( en, Premier league) may refer to: Association football * Oberliga (football), currently the fifth tier of the German football league system, formerly the first * DDR-Oberliga, the first tier of football in East Germany until 1990, re ...

. Konietzka played a total of 100

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 ...

matches for Borussia Dortmund and

TSV 1860 Munich , commonly known as TSV 1860 München (; lettered as ) or 1860 Munich, is a sports club based in Munich. The club's football team currently plays in the 3. Liga, the third tier of German football. 1860 Munich was one of the founding members o ...

and scored 72 goals, being the second best scorer of the league from 1964–1966 in the process. He was also capped nine times (three goals) for

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, and the most populous member state of the European Union. Germany is situated betwe ...

between 1962 and 1965. Despite Konietzka's fine goalscoring record in the German league, German national team manager

Sepp Herberger Josef "Sepp" Herberger (28 March 1897 – 28 April 1977) was a German football player and manager. He is most famous for being the manager of the West German national team that won the 1954 FIFA World Cup final, a match later dubbed '' The Mir ...

thought of him as too inconsistent, which could be one of the reasons Konietzka never featured regularly for the national side. He won the German championship with Dortmund against 1. FC Köln in the last final before the introduction of the Bundesliga in 1963. Konietzka earned his place in football history books when he scored the very first goal of the newly founded Bundesliga in the first minute of a match between

Werder Bremen Sportverein Werder Bremen von 1899 e. V. (), commonly known as Werder Bremen (), Werder or simply Bremen, is a German professional sports club based in Bremen, Bremen (state), Free Hanseatic City of Bremen. Founded on 4 February 1899, they are be ...

and Borussia Dortmund on 24 August 1963 (at 16:59 German time, as the game had started slightly earlier than scheduled). His biggest successes as a player were a

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 considere ...

title with Dortmund in 1965 and championship titles with Dortmund in 1963 and TSV 1860 Munich in 1966. His coaching career included stints with Borussia Dortmund,

Bayer Uerdingen KFC Uerdingen 05 is a German football club in the Uerdingen district of the city of Krefeld, North Rhine-Westphalia. The former Bundesliga side enjoyed its greatest successes in the 1980s but now plays in the fifth-level Oberliga. History The ...

FC Zürich Fussballclub Zürich, commonly abbreviated to FC Zürich or simply FCZ, is a Swiss football club based in Zürich. The club was founded in 1896 and has won the Swiss Super League 13 times and the Swiss Cup 10 times. The most recent titles a ...

BSC Young Boys BSC Young Boys (YB by short abbreviation ) are a Swiss sports club based in Bern, Switzerland. Its first team has won 15 Swiss league championships and six Swiss Cups. YB is one of the most successful Swiss football clubs internationally, reac ...

and

Grasshopper Club Zürich Grasshopper Club Zürich, commonly referred to as simply GC, GCZ, or Grasshoppers, is a multisports club based in Zürich, Switzerland. The oldest and best known department of the club is its football team. With 27 titles, Grasshopper holds the ...

. He won three Swiss championships with FC Zürich between 1974 and 1976 and reached the semi-final of the

1976–77 European Cup The 1976–77 season of the European Cup football club tournament was won for the first time by Liverpool in the final against Borussia Mönchengladbach. Three-time defending champions Bayern Munich were knocked out by Dynamo Kyiv in the quarter-f ...

, where his Zürich side was knocked out by English champions

Liverpool Liverpool is a city and metropolitan borough in Merseyside, England. With a population of in 2019, it is the 10th largest English district by population and its metropolitan area is the fifth largest in the United Kingdom, with a popul ...

. As coach of BSC Young Boys he twice reached the final of the

Swiss Cup The Swiss Cup (; ; ; ) is a football cup tournament that has been organised annually since 1925–26 by the Swiss Football Association. Since 1999 the winner earns the chance to qualify for the UEFA Europa League or the UEFA Europa Conference L ...

between 1978 and 1980. Konietzka's wife is named Claudia. He took Swiss citizenship in 1988. With help of

euthanasia Euthanasia (from el, εὐθανασία 'good death': εὖ, ''eu'' 'well, good' + θάνατος, ''thanatos'' 'death') is the practice of intentionally ending life to eliminate pain and suffering. Different countries have different eut ...

-organisation

Exit International Exit International is an international non-profit organisation advocating legalisation of voluntary euthanasia and assisted suicide. It was previously known as the ''Voluntary Euthanasia Research Foundation'' (VERF Inc.). Exit International ...

, he chose to end his life at the age of 73 in

Brunnen Brunnen is a resort on Lake Lucerne in Switzerland, part of the municipality Ingenbohl (Canton of Schwyz), at . Brunnen railway station, on the Gotthard railway, is served by hourly InterRegio trains, and by lines S2 of the Stadtbahn Zug, whi ...

Canton of Schwyz The canton of Schwyz (german: Kanton Schwyz rm, Chantun Sviz; french: Canton de Schwytz; it, Canton Svitto) is a canton in central Switzerland between the Alps in the south, Lake Lucerne to the west and Lake Zürich in the north, centred on ...

. He had been suffering from cancer prior to his death on 12 March 2012.

Honours

Player

Borussia Dortmund * West German champions:

1963 Events January * January 1 – Bogle–Chandler case: Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation scientist Dr. Gilbert Bogle and Mrs. Margaret Chandler are found dead (presumed poisoned), in bushland near the Lane Cov ...

: 1964–65 1860 Munich *

: 1965–66

Manager

FC Zürich * Nationalliga A: 1973–74, 1974–75, 1975–76 Grasshoppers * Nationalliga A: 1981–82

References

External links

* * *
Interview with German weekly magazine Stern
* {{DEFAULTSORT:Konietzka, Friedhelm 1938 births 2012 suicides People from Lünen Sportspeople from Arnsberg (region) German emigrants to Switzerland German footballers German football managers Germany international footballers German expatriate sportspeople in Switzerland People from the Province of Westphalia Bundesliga players Borussia Dortmund players TSV 1860 Munich players FC Winterthur players FC Zürich managers BSC Young Boys managers KSV Hessen Kassel managers Borussia Dortmund managers Grasshopper Club Zürich managers FC Luzern managers Bundesliga managers Deaths by euthanasia Suicides in Switzerland KFC Uerdingen 05 managers Association football forwards Footballers from North Rhine-Westphalia