Wolfgang Solz (12 February 1940 – 24 March 2017) was a German professional

footballer A football player or footballer is a sportsperson who plays one of the different types of football. The main types of football are association football, American football, Canadian football, Australian rules football, Gaelic football, rugby le ...

who played as a winger.

Club career

Eintracht Frankfurt

The youth internationalist moved from Union Niederrad to Eintracht Frankfurt in 1958. The first season he had to spend in the youth team due to transfer regulations. From the 1959–60 campaign on, Solz was an Oberliga team member. On 6 December 1959, he debuted as left winger against

SSV Reutlingen SSV Reutlingen 05 is a German association football club from Reutlingen, Baden-Württemberg. History The club was founded as FC Arminia Reutlingen and was renamed SV Reutlingen 1905 in 1910. The club fused with 1. Schwimmverein 1911 to form the ...

. For the European Cup final match in Glasgow against

Real Madrid Real Madrid Club de Fútbol (, meaning ''Royal Madrid Football Club''), commonly referred to as Real Madrid, is a Spanish professional football club based in Madrid. Founded in 1902 as Madrid Football Club, the club has traditionally wor ...

on 18 May 1960 he was benched. Because of his excellent technique he was called "Brasilianer", ''Brazilian''. From 1959 until 1963 he appeared in 69 Oberliga matches, netting 17 goals and contributed to the runner-up titles in 1961 and 1962 in the Oberliga Süd. In the 1963 founded

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 ...

he gathered 46 goals in 113 matches. In the

Inter-Cities Fairs Cup The Inter-Cities Fairs Cup, sometimes referred to as the European Fairs Cup, Fairs Cities' Cup, or simply as the Fairs Cup, was a European Association football, football competition played between 1955 and 1971. It is often considered the predecess ...

, Solz experienced international flair in 1964–65 and 1966–67. His last Bundesliga appearance was a 0–0 draw at

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 Rhine ...

on 25 May 1968.

Darmstadt 98

After his departure from Eintracht Frankfurt, Solz signed at

Darmstadt 98 Sportverein Darmstadt 1898 e.V., commonly known as Darmstadt 98 (), is a German football club based in Darmstadt, Hesse. The club was founded on 22 May 1898 as FC Olympia Darmstadt. Early in 1919, the association was briefly known as ''Rasen-Sp ...

where he stayed from 1968 until 1971. The first two rounds in the Regionalliga Süd as a player Spieler, the 1970–71 season as a

player-manager A player-coach (also playing coach, captain-coach, or player-manager) is a member of a sports team who simultaneously holds both playing and coaching duties. A player-coach may be a head coach or an assistant coach. They may make changes to the sq ...

in the amateur league Hessen. He won the championship with the ''Lilies'', leading them back to the Regionalliga.

SpVgg Bad Homburg

As 33-year-old player-manager, Solz won the German amateur championship with

SpVgg Bad Homburg The SpVgg Bad Homburg is a German association football club from the town of Bad Homburg vor der Höhe, Hesse. The club's greatest success came in 1973 when it won the German amateur football championship, but it also reached the final of this c ...

against the 1. FC Kaiserslautern amateurs on 30 June 1973.

International career

Solz gained his first cap in the pre- Bundesliga time. On 24 October 1962, the winger played together with the ones of

Uwe Seeler Uwe Seeler (; 5 November 1936 – 21 July 2022) was a German footballer and football official. As a striker, he was a prolific scorer for Hamburger SV and also made 72 appearances for the West Germany national team. Widely regarded as one of t ...

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and

Friedhelm Konietzka Friedhelm "Timo" Konietzka (2 August 1938 – 12 March 2012) was a German professional association football, football player and manager who played as a striker (association football), striker. He earned his nickname "Timo" due to a suppose ...

in Stuttgart against

France France (), officially the French Republic ( ), is a country primarily located in Western Europe. It also comprises of Overseas France, overseas regions and territories in the Americas and the Atlantic Ocean, Atlantic, Pacific Ocean, Pac ...

when the match ended 2–2. After

1962 FIFA World Cup The 1962 FIFA World Cup was the seventh edition of the FIFA World Cup, the quadrennial international football championship for senior men's national teams. It was held from 30 May to 17 June 1962 in Chile. The qualification rounds took place bet ...

in Chile, Bundestrainer

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 Mirac ...

had to re-build the team and the 22-year-old Frankfurt native received the chance to play for Germany. His second match for the national team was on 29 April 1964 in Ludwigshafen at the 4–3 loss against

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

. He formed the left wing together with

Wolfgang Overath Wolfgang Overath (born 29 September 1943) is a former West German footballer. A true one-club man, Overath spent his entire professional career at 1. FC Köln. He represented his country three times in World Cup finals, culminating in 1974 wit ...

but was not capped again. In acceleration he was not an excessively pacy winger and on the playmaker position

Helmut Haller Helmut Haller (; 21 July 1939 – 11 October 2012) was a German footballer who played as a forward. At international level, he represented West Germany at three World Cups. At club level, he played in both Germany and Italy, and won Italian le ...

, Wolfgang Overath and

Günter Netzer Günter Theodor Netzer (born 14 September 1944) is a German former professional football player, executive and pundit. He achieved great success in Germany with Borussia Mönchengladbach in the early 1970s and, after moving to Spain in 1973, wit ...

could not be pushed away.

Managerial career

After eleven honours won in the amateur tiers, he retired his manager career

FSV Frankfurt Fußballsportverein Frankfurt 1899 e.V., commonly known as simply FSV Frankfurt, is a German association football club based in the Bornheim district of Frankfurt am Main, Hesse and founded in 1899. FSV Frankfurt also fielded a rather successfu ...

in 1989. He had a reputation as a sound manager and had some success with

Viktoria Aschaffenburg SV Viktoria 01 Aschaffenburg is a German football club based in Aschaffenburg, Bavaria. Even though Aschaffenburg is located in Bavaria, Viktoria Aschaffenburg historically played its football in the Hessenliga (V) and the associated Hessian le ...

VfR Bürstadt VfR Bürstadt is a Football in Germany, German association football club playing out of Bürstadt, Hesse. The team was founded 1 February 1910 as SC 1910 Bürstadt and took on the name VfR on 23 August 1919. Between 1973 and 1983 they played as ...

, FC Erbach,

RW Frankfurt SG Rot-Weiss Frankfurt 01 is a German association football club from Frankfurt am Main. The association was founded on 11 November 1901 as FV Amicitia 1901 Bockenheim in what is today the city district of Bockenheim. History Early years The Fr ...

Borussia Fulda Borussia Fulda is a German association football club from Fulda, Hesse. The club was founded 4 July 1904 as ''FC Borussia 1904 Fulda'' and underwent a number of changes in 1923 when they were first joined by ''Radsportclub 1907 Fulda'' in July, ...

und Hanau 93.

Later life

The former bureau employee founded an insurance agency in Frankfurt.

Honours

European Cup The UEFA Champions League (abbreviated as UCL, or sometimes, UEFA CL) is an annual club football competition organised by the Union of European Football Associations (UEFA) and contested by top-division European clubs, deciding the competit ...

: runners-up 1959–60 *

Oberliga Süd 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 ...

: runners-up 1960–61, 1961–62 *

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 ...

: runners-up 1963–64 *

UEFA Intertoto Cup The UEFA Intertoto Cup (from la, Inter, 'between' + german: toto, 'betting pool'),Most precisely, from (football pool); cf. often abbreviated and more known in the German-speaking world as UI Cup and originally called the International Foot ...

: 1966–67

External links

Wolfgang Solz at eintracht-archiv.de
{{DEFAULTSORT:Solz, Wolfgang 1940 births 2017 deaths German men's footballers Footballers from Frankfurt Men's association football wingers Germany men's international footballers Bundesliga players Eintracht Frankfurt players German football managers Viktoria Aschaffenburg managers