Heinz Kubsch (20 July 1930, Essen – 24 October 1993) was a German football

goalkeeper In many team sports which involve scoring goals, the goalkeeper (sometimes termed goaltender, netminder, GK, goalie or keeper) is a designated player charged with directly preventing the opposing team from scoring by blocking or intercepting o ...

. He was part of the

West German West Germany is the colloquial term used to indicate the Federal Republic of Germany (FRG; german: Bundesrepublik Deutschland , BRD) between its formation on 23 May 1949 and the German reunification through the accession of East Germany on 3 O ...

team that won the

1954 FIFA World Cup The 1954 FIFA World Cup was the fifth edition of the FIFA World Cup, the quadrennial international football tournament for senior men's national teams of the nations affiliated to FIFA. It was held in Switzerland from 16 June to 4 July. Switzer ...

. In total he earned three caps for West Germany. During his club career he played for

FK Pirmasens FK Pirmasens is a German association football club in Pirmasens, Rhineland-Palatinate. The team was formed as the football section of the gymnastics and sports club TV Pirminia Pirmasens in 1903 and became independent in 1914. They took on thei ...

. During the

, Kubsch almost became the starter of the

German German(s) may refer to: * Germany (of or related to) ** Germania (historical use) * Germans, citizens of Germany, people of German ancestry, or native speakers of the German language ** For citizens of Germany, see also German nationality law **Ge ...

team. The standard

Toni Turek had shown some weaknesses in the first game against

Turkey Turkey ( tr, Türkiye ), officially the Republic of Türkiye ( tr, Türkiye Cumhuriyeti, links=no ), is a transcontinental country located mainly on the Anatolian Peninsula in Western Asia, with a small portion on the Balkan Peninsula in ...

and the second goalkeeper Heinrich Kwiatkowski had conceded eight goals in the game against

Hungary Hungary ( hu, Magyarország ) is a landlocked country in Central Europe. Spanning of the Pannonian Basin, Carpathian Basin, it is bordered by Slovakia to the north, Ukraine to the northeast, Romania to the east and southeast, Serbia to the ...

, which made

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 ...

consider giving Kubsch a chance in the second game against

. However Kubsch got injured between matchdays after a boat trip. Kubsch stumbled badly and injured his shoulder on a concrete staircase, which impeded any chance of Kubsch getting a chance to start. As a

, Kubsch was very agile and showed fast reactions on the goalline. When he debuted in 1948 at the age of 17, he became the youngest goalkeeper in the Oberliga. He ended his career in April 1961 after having played in 222 Oberliga games.

References

1930 births 1993 deaths Footballers from Essen German men's footballers Germany men's international footballers Men's association football goalkeepers 1954 FIFA World Cup players FIFA World Cup-winning players FK Pirmasens players West German men's footballers {{Germany-footy-goalkeeper-stub