Heinz Strehl (20 July 1938 – 11 August 1986) was a German

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 ...

who played as a forward.

Career

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 ...

title-winner with 1. FC Nürnberg in 1968, Heinz Strehl was one of the proven goalscorers in West Germany in the 1960s and able to cap his

West Germany 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 ...

debut against

Yugoslavia Yugoslavia (; sh-Latn-Cyrl, separator=" / ", Jugoslavija, Југославија ; sl, Jugoslavija ; mk, Југославија ;; rup, Iugoslavia; hu, Jugoszlávia; rue, label=Pannonian Rusyn, Югославия, translit=Juhoslavija ...

on 30 September 1962, with a

hat-trick A hat-trick or hat trick is the achievement of a generally positive feat three times in a match, or another achievement based on the number three. Origin The term first appeared in 1858 in cricket, to describe H. H. Stephenson taking three wic ...

in between the 23rd and the 62nd minute. An effort that still lists Strehl among the fastest fifteen hat-trick outputs in the West Germany national team's football history. Thanks to Strehl's goals West Germany came out 3–2 winner in

Zagreb Zagreb ( , , , ) is the capital and largest city of Croatia. It is in the northwest of the country, along the Sava river, at the southern slopes of the Medvednica mountain. Zagreb stands near the international border between Croatia and Slov ...

that day. Beforehand, Strehl had already been part of

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 ...

's squad at the

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 be ...

, not making any appearance. He added a fourth goal to his West German tally in spring 1965 against

Cyprus Cyprus ; tr, Kıbrıs (), officially the Republic of Cyprus,, , lit: Republic of Cyprus is an island country located south of the Anatolian Peninsula in the eastern Mediterranean Sea. Its continental position is disputed; while it is ge ...

(5–0) in a World Cup qualifier that remained his final match for

. Nominally a centre forward, Strehl's international career was hindered by

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 ...

, who played in the same position, which meant that Strehl would only get first team action when Seeler was not available. As a player, he was resilient and great at heading but also technically sound. Often he was used as an

inside forward Forwards (also known as attackers) are outfield positions in an association football team who play the furthest up the pitch and are therefore most responsible for scoring goals as well as assisting them. As with any attacking player, the role ...

due to his good passing skills and vision. Apart from winning the

in 1968, Strehl also won the West German football championship in 1961 and the West German Cup in 1962. After suffering a meniscus injury in 1970, Strehl retired from professional football. He continued to act as a player manager for FC Schwaig until 1973. Aged 48, Heinz Strehl died on 11 August 1986, of heart failure.

Trivia

* Strehl's 76 goals in the Bundesliga for 1. FC Nürnberg are still the most goals scored by an individual player of 1. FC Nürnberg in their Bundesliga history.

References

External links

Heinz Strehl
at glubberer.de 1938 births 1986 deaths German footballers Association football forwards Germany international footballers Bundesliga players 1. FC Nürnberg players 1962 FIFA World Cup players UEFA Champions League top scorers {{germany-footy-forward-1930s-stub