Horst "Schimmi" Szymaniak (29 August 1934 – 9 October 2009) 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, rugb ...

who played as a

midfielder A midfielder is an outfield position in association football. Midfielders may play an exclusively defensive role, breaking up attacks, and are in that case known as defensive midfielders. As central midfielders often go across boundarie ...

Club career

Szymaniak was born in

Oer-Erkenschwick Oer-Erkenschwick is a town in the district of Recklinghausen, in North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany. It is situated approximately 5 km north-east of Recklinghausen, on the northern periphery of the '' Ruhrgebiet''. When pronouncing the name, “ ...

. The clubs he played for include:

SpVgg Erkenschwick SpVgg Erkenschwick is a German football club based in Oer-Erkenschwick in North Rhine-Westphalia. History Founded as ''Sportverein Erkenschwick'' in 1916, they joined ''Emscher-Lippe-Spielverband'' to form ''Sportfreunde Erkenschwick'' in 19 ...

Wuppertaler SV Wuppertaler SV is a German association football club located in Wuppertal, North Rhine-Westphalia. The city was founded in 1929 out of the union of a number of smaller towns including Elberfeld, Barmen, Vohwinkel, Cronenberg and Ronsdorf – e ...

Karlsruher SC Karlsruher SC is a German association football club, based in Karlsruhe, Baden-Württemberg that currently plays in the 2. Bundesliga, the second tier of German football. Domestically, the club was crowned German champion in 1909, and won the ...

Calcio Catania Catania S.S.D., commonly known as Catania, is an Italian football club based in the city of Catania, Sicily, that plays in . Originally founded in 1908 as ''Associazione Sportiva pro Educazione Fisica'', the club boasts 17 appearances in the ...

F.C. Internazionale Milano Football Club Internazionale Milano, commonly referred to as Internazionale () or simply Inter, and colloquially known as Inter Milan in English-speaking countries, is an Italian professional football club based in Milan, Lombardy. Inter is ...

, A.S. Varese 1910, and

Tasmania 1900 Berlin SC Tasmania 1900 Berlin was a German football club based in the Berlin district of Neukölln. History The club was founded as ''Rixdorfer TuFC Tasmania 1900'' on 2 June 1900. It is believed the founders of the club were about to migrate to ...

for whom he played in the 1965–66 season, the side's only season in the

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 footb ...

. Szymaniak was a

defensive midfielder A midfielder is an outfield position in association football. Midfielders may play an exclusively defensive role, breaking up attacks, and are in that case known as defensive midfielders. As central midfielders often go across boundari ...

who usually played as a left half back and less frequently 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 ...

. He had very good ball skills, had good vision and was able to make unerringly accurate long passes to a teammate. He was renowned for his slide tackling ability, so much so this became his trademark ability. He was renowned as one of the best players in German football during the late 1950s and early 1960s, with

kicker (sports magazine) ''Kicker'' (stylized in all lowercase) is Germany's leading sports magazine, focused primarily on football. The magazine was founded in 1920 by German football pioneer Walther Bensemann and is published twice weekly, usually Monday and Thursd ...

rating him ''world class'' five times between 1957 and 1961 in their biennial ''Rangliste des deutschen Fußballs'' (ranking list of German football).

International career

Szymaniak played 43 times and scored two goals for the West Germany national team between 1956 and 1966, and was chosen to play in both the

1958 Events January * January 1 – The European Economic Community (EEC) comes into being. * January 3 – The West Indies Federation is formed. * January 4 ** Edmund Hillary's Commonwealth Trans-Antarctic Expedition completes the third ...

and the

1962 Events January * January 1 – Western Samoa becomes independent from New Zealand. * January 3 – Pope John XXIII excommunicates Fidel Castro for preaching communism. * January 8 – Harmelen train disaster: 93 die in the wor ...

World Cups, but was omitted by

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 ...

from his 1966 squad.

Death

Szymaniak died after a long illness on 9 October 2009 in a nursing home in

Melle Melle may refer to: People * Basil Melle (1891–1966), South African cricketer * Gil Mellé (1931–2004), American artist, jazz musician and film composer * John van Melle (1887–1953), Dutch-born South African author * Melle Mel (born 19 ...

near

Osnabrück Osnabrück (; wep, Ossenbrügge; archaic ''Osnaburg'') is a city in the German state of Lower Saxony. It is situated on the river Hase in a valley penned between the Wiehen Hills and the northern tip of the Teutoburg Forest. With a population ...

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Szymaniak, Horst 1934 births 2009 deaths German footballers German expatriate footballers Germany international footballers Germany B international footballers Wuppertaler SV players Karlsruher SC players Bundesliga players Catania S.S.D. players Inter Milan players S.S.D. Varese Calcio players FC Biel-Bienne players Chicago Spurs players SpVgg Erkenschwick players Serie A players Expatriate footballers in Italy Expatriate footballers in Switzerland Expatriate soccer players in the United States German expatriate sportspeople in Italy German expatriate sportspeople in Switzerland German expatriate sportspeople in the United States 1958 FIFA World Cup players 1962 FIFA World Cup players Association football midfielders People from Recklinghausen (district) Sportspeople from Münster (region) SC Tasmania 1900 Berlin players Footballers from North Rhine-Westphalia