Reinhard Häfner (2 February 1952 – 24 October 2016) 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 ...

and coach. Häfner played children's and youth football for his hometown club BSG Motor Sonneberg. As a junior player he was assigned to

FC Rot-Weiss Erfurt FC may refer to: Businesses, organisations, and schools * Fergusson College, a science and arts college in Pune, India * Finncomm Airlines (IATA code) * FranklinCovey company, NYSE stock symbol FC * Frontier Corps, a paramilitary force in Paki ...

before joining

Dynamo Dresden Sportgemeinschaft Dynamo Dresden e.V., commonly known as SG Dynamo Dresden or Dynamo Dresden, are a German association football club based in Dresden, Saxony.Grüne, Hardy (2001). Enzyklopädie des deutschen Ligafußballs 7. Vereinslexikon. Ka ...

in 1971. He stayed with the Dresden club until his retirement as a player in 1988 having played in 366 East German first division DDR-Oberliga matches, scoring 49 goals. He is second to

Hans-Jürgen Dörner Hans-Jürgen "Dixie" Dörner (25 January 1951 – 19 January 2022) was a German football player and coach. He distinguished himself during his career by being named East Germany's player of the year three times (1977, 1984 and 1985) – the o ...

in matches played for Dynamo. Häfner was part of four DDR championship and

FDGB Pokal The FDGB-Pokal (Freier Deutscher Gewerkschaftsbund Pokal or Free German Trade Union Federation Cup) was an elimination football tournament held annually in East Germany. It was the second most important national title in East German football aft ...

(East German Cup) winning teams there. Between 1971 and 1984 he was capped 58 times for the East Germany national football team, scoring 5 goals, and was part of the gold medal-winning squad at the

1976 Summer Olympics Events January * January 3 – The International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights enters into force. * January 5 – The Pol Pot regime proclaims a new constitution for Democratic Kampuchea. * January 11 – The 1976 P ...

Montreal Montreal ( ; officially Montréal, ) is the second-most populous city in Canada and most populous city in the Canadian province of Quebec. Founded in 1642 as '' Ville-Marie'', or "City of Mary", it is named after Mount Royal, the triple ...

, Canada.

In April 1990, two years after his retirement as a player, Häfner became head coach of Dynamo Dresden, replacing

Eduard Geyer Eduard "Ede" Geyer (born 7 October 1944) is a German former professional football player and manager. He was the last manager of the East German national team. Playing career Geyer was born in Bielsko (Bielitz), during the German occupation ...

. Weeks later Dynamo claimed its eighth championship and seventh cup. The following season, despite the sale of star players

Ulf Kirsten Ulf Kirsten (born 4 December 1965) is a German former professional footballer who played as a striker. Nicknamed ''Der Schwatte'' (dialect for ''Der Schwarze'', 'The Black One'), he is the first player in history to reach a total 100 caps play ...

and

Matthias Sammer Matthias Sammer (; born 5 September 1967) is a German football official and former player and coach. He played as a defensive midfielder and later in his career as a sweeper. With Borussia Dortmund as a player, Sammer won the Bundesliga and DF ...

, Häfner guided the Dresden team to a second-place finish in the final DDR-Oberliga season before the merger of the football competitions of East and West Germany following the reunification of the country, qualifying the club for the first division

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 ...

. Despite this success he was dismissed in June 1991. He moved on to coach second division club

Chemnitzer FC Chemnitzer Fußballclub e.V. is a German association football club based in Chemnitz, Saxony. The club competes in Regionalliga Nordost, the fourth tier of German football. The roots of the club go back to its establishment as Chemnitzer BC 19 ...

from 1993 to 1996. Häfner joined SV Grün-Weiß Langeneichstädt (Kreisliga Merseburg/Querfurt, Sachsen-Anhalt) in the post-season of 2006–07.

References

External links

Veterans
1952 births 2016 deaths People from Sonneberg German footballers East German footballers FC Rot-Weiß Erfurt players Dynamo Dresden players Dynamo Dresden managers Footballers at the 1972 Summer Olympics Footballers at the 1976 Summer Olympics Olympic footballers of East Germany Olympic bronze medalists for East Germany Olympic gold medalists for East Germany East Germany international footballers Dynamo Dresden non-playing staff Olympic medalists in football Chemnitzer FC managers DDR-Oberliga players Medalists at the 1976 Summer Olympics Medalists at the 1972 Summer Olympics Association football midfielders Footballers from Thuringia German football managers {{Germany-footy-midfielder-1950s-stub