Wolfgang Fahrian (31 May 1941 – 13 April 2022) 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 ...

who played as a

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 ...

Playing career

Having been a defender initially, Fahrian was trained as a

following a goalkeeper shortage at TSG Ulm 1846 in the early 1960s. Although impressive in his new role, his call-up by

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 ...

for the West Germany national team clash against

Uruguay Uruguay (; ), officially the Oriental Republic of Uruguay ( es, República Oriental del Uruguay), is a country in South America. It shares borders with Argentina to its west and southwest and Brazil to its north and northeast; while bordering ...

in April 1962 caused a great stir due to the fact he was not a top-division player at that time. In the fixture he kept a clean sheet, something that saw him brought into West Germany's

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 ...

squad. Despite his first cap seeing an impressive performance, it was expected that

Hans Tilkowski Hans Tilkowski (12 July 1935 – 5 January 2020) was a German footballer who played as a goalkeeper. He played for West Germany, and was a member of the team that lost the 1966 World Cup final to England. Career Born 1935 in Husen, Dortmund, ...

would be the undoubted first choice for Herberger's West Germany side and Fahrian would just be taken as a reserve goalkeeper. However, Fahrian shocked Germany as he was chosen to be the starting goalkeeper for all the matches in this World Cup. However, the

brought disappointing results for West Germany, reaching the Quarter-final stage, which coincided with Fahrian's faltering career from then on. Several moves later, he retired after just 67 appearances 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 footba ...

. He played for the West Germany national team until 1964, earning ten caps.

Career as a sports agent

Fahrian became a sports agent at the end of his career, finding great success in that area. In 2006, he worked as executive for ROGON Sportmanagement, one of the leading agencies in German football with clients such as

Kevin Kurányi Kevin Dennis Kurányi Rodríguez (, ; born 2 March 1982) is a German former professional footballer. He played as a striker and possessed great aerial ability and finishing skills. From 2003 to 2008, Kurányi was part of the German national t ...

Marcelo Bordon Marcelo José Bordon (born 7 January 1976) is a Brazilian former professional footballer who played as a centre-back. He is mostly known for his time in Germany, playing for Bundesliga teams VfB Stuttgart and Schalke 04. Since 2016, he is managin ...

Fabian Ernst Fabian Ernst (; born 30 May 1979) is a German former professional footballer who played as a midfielder. He was regarded as a two-way player who can stop the opposition and start attacks with his passing from central midfield. Club career Bo ...

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Tim Wiese Tim Wiese (; born 17 December 1981) is a German former professional footballer who played as a goalkeeper. Having progressed through the youth teams at DJK Dürscheid and Bayer Leverkusen, Wiese started his professional career at Fortuna Köln, ...

, Roque Junior and others.

Death

Fahrian died from

pneumonia Pneumonia is an inflammatory condition of the lung primarily affecting the small air sacs known as alveoli. Symptoms typically include some combination of productive or dry cough, chest pain, fever, and difficulty breathing. The severi ...

on 13 April 2022, aged 80.

Honours

;TSV 1860 Munich *

runner-up: 1966–67

References

External links

* * *
ROGON Sportmanagement
{{DEFAULTSORT:Fahrian, Wolfgang 1941 births 2022 deaths People from Alb-Donau-Kreis Sportspeople from Tübingen (region) German footballers Footballers from Baden-Württemberg Association football goalkeepers Germany international footballers 1962 FIFA World Cup players Bundesliga players 2. Bundesliga players SSV Ulm 1846 players Hertha BSC players TSV 1860 Munich players Fortuna Düsseldorf players SC Fortuna Köln players