Günter Hirschmann (8 December 1935 – 28 December 2023) was a German

football Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kick (football), kicking a football (ball), ball to score a goal (sports), goal. Unqualified, football (word), the word ''football'' generally means the form of football t ...

er who played as a

midfielder In the sport of association football, a midfielder takes an Glossary of association football terms#O, outfield position primarily in the middle of the pitch. Midfielders may play an exclusively defensive role, breaking up attacks, and are in t ...

, spending almost his entire senior career at

1. FC Magdeburg 1. FC Magdeburg is a German Association football Football club (association football), club based in Magdeburg. The club was founded in 1965 from the football department of the Sports club (East Germany), sports club ''SC Magdeburg'' and has bee ...

and its predecessors.

Career

Hirschmann began his footballing career at Einheit Burg, but in 1955 moved to BSG Motor Mitte Magdeburg where he soon established himself as a regular and also received his nickname ''Mücke'' (German for midge). In 1957 his team joined SC Aufbau Magdeburg and in 1965 became

, the first stand-alone

football club In association football, a football club (or association football club, alternatively soccer club) is a sports club that acts as an entity through which association football teams organise their sporting activities. The club can exist either as ...

in East Germany. Until 1969 when he ended his playing career, Hirschmann appeared in 330 league matches for his club, scoring 113 goals. Of these 162 matches were in the

DDR-Oberliga The DDR-Oberliga (English: ''East German Premier League'' or ''GDR Premier League'') was the top-level association football league in East Germany. Overview Following World War II, separate sports competitions emerged in the Allied-occupied G ...

East Germany East Germany, officially known as the German Democratic Republic (GDR), was a country in Central Europe from Foundation of East Germany, its formation on 7 October 1949 until German reunification, its reunification with West Germany (FRG) on ...

's top flight, where he scored 47 goals. In addition, Hirschmann played in 25

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 af ...

matches, scoring 11 goals, and in 5 matches on European level. His greatest successes were the cup wins with SC Aufbau Magdeburg in 1964 and 1965 as well as the cup victory with 1. FC Magdeburg in 1969. In the 1965 final Hirschmann scored the deciding goal, converting a penalty in the 89th minute to make it 2–1 to Magdeburg. On 16 April 1961, Hirschmann won a call-up to the

national team A national sports team (commonly known as a national team or a national side) is a team that represents a nation, rather than a particular club or region, in an international sport. The term is most commonly associated with team sports, for exa ...

when manager Heinz Krügel used him in a match against

Hungary Hungary is a landlocked country in Central Europe. Spanning much 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 south, Croatia and ...

. The 2–0 defeat remained his only appearance for East Germany.

Later life and death

After his playing career Hirschmann became a youth coach with 1. FC Magdeburg and worked as a metal worker in Magdeburg's '' Schwermaschinenbaukombinat Ernst Thälmann'', a heavy engineering company. Later, he lived as a pensioner in Magdeburg. Hirschmann died on 28 December 2023, at the age of 88.

Honours

'1. FC Magdeburg *

1964 Events January * January 1 – The Federation of Rhodesia and Nyasaland is dissolved. * January 5 – In the first meeting between leaders of the Roman Catholic and Orthodox churches since the fifteenth century, Pope Paul VI and Patria ...

1965 Events January–February * January 14 – The First Minister of Northern Ireland and the Taoiseach of the Republic of Ireland meet for the first time in 43 years. * January 20 ** Lyndon B. Johnson is Second inauguration of Lynd ...

1969 1969 ( MCMLXIX) was a common year starting on Wednesday of the Gregorian calendar, the 1969th year of the Common Era (CE) and ''Anno Domini'' (AD) designations, the 969th year of the 2nd millennium, the 69th year of the 20th century, and the ...

External links

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Hirschmann, Gunter 1935 births 2023 deaths People from Burg bei Magdeburg East German men's footballers Footballers from Saxony-Anhalt Men's association football midfielders East Germany men's international footballers 1. FC Magdeburg players