Heinz Krügel (24 April 1921 – 27 October 2008) 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 ...

player and manager.

Playing career

At age 6, Krügel began his playing career in the youth teams of then SC Planitz. During

World War II World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

, he served in the 5th SS Panzer Division "Wiking" from 1940 to 1944, was wounded on the Eastern Front, and later transferred to SS Corps Flak Detachment 509 in the

Balkans The Balkans ( , ), corresponding partially with the Balkan Peninsula, is a geographical area in southeastern Europe with various geographical and historical definitions. The region takes its name from the Balkan Mountains that stretch throug ...

. There he was taken prisoner, from which he returned in 1946. He restarted his career in Planitz until 1948 and had his biggest success as a player there, when he won the Championship of the Eastern Zone in the same year. In 1950 he suffered a knee injury and his playing career was over, even though he was only 29 years old.

Management career

Soon after this setback, Krügel began his managing career as the youngest Oberliga manager at the army sports club KVP Vorwärts Leipzig. Later on he managed Einheit Ost/SC Rotation Leipzig and SC Empor Rostock. In 1959, he was made national manager of

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 ...

and remained in this position until 1961, coaching the team in 8 matches. From 1961 to 1966, he managed Hallescher FC Chemie, winning the

1962 The year saw the Cuban Missile Crisis, which is often considered the closest the world came to a Nuclear warfare, nuclear confrontation during the Cold War. Events January * January 1 – Samoa, Western Samoa becomes independent from Ne ...

FDGB-Pokal. His biggest success awaited Krügel at 1. FC Magdeburg. When he arrived, the club had just been relegated to the second-tier DDR-Liga, but Krügel rebuilt the squad, winning re-promotion immediately. In the following 8 years, Krügel's 1. FC Magdeburg team captured three East German Championships ( 1971/72, 1973/74, 1974/75), came in third four times ( 1967/68, 1968/69, 1972/73, 1975/76) and won the FDGB-Cup twice ( 1969,

1973 Events January * January 1 – The United Kingdom, the Republic of Ireland and Denmark 1973 enlargement of the European Communities, enter the European Economic Community, which later becomes the European Union. * January 14 - The 16-0 19 ...

). On top of all that, Magdeburg won the 1974 edition of the UEFA Cup Winners' Cup, beating favorites and holders A.C. Milan 2–0 in Rotterdam. Because of his successes, Krügel had offers from many European clubs, including the likes of Juventus Turin who offered four million Marks for Krügel's services, if he also brought young forward Martin Hoffmann. However, Krügel declined these offers. He also would not let his work be influenced by the Magdeburg branch of the SED. When Magdeburg played

FC Bayern Munich Fußball-Club Bayern München e. V. (FCB, ), commonly known as Bayern Munich (), FC Bayern () or simply Bayern, is a German professional sports club based in Munich, Bavaria. They are most known for their men's professional association foo ...

in the European Champions' Cup in 1974, the

Stasi The Ministry for State Security (, ; abbreviated MfS), commonly known as the (, an abbreviation of ), was the Intelligence agency, state security service and secret police of East Germany from 1950 to 1990. It was one of the most repressive pol ...

had bugged the West Germans' dressing room, but Krügel declined to make use of these devices. In 1976, the East German FA banned Krügel from his managerial duties, citing "insufficient development of the Olympic athletes at 1. FC Magdeburg". After the

German reunification German reunification () was the process of re-establishing Germany as a single sovereign state, which began on 9 November 1989 and culminated on 3 October 1990 with the dissolution of the East Germany, German Democratic Republic and the int ...

Krügel was rehabilitated and was given an award by the

German Football Association The German Football Association ( ; DFB ) is the governing body of Association football, football, futsal, and beach soccer in Germany. A founding member of both FIFA and UEFA, the DFB has jurisdiction for the German football league system and ...

. For one year, he was Executive Director (Football) at 1. FC Magdeburg. He later was an honorary member of the club and often watched their matches.

Death

On 27 October 2008 Krügel died in Magdeburg after prolonged sickness.

References

* Volkmar Laube, Roland Uhl: „Heinz Krügel – Der Meistermacher“, MDPrint Mediencenter Magd 2003, * Volkmar Laube, Roland Uhl, Andreas Prill : „Magdeburger Triumph im "Kuip"“, MDPrint Mediencenter Magd 2004,

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Krugel, Heinz 1921 births 2008 deaths Footballers from Zwickau East German football managers East German men's footballers East Germany national football team managers 1. FC Lokomotive Leipzig managers FSV Zwickau players German football managers 1. FC Magdeburg managers Men's association football midfielders German military personnel of World War II Waffen-SS personnel German prisoners of war in World War II Military personnel from Saxony German men's footballers