Jürgen Nöldner (22 February 1941 – 21 November 2022) was a German footballer who was active in

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 ...

. He was the son of Erwin Nöldner, a resistance fighter killed by the

Nazis Nazism (), formally named National Socialism (NS; , ), is the far-right politics, far-right Totalitarianism, totalitarian socio-political ideology and practices associated with Adolf Hitler and the Nazi Party (NSDAP) in Germany. During H ...

in 1944.

Career

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 ...

, Nöldner began his senior career in 1959 with

ASK Vorwärts Berlin 1. Fußballclub Frankfurt (Oder) E. V. e. V., commonly known as 1. FC Frankfurt, is a German football club based in Frankfurt (Oder), Brandenburg. The club was founded as the army club SV VP Vorwärts Leipzig in Leipzig in East Germany in 1951. ...

. He was to spend his entire career with the army side, staying with the club when it moved to

Frankfurt/Oder Frankfurt (Oder), also known as Frankfurt an der Oder (, ; Marchian dialects, Central Marchian: ''Frankfort an de Oder,'' ) is the fourth-largest city in the German state of Brandenburg after Potsdam, Cottbus and Brandenburg an der Havel. With a ...

in 1971. He did not like commuting between Berlin and Frankfurt/Oder and ended his career in late 1972, aged 31. During this time he was East German champion five times, and won the

Cup A cup is an open-top vessel (container) used to hold liquids for drinking, typically with a flattened hemispherical shape, and often with a capacity of about . Cups may be made of pottery (including porcelain), glass, metal, wood, stone, pol ...

in 1970. He also played internationally for

, winning 30 caps and scoring 16 goals, including a first-minute goal against

Austria Austria, formally the Republic of Austria, is a landlocked country in Central Europe, lying in the Eastern Alps. It is a federation of nine Federal states of Austria, states, of which the capital Vienna is the List of largest cities in Aust ...

which was the fastest in the national team's history. He was part of the East German Olympic squad that represented the United German team at the Tokyo Olympic Games in 1964, winning the

bronze medal A bronze medal in sports and other similar areas involving competition is a medal made of bronze awarded to the third-place finisher of contests or competitions such as the Olympic Games, Commonwealth Games, etc. The outright winner receives ...

. In 1966 Nöldner was voted

East German Footballer of the Year The title Footballer of the Year (German: ''Fußballer des Jahres'') has been awarded in West Germany from 1960 to 1990 and Germany since 1991. Eligible are German players as well as non-German players playing in Germany. In 1996, the title W ...

, and such was his reputation that he was nicknamed "the Puskás of the DDR".

Sports journalism

Nöldner retired in 1973 and became a sports journalist. He edited the ''Neue Fußballwoche'', an East German football magazine, from 1984 to 1990, and served as Berlin editor of ''kicker'' sports magazine from 1990 until his retirement in 2006.

Death

Nöldner died in

Berlin Berlin ( ; ) is the Capital of Germany, capital and largest city of Germany, by both area and List of cities in Germany by population, population. With 3.7 million inhabitants, it has the List of cities in the European Union by population withi ...

on 21 November 2022, at the age of 81.

Honours

Vorwärts Berlin *

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 ...

: 1960, 1962, 1965, 1966, 1969 * FDGB Pokal: 1970

References

External links

* * 1941 births 2022 deaths Footballers from Berlin German men's footballers German journalists German male journalists German male writers East German men's footballers East Germany men's international footballers Men's association football midfielders Olympic footballers for the United Team of Germany Olympic bronze medalists for the United Team of Germany Olympic medalists in football Footballers at the 1964 Summer Olympics Medalists at the 1964 Summer Olympics 1. FC Frankfurt players DDR-Oberliga players {{Germany-Olympic-medalist-stub