Norberto Höfling (20 June 1924 – 18 April 2005) was a Romanian

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 Coach may refer to: Guidance/instruction * Coach (sport), a director of athletes' training and activities * Coaching, the practice of guiding an individual through a process ** Acting coach, a teacher who trains performers Transportation * Co ...

Playing career

Höfling began his career as professional footballer in Romania, being at his peak between 1945 and 1947 when he played for the national team of Romania and also for

Carmen București ''Carmen'' () is an opera in four acts by the French composer Georges Bizet. The libretto was written by Henri Meilhac and Ludovic Halévy, based on the Carmen (novella), novella of the same title by Prosper Mérimée. The opera was first perfo ...

, one of the best teams of that period of time. He left the country in 1948 to play for

MTK Budapest Magyar Testgyakorlók Köre is a multi-sports club from Budapest, founded in 1888. It has sections for football, handball, basketball, volleyball, futsal, ice hockey, water polo, cycling, gymnastics, athletics, fencing, canoeing, boxing, wrest ...

and then he followed the route: Lazio Roma,

Pro Patria Calcio Aurora Pro Patria 1919, commonly referred to as Pro Patria, is an Italian football club based in Busto Arsizio, Lombardy. It currently plays in Serie C. In Latin, Pro Patria translates to "For the Fatherland". History Pro Patria et Libertate ...

, ending his career at

Vicenza Calcio L.R. Vicenza, commonly referred to as Vicenza, is an Italian football club based in Vicenza, Veneto. Founded in 1902 as Associazione del Calcio in Vicenza, they became Lanerossi Vicenza in 1953, then Vicenza Calcio from 1990 to 2018, a year whi ...

Coaching career

At the age of 33, in 1957, Höfling started his career as football manager at

Club Brugge (), known simply as Club Brugge (in English also: ''Club Bruges''), is a Belgian professional football club based in Bruges, Belgium. It was founded in 1891 and its home ground is the Jan Breydel Stadium, which has a capacity of 29,062.

. He left the club after six years, due to a dispute with

Fernand Goyvaerts Fernand Goyvaerts (24 October 1938 – 5 April 2004) was a Belgian international footballer. He played as an attacker. Club career He made his début for the first team of Club Brugge at the age of 16. In 1958, his penalty kick against CS V ...

, then the star player of Club Brugge, to coach the Dutch team

Feyenoord Feyenoord Rotterdam () is a Dutch professional football club in Rotterdam, which plays in the Eredivisie, the top tier in Dutch football. Founded as Wilhelmina in 1908, the club changed to various names before settling on being called after its ...

. Being sacked from Feyenoord after only one year, Höfling returned to Belgium after he signed with

R.W.D. Molenbeek R.W.D. Molenbeek, short for Racing White Daring Molenbeek, was a Belgian football club founded in 1909 as White Star Club de Bruxelles. It then became a member of the Belgian Football Association later the same year as White Star Athletic Club a ...

, helping the team to win promotion into

Belgian First Division The Belgian Pro League,(officially the Jupiler Pro League due to sponsorship reasons with Jupiler), is the top league competition for association football clubs in Belgium. Contested by 18 clubs since the 2020–21 season and reduced to 16 tea ...

. In 1967, he rejoined Club Brugge. His second spell at the club was more successful than the first one, winning the

Belgian Cup The Belgian Cup (french: link=no, Coupe de Belgique; nl, Beker van België []; german: link=no, Belgischer Fußballpokal) is the main Single-elimination tournament, knockout association football, football competition in Belgium, run by the Belgia ...

, before being signed by

Anderlecht Anderlecht (, ) is one of the 19 municipalities of the Brussels-Capital Region, Belgium. Located in the south-western part of the region, it is bordered by the City of Brussels, Forest, Molenbeek-Saint-Jean, and Saint-Gilles, as well as th ...

, only to be sacked after few months due to poor results. A second spell at R.W.D. Molenbeek followed, but this time it was for a short period of time only, as he did not manage to win promotion in the top league, as he did with few years earlier when the team was called "Racing White". In 1972, he signed with A.S. Oostende and in only two years he promoted the club from the third division to the top league. Again problems arose between him and the administration and the players that led to his retirement in 1976. He then went to work at K.A.A. Gent before retiring in 1978. He was 80 years of age when he died in

Bruges Bruges ( , nl, Brugge ) is the capital and largest city A city is a human settlement of notable size.Goodall, B. (1987) ''The Penguin Dictionary of Human Geography''. London: Penguin.Kuper, A. and Kuper, J., eds (1996) ''The Social Scienc ...

, Belgium.

References

External links

*
Norberto Höfling
at enciclopediadelcalcio.com
Biography at Club Brugge
{{DEFAULTSORT:Hofling, Norberto 1924 births 2005 deaths Sportspeople from Chernivtsi Association football forwards Romanian footballers Jewish footballers Jewish Romanian sportspeople S.S. Lazio players Romanian Jews Maccabi București players MTK Budapest FC players Aurora Pro Patria 1919 players L.R. Vicenza players Serie A players Serie B players Romanian football managers Romanian expatriate football managers Club Brugge KV head coaches R.S.C. Anderlecht managers Eredivisie managers K.A.A. Gent managers Expatriate football managers in Belgium Expatriate football managers in the Netherlands Expatriate football managers in Italy Romanian expatriate footballers Expatriate footballers in Italy Romanian expatriate sportspeople in Italy Expatriate footballers in Hungary Romanian expatriate sportspeople in Hungary Romanian expatriate sportspeople in Belgium Romanian expatriate sportspeople in the Netherlands