Reinhard Häfner (2 February 1952 – 24 October 2016) 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 coach.

Career

Häfner played children's and youth football for his hometown club BSG Motor Sonneberg. As a junior player he was assigned to Rot-Weiß Erfurt before joining

Dynamo Dresden Sportgemeinschaft Dynamo Dresden e.V., commonly known as SG Dynamo Dresden or Dynamo Dresden, is a German association football club based in Dresden, Saxony.Grüne, Hardy (2001). Enzyklopädie des deutschen Ligafußballs 7. Vereinslexikon. Kasse ...

in 1971. He stayed with the Dresden club until his retirement as a player in 1988 having played in 366 East German first division

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 ...

matches, scoring 49 goals. He is second to Hans-Jürgen Dörner in matches played for Dynamo. Häfner was part of four DDR championship and FDGB Pokal (East German Cup) winning teams there. Between 1971 and 1984 he was capped 58 times for the East Germany national team, scoring 5 goals, and was part of the gold medal-winning squad at the

1976 Summer Olympics The 1976 Summer Olympics (), officially known as the Games of the XXI Olympiad () and officially branded as Montreal 1976 (), were an international multi-sport event held from July 17 to August 1, 1976, in Montreal, Quebec, Canada. Montreal ...

Montreal Montreal is the List of towns in Quebec, largest city in the Provinces and territories of Canada, province of Quebec, the List of the largest municipalities in Canada by population, second-largest in Canada, and the List of North American cit ...

, Canada.

In April 1990, two years after his retirement as a player, Häfner became head coach of Dynamo Dresden, replacing

Eduard Geyer Eduard "Ede" Geyer (born 7 October 1944) is a German former professional football player and manager. He was the last manager of the East Germany national team. Playing career Geyer was born in Bielsko (Bielitz), during the German occupation ...

. Weeks later Dynamo claimed its eighth championship and seventh cup. The following season, despite the sale of star players

Ulf Kirsten Ulf Kirsten (born 4 December 1965) is a German former professional footballer who played as a striker. Nicknamed ''Der Schwatte'' (dialect for ''Der Schwarze'', 'The Black One'), he is the first player in history to reach a total 100 caps play ...

and

Matthias Sammer Matthias Sammer (; born 5 September 1967) is a German Association football, football official and former player and coach. He played as a defensive midfielder and later in his career as a Sweeper (association football), sweeper. With Borussia D ...

, Häfner guided the Dresden team to a second-place finish in the final DDR-Oberliga season before the merger of the football competitions of East and West Germany following the reunification of the country, qualifying the club for the first division

Bundesliga The Bundesliga (; ), sometimes referred to as the Fußball-Bundesliga () or 1. Bundesliga (), is a professional association football league in Germany and the highest level of the German football league system. The Bundesliga comprises 18 teams ...

. Despite this success he was dismissed in June 1991. He moved on to coach second division club

Chemnitzer FC Chemnitzer Fußballclub e.V. is a German association football club based in Chemnitz, Saxony. The club competes in Regionalliga Nordost, the fourth tier of German football. The roots of the club go back to its establishment as Chemnitzer BC 193 ...

from 1993 to 1996. Häfner joined SV Grün-Weiß Langeneichstädt (Kreisliga Merseburg/Querfurt, Sachsen-Anhalt) in the post-season of 2006–07.

References

External links

Veterans
1952 births 2016 deaths People from Sonneberg German men's footballers East German men's footballers FC Rot-Weiß Erfurt players Dynamo Dresden players Dynamo Dresden managers Footballers at the 1972 Summer Olympics Footballers at the 1976 Summer Olympics Olympic footballers for East Germany East Germany men's international footballers Dynamo Dresden non-playing staff Chemnitzer FC managers DDR-Oberliga players Men's association football midfielders Footballers from Thuringia German football managers Olympic medalists in football Olympic bronze medalists for East Germany Olympic gold medalists for East Germany Medalists at the 1972 Summer Olympics Medalists at the 1976 Summer Olympics Recipients of the Patriotic Order of Merit in silver {{Germany-footy-midfielder-1950s-stub