Thomas Hörster (born 27 November 1956) is a German retired

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 lea ...

who played as a defender.

Club career

Born in

Essen Essen () is the central and, after Dortmund, second-largest city of the Ruhr, the largest urban area in Germany. Its population of makes it the fourth-largest city of North Rhine-Westphalia after Cologne, Düsseldorf and Dortmund, as well as ...

, Hörster spent his first three seasons as a professional with local Schwarz-Weiß Essen, in the second division. For 1977–78 he signed with another club in the league,

Bayer 04 Leverkusen Bayer 04 Leverkusen, officially known as Bayer 04 Leverkusen Fußball GmbH () and commonly known as Bayer Leverkusen or simply Leverkusen, is a German professional association football, football club based in Leverkusen, North Rhine-Westphalia. ...

. After winning promotion to the

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 ...

1979 Events January * January 1 ** United Nations Secretary-General Kurt Waldheim heralds the start of the ''International Year of the Child''. Many musicians donate to the ''Music for UNICEF Concert'' fund, among them ABBA, who write the song ...

, Hörster was an essential defensive unit for Bayer in the following 13 seasons, his lowest input being 24 games in the 1981–82 campaign. In 1987–88 he appeared in a total of 35 official matches, including nine in the team's victorious run in the

UEFA Cup The asterisk ( ), from Late Latin , from Ancient Greek , , "little star", is a Typography, typographical symbol. It is so called because it resembles a conventional image of a star (heraldry), heraldic star. Computer scientists and Mathematici ...

– one goal against

FK Austria Wien Fußballklub Austria Wien AG (), known in English as Austria Vienna, and Austria Wien in German language in Europe, German-speaking countries, is an Football in Austria, Austrian professional association football club from the capital city of Vi ...

in a 5–1 home win (also the aggregate score)– even though he did not appear in any of the two matches of the final against

RCD Español Reial Club Deportiu Espanyol de Barcelona (; "Royal Spanish Sports Club of Barcelona"), commonly known as RCD Espanyol, is a Spanish professional sports club based in Barcelona, Catalonia, Spain. The club competes in La Liga, the top tier of Spa ...

. Hörster retired from top football in June 1991 at the age of 34, with top flight totals of 332 games and 16 goals. He remained closely associated with Leverkusen in the following years, working as manager (youth teams, reserves, caretaker) and

scout Scout may refer to: Youth movement *Scout (Scouting), a child, usually 10–18 years of age, participating in the worldwide Scouting movement ** Scouts (The Scout Association), section for 10-14 year olds in the United Kingdom ** Scouts BSA, sect ...

. On 16 February 2003, he was appointed main squad manager, leaving his position on 12 May.

International career

Hörster won four

caps Caps are flat headgear. Caps or CAPS may also refer to: Science and technology Computing * CESG Assisted Products Service, provided by the U.K. Government Communications Headquarters * Composite Application Platform Suite, by Java Caps, a Java ...

for

West Germany West Germany was the common English name for the Federal Republic of Germany (FRG) from its formation on 23 May 1949 until German reunification, its reunification with East Germany on 3 October 1990. It is sometimes known as the Bonn Republi ...

, his debut coming on 24 September 1986 in a 2–0 friendly win in

Denmark Denmark is a Nordic countries, Nordic country in Northern Europe. It is the metropole and most populous constituent of the Kingdom of Denmark,, . also known as the Danish Realm, a constitutionally unitary state that includes the Autonomous a ...

. All of his three other appearances were also in exhibition games. Hörster was part of the West Germany Olympic team at the

1988 Summer Olympics The 1988 Summer Olympics (), officially the Games of the XXIV Olympiad () and officially branded as Seoul 1988 (), were an international multi-sport event held from 17 September to 2 October 1988 in Seoul, South Korea. 159 nations were represe ...

Seoul Seoul, officially Seoul Special Metropolitan City, is the capital city, capital and largest city of South Korea. The broader Seoul Metropolitan Area, encompassing Seoul, Gyeonggi Province and Incheon, emerged as the world's List of cities b ...

, helping the side win 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 ...

Honours

Player

Bayer Leverkusen * 2. Bundesliga Nord: 1978–79 *

: 1987–88

References

External links

* * * * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Horster, Thomas 1956 births Living people Footballers from Essen German men's footballers Men's association football defenders Bundesliga players 2. Bundesliga players Bayer 04 Leverkusen players UEFA Europa League–winning players Germany men's international footballers Olympic footballers for West Germany West German men's footballers Footballers at the 1988 Summer Olympics Olympic bronze medalists for West Germany Olympic medalists in football German football managers Bundesliga managers Bayer 04 Leverkusen managers Medalists at the 1988 Summer Olympics