Torsten Gütschow (born 28 July 1962) is 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 ...

manager and former player who played as a striker. He is most associated with

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 ...

, with whom he had two successful spells, playing top level football 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 ...

and after reunification. In between these he played for three other German clubs, and spent six months with Galatasaray of the Turkish

Süper Lig The Süper Lig (, ''Super League''), also known as Trendyol Süper Lig for sponsorship reasons, is a professional association football league in Turkey and the highest level of the Turkish football league system. In the 2023–2024 season, twen ...

. A strong and instinctive goalscorer, Gütschow was top scorer in each of the last three seasons of the

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 ...

, and was the last East German Footballer of the Year. He won three international

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s for

, scoring two goals between 1984 and 1989. Since retiring he has taken up coaching, and has been manager of TuS Heeslingen.

Playing career

In East Germany

Gütschow played as a youth for Traktor Zodel and Dynamo Görlitz, before joining

in 1976. After four years in their youth setup, he was promoted to the first-team, making his

debut in 1980. He established himself as a consistent goalscorer, and scored 17 goals in the 1984–85 season. The next two seasons were blighted by injury, but he returned to form, partnering Ulf Kirsten up front, and was the league's top scorer in its last three seasons. His seven goals in the 1988-89 UEFA Cup made him the competition's top scorer and in 1991 he was named as the last East German Footballer of the Year. During much of Gütschow's time with Dynamo Dresden, the league was dominated by BFC Dynamo, who won ten consecutive league titles from

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 ...

to 1988. Dresden broke this run by winning the championship in

1989 1989 was a turning point in political history with the "Revolutions of 1989" which ended communism in Eastern Bloc of Europe, starting in Poland and Hungary, with experiments in power-sharing coming to a head with the opening of the Berlin W ...

and 1990, adding a

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 ...

win in the latter season to complete the double. They had also won the cup in 1982,

1984 Events January * January 1 – The Bornean Sultanate of Brunei gains full independence from the United Kingdom, having become a British protectorate in 1888. * January 7 – Brunei becomes the sixth member of the Association of Southeas ...

and

1985 The year 1985 was designated as the International Youth Year by the United Nations. Events January * January 1 ** The Internet's Domain Name System is created. ** Greenland withdraws from the European Economic Community as a result of a n ...

After reunification

The last season of the

(now renamed the NOFV-Oberliga) saw Dynamo Dresden finish second, behind Hansa Rostock, and with

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 ...

they qualified for 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 ...

. In their first season they finished in 14th place, and Gütschow was the team's top scorer, with 10 goals from 31 appearances. The following season, he played eight matches, scoring twice, before leaving in December 1992, joining Galatasaray of the Turkish

. Gütschow's 12 Bundesliga goals are still the most of any Dynamo Dresden player. Galatasaray had a German coach, Karl-Heinz Feldkamp, and two other German players in Falko Götz and Reinhard Stumpf. Gütschow settled in immediately, and scored 10 goals in 15 league appearances, as the club won a league and

double. Gütschow only spent six months in Turkey, returning to Germany in summer 1993 but remains a popular figure with Galatasaray fans. Gütschow returned to Germany with Carl Zeiss Jena of the 2. Bundesliga, but had a singularly unsuccessful season, making only nine league appearances and failing to score. He left Jena after one year, and followed this with single-year spells at two other 2. Liga clubs –

Hannover 96 Hannoverscher Sportverein von 1896, commonly referred to as Hannover 96 (), is a German professional association football, football club based in the city of Hanover, Lower Saxony. They played in the Bundesliga for a total of 30 years between 19 ...

and Chemnitzer FC. He had more personal success in both these seasons, scoring 16 and 15 goals respectively, but the latter ended in relegation for Chemnitz. In

1996 1996 was designated as: * International Year for the Eradication of Poverty Events January * January 8 – A Zairean cargo plane crashes into a crowded market in the center of the capital city of the Democratic Republic of the Congo ...

, Gütschow returned to Dynamo Dresden, now in the third-tier

Regionalliga Nordost The Regionalliga Nordost is the fourth tier of German football league system, German football in the states of Berlin, Brandenburg, Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania, Saxony-Anhalt, Saxony and Thuringia. These comprise the states of former East Germany ...

. He spent three years with the club as they tried unsuccessfully to get promoted to the second division, before retiring in

1999 1999 was designated as the International Year of Older Persons. Events January * January 1 – The euro currency is established and the European Central Bank assumes its full powers. * January 3 – The Mars Polar Lander is launc ...

. In total, he had made 329 league appearances for Dynamo, scoring 149 goals, across two spells. File:Bundesarchiv Bild 183-1990-0915-018, FC Dynamo Dresden - Chemnitzer FC 1-1.jpg, Gütschow (left) chases the ball in a 1990 match against Chemnitzer FC. File:Bundesarchiv Bild 183-1989-0603-032, Dynamo Dresden - 1. FC Union Berlin 5-0.jpg, Gütschow (centre) watches a shot being saved by Henryk Lihsa shot saved during Dynamo Dresden's 5–0 win over 1. FC Union Berlin in 1989 File:Bundesarchiv Bild 183-1990-1006-020, 1. FC Dynamo Dresden - Rot-Weiß Erfurt 3-0.jpg, Gütschow celebrates with Steffen Büttner (number 5) during a 3–0 win against Rot-Weiß Erfurt in 1990.

International career

Gütschow was called up to the East Germany national team in February 1984, making his debut in a 3–1 away win against

Greece Greece, officially the Hellenic Republic, is a country in Southeast Europe. Located on the southern tip of the Balkan peninsula, it shares land borders with Albania to the northwest, North Macedonia and Bulgaria to the north, and Turkey to th ...

. His second cap came later in the same year, also against Greece – this time he scored again in a 1–0 home win. His third and final

didn't come until 1989, in a 1–1 draw with

Finland Finland, officially the Republic of Finland, is a Nordic country in Northern Europe. It borders Sweden to the northwest, Norway to the north, and Russia to the east, with the Gulf of Bothnia to the west and the Gulf of Finland to the south, ...

at his home stadium in

Dresden Dresden (; ; Upper Saxon German, Upper Saxon: ''Dräsdn''; , ) is the capital city of the States of Germany, German state of Saxony and its second most populous city after Leipzig. It is the List of cities in Germany by population, 12th most p ...

. He was also capped at under-21 level and made three appearances for the DDR Olympic team.

Coaching career

After ending his playing career, Gütschow took up coaching. He worked with VfL Bochum's

reserve team In sports, a reserve team is a team composed of players who are under contract to a club but who do not regularly play in matches for the club's primary team. Reserve teams usually include players who are part of the larger first-team squad but ...

, and was manager of

FC Oberneuland FC Oberneuland Bremen von 1948 is a Football in Germany, German association football club from the Oberneuland quarter of Bremen, founded on 13 April 1948 in the local inn ''Zum Dorfkrug'' as ''Fußball-Club Oberneuland von 1948''. In addition to ...

from 2003 to 2004. In 2006, he was appointed as manager of TuS 1906 Heeslingen, and won promotion to the Oberliga Nord in his first season. Gütchow remained at the club at seven years, leaving in at the end of the 2012–13 season when the club withdrew from the Oberliga for financial reasons. He took over at Regionalliga Norodost side TSG Neustrelitz a year later.

Stasi

Gütschow worked as an ''Inoffizieller Mitarbeiter'' (paid informant) for 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 ...

. He admitted to spying on around 60 players and staff between 1981 and 1989. Gütschow was approached by the authorities at the age of 18, and feared that he would be prevented from playing football and separated from his fiancee if he refused to co-operate.

Career statistics

Club

International goals

:''Scores and results list East Germany's goal tally first, score column indicates score after each Gütschow goal.''

Honours

Dynamo Dresden *

: 1989, 1990 * FDGB Pokal: 1982, 1984, 1985, 1990 Galatasaray *

: 1993 * Turkish Cup: 1993

References

External links

Career stats at

RSSSF The Rec.Sport.Soccer Statistics Foundation (''RSSSF'') is an international organisation dedicated to collecting statistics about association football. The foundation aims to build an exhaustive archive of football-related information from around ...

Club profile
* {{DEFAULTSORT:Gutschow, Torsten 1962 births Living people Sportspeople from Görlitz German men's footballers East German men's footballers Bundesliga players 2. Bundesliga players Regionalliga players Dynamo Dresden players Dynamo Dresden II players FC Carl Zeiss Jena players Galatasaray S.K. footballers Chemnitzer FC players Hannover 96 players Süper Lig players Men's association football forwards East Germany men's international footballers East Germany men's under-21 international footballers German expatriate men's footballers Expatriate men's footballers in Turkey German expatriate sportspeople in Turkey FC Oberneuland managers DDR-Oberliga players German football managers Footballers from Bezirk Dresden Stasi informants