Friedhelm Konietzka
Friedhelm Konietzka in 2012 | |||
Personal information | |||
---|---|---|---|
Full name | Friedhelm Konietzka | ||
Date of birth | 2 August 1938 | ||
Place of birth | Lünen, Germany | ||
Date of death | 12 March 2012 | (aged 73)||
Place of death | Brunnen, Switzerland | ||
Height | 1.77 m (5 ft 10 in) | ||
Position(s) | Striker | ||
Youth career | |||
–1958 | VfB 08 Lünen | ||
Senior career* | |||
Years | Team | Apps | (Gls) |
1958–1965 | Borussia Dortmund | 163 | (121) |
1965–1967 | TSV 1860 Munich | 47 | (30) |
1967–1971 | FC Winterthur | ||
National team | |||
1962–1965 | West Germany | 9 | (3) |
Teams managed | |||
1971–1978 | FC Zürich | ||
1978–1980 | BSC Young Boys | ||
1980–1982 | Grasshopper Club Zürich | ||
1982–1983 | Hessen Kassel | ||
1983–1984 | Bayer Uerdingen | ||
1984 | Borussia Dortmund | ||
1985–1986 | Grasshopper Club Zürich | ||
1987–1988 | FC Zürich | ||
1990–1991 | Bayer Uerdingen | ||
1993–1994 | FC Luzern | ||
* Senior club appearances and goals counted for the domestic league only |
Friedhelm "Timo" Konietzka (2 August 1938 – 12 March 2012) was a German football striker[1] and manager. He earned his nickname "Timo" due to a supposed resemblance to the Soviet commander Semyon Timoshenko.[2]
Biography[]
Konietzka was born in Lünen, Province of Westphalia, and started his football career at his hometown club VfB 08 Lünen. In his youth (for five years since the age of 14) he worked in a coal mine.[3] Max Merkel, coach of Borussia Dortmund at that time, discovered his talent when Konietzka was 20 and included him in the Dortmund squad. Together with fellow striker Jürgen Schütz, he formed the most dangerous attack of the Oberliga West. Konietzka played a total of 100 Bundesliga matches for Borussia Dortmund and TSV 1860 Munich and scored 72 goals,[4] being the second best scorer of the league from 1964–1966 in the process. He was also capped nine times (three goals) for Germany between 1962 and 1965.[5] Despite Konietzka's fine goalscoring record in the German league, German national team manager Sepp Herberger thought of him as too inconsistent, which could be one of the reasons Konietzka never featured regularly for the national side.[3]
He won the German championship with Dortmund against 1. FC Köln in the last final before the introduction of the Bundesliga in 1963.
Konietzka earned his place in football history books when he scored the very first goal of the newly founded Bundesliga in the first minute of a match between SV Werder Bremen and Borussia Dortmund on 24 August 1963 (at 16:59 German time, as the game had started slightly earlier than scheduled). His biggest successes as a player were a DFB-Pokal title with Dortmund in 1965 and championship titles with Dortmund in 1963 and TSV 1860 Munich in 1966.
His coaching career included stints with Borussia Dortmund, Bayer Uerdingen, FC Zürich, BSC Young Boys and Grasshopper Club Zürich. He won three Swiss championships with FC Zürich between 1974 and 1976 and reached the semi-final of the 1976–77 European Cup, where his Zürich side was knocked out by English champions Liverpool. As coach of BSC Young Boys he twice reached the final of the Swiss Cup between 1978 and 1980.
Konietzka's wife is named Claudia. He took Swiss citizenship in 1988. With help of euthanasia-organisation Exit International, he chose to end his life at the age of 73 in Brunnen, Canton of Schwyz.[6] He had been suffering from cancer prior to his death on 12 March 2012.[6]
Honours[]
Club[]
Borussia Dortmund
- West German champions: 1963
- DFB-Pokal: 1964–65
TSV 1860 München
- Bundesliga: 1965–66
FC Zürich
References[]
- ^ "Konietzka, Timo (Friedhelm)" (in German). kicker.de. Retrieved 12 March 2012.
- ^ "Friedhelm "Timo" Konietzka" (in German). 4 February 2007. Archived from the original on 5 October 2011. Retrieved 3 December 2008.
- ^ Jump up to: a b "Aus sieben Metern mit der Innenseite". die Welt Kompakt. 14 March 2012.
- ^ Arnhold, Matthias (8 June 2017). "Friedhelm 'Timo' Konietzka - Matches and Goals in Bundesliga". RSSSF. Retrieved 9 June 2017.
- ^ Arnhold, Matthias (8 June 2017). "Friedhelm 'Timo' Konietzka - Goals in International Matches". RSSSF. Retrieved 9 June 2017.
- ^ Jump up to: a b "Scorer of first Bundesliga goal dies by assisted suicide". Reuters. 12 March 2012. Retrieved 29 September 2014.
External links[]
- Timo Konietzka at WorldFootball.net
- Friedhelm Konietzka at fussballdaten.de (in German)
- Timo Konietzka at National-Football-Teams.com
- Interview with German weekly magazine Stern (in German)
- "Fyrsti markaskorarinn látinn" [The first goalkeeper dead]. RUV.is (in Icelandic). 13 March 2012.
- 1938 births
- 2012 suicides
- People from Lünen
- German emigrants to Switzerland
- German footballers
- German football managers
- Germany international footballers
- German expatriates in Switzerland
- People from the Province of Westphalia
- Bundesliga players
- Borussia Dortmund players
- TSV 1860 Munich players
- FC Winterthur players
- FC Zürich managers
- BSC Young Boys managers
- KSV Hessen Kassel managers
- Borussia Dortmund managers
- Grasshopper Club Zürich managers
- FC Luzern managers
- Bundesliga managers
- Deaths by euthanasia
- Suicides in Switzerland
- KFC Uerdingen 05 managers
- Association football forwards
- Footballers from North Rhine-Westphalia