Willy Tröger
![]() Tröger (left) in 1957, with East Germany international team-mate Kurt Zapf | |||
Personal information | |||
---|---|---|---|
Date of birth | 2 October 1928 | ||
Place of birth | Zwickau, Germany | ||
Date of death | 30 March 2004 | (aged 75)||
Place of death | Pirna, Germany | ||
Position(s) | Striker | ||
Youth career | |||
1943–1945 | SG Zwickau-Oberhohndorf | ||
1946–1947 | |||
1947–1951 | BSG Mechanik Cainsdorf | ||
Senior career* | |||
Years | Team | Apps | (Gls) |
1951–1954 | Wismut Aue | 79 | (38) |
1954–1962 | Wismut Karl-Marx-Stadt | 158 | (76) |
Total | 237 | (114) | |
National team | |||
1954–1959 | East Germany | 15 | (10) |
* Senior club appearances and goals counted for the domestic league only |
Willy Tröger (2 October 1928 – 30 March 2004) was a German footballer who played as a striker, spending his entire career with Wismut Aue,[1] and making 15 appearances for the East Germany national team.
Career[]
In his youth, Tröger played handball before converting to football, where he initially played as a goalkeeper. Both of these activities were cut short in 1945, however, when he lost his hand while fighting in World War II: having been drafted into the Wehrmacht as the war drew to a close, he was injured by a grenade in Berlin.[2] He continued in the game, however, and converted to the position of striker, playing for a succession of local clubs in Zwickau before joining Wismut Aue of the DDR-Oberliga in 1951, following coach Walter Fritzsch. He remained with the club, who were renamed Wismut Karl-Marx-Stadt in 1954, until 1962, scoring 114 goals in 237 games.[3] During this time the club won three league titles (1956, 1957 and 1959) and one cup in , and Tröger was the league's top scorer in the 1954–55 season, with 22 goals. His 114 goals at the highest level of East German football are a club record.
Tröger made 15 appearances for the East Germany national team, scoring 10 goals between 1954 and 1959, including 2 goals in the national team's first victory, a 3–2 win against Romania in Bucharest in 1955.[4]
Death[]
Tröger died of stomach cancer on 30 March 2004 in Pirna-Copitz,[1] having been unsuccessfully operated on twice. A song was written in tribute by local artist Stefan Gerlach, and the stadium in Pirna was renamed the in his honour.
References[]
- ^ Jump up to: a b "Willy Tröger gestorben". Berliner Zeitung (in German). 1 April 2004. Retrieved 29 November 2010.
- ^ "Willy Tröger". Munzinger (in German). Retrieved 29 November 2010.
- ^ Arnhold, Matthias (18 February 2006). "Willy Tröger - Matches and Goals in Oberliga". RSSSF. Retrieved 11 April 2013.
- ^ Arnhold, Matthias (5 February 2015). "Willy Tröger - Goals in International Matches". RSSSF. Retrieved 6 February 2015.
- 1928 births
- 2004 deaths
- People from Zwickau
- German footballers
- German Army personnel of World War II
- German amputees
- East German footballers
- East Germany international footballers
- Association football forwards
- FC Erzgebirge Aue players
- Deaths from stomach cancer
- DDR-Oberliga players
- Footballers from Saxony
- Child soldiers in World War II