Jürgen Sparwasser (born 4 June 1948 in Halberstadt) is a retired German football player and later briefly a football manager.

Jürgen Sparwasser
Jürgen Sparwasser with Team GDR in October 1975
Personal information
Full name Jürgen Sparwasser
Date of birth (1948-06-04) 4 June 1948 (age 75)
Place of birth Halberstadt, Soviet Occupation Zone
Height 1.80 m (5 ft 11 in)
Position(s) Midfielder
Youth career
1956–1964 BSG Lokomotive Halberstadt
1965 1. FC Magdeburg
Senior career*
Years Team Apps (Gls)
1966–1979 1. FC Magdeburg 298 (133)
International career
1969–1977 East Germany 49 (14)
Managerial career
1990–1991 SV Darmstadt 98
Medal record
Olympic Games
Bronze medal – third place 1972 Munich Team Competition
*Club domestic league appearances and goals

Sparwasser started his playing career in the youth department of his hometown club BSG Lokomotive Halberstadt in 1956. In 1965 he moved to 1. FC Magdeburg where he gave his senior debut in January 1966. He would stay with the club until 1979, when a hip injury ended his career. He played in 271 DDR-Oberliga matches as a midfielder, scoring 111 goals. When Magdeburg had been relegated to the second-tier DDR-Liga at the end of the 1965–66 season, Sparwasser was an integral part in winning immediate repromotion, scoring 22 goals in 27 matches.[1] He also played 40 matches in various European competitions.[2] He was part of the team that won the UEFA Cup Winners' Cup in 1974.[3]

Between 1969 and 1977 Sparwasser played in 49 matches for East Germany, scoring 14 goals.[4] As a member of the Olympic team in 1972, he played in 7 matches and scored 5 goals. He won a shared bronze medal for his native country.[5] He also made six appearances for East Germany at the 1974 FIFA World Cup finals, where he gained fame for scoring the winning goal in a politically prestigious match against West Germany.

This goal was exploited politically, but Sparwasser did not profit from it. As he said later: "Rumor had it I was richly rewarded for the goal, with a car, a house and a cash premium. But that is not true."[6] In 1988, Sparwasser defected to West Germany while taking part in a veterans' tournament there.

After his playing career he had a brief managerial career, working as assistant manager at Eintracht Frankfurt in 1988 and 1989 and as head coach at SV Darmstadt 98 in 1990 and 1991.

Career statistics edit

International goals edit

# Date Venue Opponent Score Result Competition
1. 9 July 1969 Ostseestadion, Rostock, East Germany   United Arab Republic 5–0 7–0 Friendly
2. 9 July 1969 Ostseestadion, Rostock, East Germany   United Arab Republic 6–0 7–0 Friendly
3. 19 December 1969 National Stadium, Cairo, Egypt   United Arab Republic 1–0 3–1 Friendly
4. 16 August 1971 Estadio Jalisco, Guadalajara, Mexico   Mexico 1–0 1–0 Friendly
5. 7 October 1972 Stadion Dresden, Dresden, East Germany   Finland 2–0 5–0 1974 FIFA World Cup Q.
6. 7 October 1972 Stadion Dresden, Dresden, East Germany   Finland 5–0 5–0 1974 FIFA World Cup Q.
7. 8 April 1973 Ernst Grube Stadium, Magdeburg, East Germany   Albania 2–0 2–0 1974 FIFA World Cup Q.
8. 13 November 1973 Qemal Stafa Stadium, Tirana, Albania   Albania 4–1 4–1 1974 FIFA World Cup Q.
9. 23 May 1974 Ostseestadion, Rostock, East Germany   Norway 1–0 1–0 Friendly
10. 22 June 1974 Volksparkstadion, Hamburg, West Germany   West Germany 1–0 1–0 1974 FIFA World Cup
11. 16 November 1974 Parc des Princes, Paris, France   France 1–0 2–2 UEFA Euro 1976 qualifying
12. 29 July 1975 Varsity Stadium, Toronto, Canada   Canada 1–0 3–0 Friendly
13. 28 July 1977 Zentralstadion, Leipzig, East Germany   Soviet Union 2–1 2–1 Friendly
14. 29 October 1977 Karl-Liebknecht-Stadion, Babelsberg, East Germany   Malta 4–0 9–0 1978 FIFA World Cup Q.
East Germany's goal tally first. Correct as of 6 September 2011[7][8]

Honours edit

See also edit

References edit

  1. ^ Matthias Arnhold (10 July 2006). "Jürgen Sparwasser – Matches and Goals in Oberliga". RSSSF. Retrieved 6 January 2009.
  2. ^ Matthias Arnhold (1 February 2006). "Germany – Player Data – S". RSSSF. Retrieved 6 January 2009.
  3. ^ "1973/74: Magdeburg clip Milan's wings". UEFA. 17 August 2001. Archived from the original on 4 March 2009. Retrieved 6 January 2009.
  4. ^ "Spielerinfo Sparwasser" (in German). dfb.de. Retrieved 6 January 2009.
  5. ^ "Juergen Sparwasser". FIFA. Archived from the original on 10 April 2008. Retrieved 6 January 2009.
  6. ^ "Siegtor mehr Fluch als Segen für Sparwasser" (in German). Neue Westfälische. 6 January 2009. Archived from the original on 19 July 2011. Retrieved 6 January 2009. Das stimmt aber nicht.
  7. ^ Matthias Arnhold (13 March 2004). "Jürgen Sparwasser – Goals in International Matches". RSSSF. Retrieved 6 September 2011.
  8. ^ "Spielerinfo Sparwasser". DFB.de. Gesellschaft für DFB-Online mbH. Retrieved 22 April 2013.