German football mourns the loss of an ex-national goalkeeper.
Former DFB keeper Wolfgang Fahrian is dead. The German World Cup goalkeeper from 1962 died at the age of 80 on Wednesday night from pneumonia. This was announced by his ex-clubs Fortuna Düsseldorf and Fortuna Cologne.
The people of Düsseldorf referred to the family.
Fahrian made his debut as a 20-year-old goalkeeper from the 2nd division south on April 11, 1962 in Hamburg in the last international match before the tournament in Chile against Uruguay in the national team. He impressed with an impeccable performance and flew to Chile with the DFB selection in May 1962.
There he surprisingly guarded the goal of national coach Sepp Herberger’s team. And this decision caused a lot of trouble.
Photo: dpa/dpa
” data-zoom-src=”https://bilder.bild.de/fotos/deutschlands-torwart-wolfgang-fahrian-r-im-luftkampf-mit-brasiliens-pele-im-jahr-1963-a8eeb65c4d0140b193ced8ed0a3b19be-79766918/ picture/6.picture.jpg”/> Germany’s goalkeeper Wolfgang Fahrian (r) in a dogfight with Brazil’s Pele in 1963Photo: dpa/dpa
Everyone, fans, reporters and the players themselves assumed that Hans Tilkowski (then Herne, later BVB) would be number 1 at the World Cup. Herberger surprisingly put the only 20-year-old Fahrian from second division TSG Ulm in goal. Tilkowski then dismantled his hotel room out of anger.
Fahrian featured in all four of the team’s games and was eliminated with the team in the quarterfinals by a 1-0 win over Yugoslavia. In this game he showed an excellent performance. From 1962 to 1964, Fahrian played ten times for the German national soccer team.
At club level, Fahrian played for Ulm, Hertha BSC, TSV 1860 Munich, Fortuna Düsseldorf and SC Fortuna Cologne. Fahrian played for Cologne for most of his career in the 1970s (1969 – 1976).
After his playing days, he worked as a consultant. Among other things, he represented the well-known professionals Jürgen Kohler (56), Kevin Kurányi (40) and Kevin-Prince Boateng (35). After a heart attack in 2009, Fahrian largely withdrew from the public eye.
