Dieter Erler (28 May 1939 in

Glauchau Glauchau (; , ) is a town in the German federal state of Saxony, on the right bank of the Mulde, 7 miles north of Zwickau and 17 miles west of Chemnitz by rail ( its train station is on the Dresden–Werdau line). It is part of the Zwickau dist ...

– 10 April 1998 in

Chemnitz Chemnitz (; from 1953 to 1990: Karl-Marx-Stadt (); ; ) is the third-largest city in the Germany, German States of Germany, state of Saxony after Leipzig and Dresden, and the fourth-largest city in the area of former East Germany after (East Be ...

) was a German

footballer A football player or footballer is a sportsperson who plays one of the different types of football. The main types of football are association football, American football, Canadian football, Australian rules football, Gaelic football, rugby lea ...

. He began his footballing career with BSG Chemie Glauchau in 1953. He was transferred to

BSG Wismut Gera BSG Wismut Gera is a German association football club playing in Gera, Thuringia. The club is the successor to ''1. SV Gera'' whose football department joined ''Blau-Weiß Gera'' and ''Geraer KFC Dynamos'' in 2007 to form ''FV Gera Süd'', whic ...

for the 1957 season and then after two seasons moved to

sports club A sports club or sporting club, sometimes an athletics club or sports society or sports association, is a group of people formed for the purpose of playing sports. Sports clubs range from organisations whose members play together, unpaid, and ...

SC Wismut Karl-Marx-Stadt in January 1959. Erler was both a

playmaker In association football, a playmaker is a footballer who controls the flow of the team's play, and is often involved in offensively and defensively playing Passing (association football), passing moves which lead to Goal (sport), goals, through ...

and a goalscoring midfielder. In 1963, Erler moved to

SC Karl-Marx-Stadt SC Karl-Marx-Stadt was a sports club located at Karl-Marx-Stadt in the German Democratic Republic. Established in 1945, the sports club went through a variation of name changes until 1 July 1963, settling with SC Karl-Marx-Stadt, which lasted unt ...

, where he played alongside the player described by

Pelé Edson Arantes do Nascimento (; 23 October 1940 – 29 December 2022), better known by his nickname Pelé (), was a Brazilian professional Association football, footballer who played as a Forward (association football), forward. Widely reg ...

as the best left-winger in the world at the time: Eberhard Vogel. In 1966–67 the team was crowned

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 ...

champion. Between 1959 and 1972 he played for SC Wismut Karl-Marx-Stadt and then FC Karl-Marx-Stadt. During his career he gained between 1959 and 1968 47 international

cap A cap is a flat headgear, usually with a visor. Caps have crowns that fit very close to the head. They made their first appearance as early as 3200 BC. The origin of the word "cap" comes from the Old French word "chapeau" which means "head co ...

s and scored 12 goals for

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 ...

. He was voted

GDR East Germany, officially known as the German Democratic Republic (GDR), was a country in Central Europe from its formation on 7 October 1949 until its reunification with West Germany (FRG) on 3 October 1990. Until 1989, it was generally vie ...

footballer of the year in 1967.

Career statistics

Club

International

International goals

:''Scores and results list East Germany's goal tally first.''

Honours

Club

;SC Wismut Karl-Marx-Stadt *

1959 Events January * January 1 – Cuba: Fulgencio Batista flees Havana when the forces of Fidel Castro advance. * January 2 – Soviet lunar probe Luna 1 is the first human-made object to attain escape velocity from Earth. It reaches the ...

Individual

* GDR Player of the Year:

1967 Events January * January 1 – Canada begins a year-long celebration of the 100th anniversary of Canadian Confederation, Confederation, featuring the Expo 67 World's Fair. * January 6 – Vietnam War: United States Marine Corps and Army of ...

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Erler, Dieter 1939 births 1998 deaths People from Glauchau German men's footballers East German men's footballers East Germany men's international footballers FC Erzgebirge Aue players Chemnitzer FC players Chemnitzer FC managers East German football managers DDR-Oberliga players Men's association football midfielders Footballers from Bezirk Karl-Marx-Stadt