Holger Obermann (31 August 1936 – 30 October 2021) was a German professional

football player 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 ...

and

football manager ''Football Manager'', also known as ''Worldwide Soccer Manager'' in North America from 2004 to 2008, is a series of football management simulation video games developed by British developer Sports Interactive and published by Sega. The game beg ...

journalist A journalist is a person who gathers information in the form of text, audio or pictures, processes it into a newsworthy form and disseminates it to the public. This is called journalism. Roles Journalists can work in broadcast, print, advertis ...

and ARD television reporter.

Career

Obermann was born in

Kassel Kassel (; in Germany, spelled Cassel until 1926) is a city on the Fulda River in North Hesse, northern Hesse, in Central Germany (geography), central Germany. It is the administrative seat of the Regierungsbezirk Kassel (region), Kassel and the d ...

. He first started playing for

KSV Hessen Kassel KSV Hessen Kassel is a semi-professional Football in Germany, German football club based in Kassel, Hesse. KSV competes in the German Regionalliga Südwest, the German football league system, fourth tier of German football. Nicknamed "Die Löwe ...

. He continued his career at

Concordia Hamburg SC Concordia von 1907 was a Football in Germany, German football club from Marienthal, a quarter in the Wandsbek borough of the city of Hamburg. In 2013, the club has merged with neighbours TSV Wandsbek-Jenfeld 81' (already having used their gro ...

and

FSV Frankfurt Fußballsportverein Frankfurt 1899 e.V., commonly known as simply FSV Frankfurt and known as simply Frankfurt, is a German association football club based in the Bornheim district of Frankfurt am Main, Hessen and founded in 1899. FSV Frankfurt ...

. In 1961, he went to the United States, where he was the first German professional. He played in

New York City New York, often called New York City (NYC), is the most populous city in the United States, located at the southern tip of New York State on one of the world's largest natural harbors. The city comprises five boroughs, each coextensive w ...

at Elizabeth S.C. the 1st German-American Soccer League. His journalist career began with an internship at the

Hamburger Morgenpost The ''Hamburger Morgenpost'' (Hamburg Morning Post) (also known as Mopo) is a daily German newspaper published in Hamburg in Tabloid (newspaper format), tabloid format. As of 2006 the ''Hamburger Morgenpost'' was the second-largest newspaper in H ...

. Later, he was an editor and foreign correspondent for the

New Yorker Staats-Zeitung The ''New Yorker Staats-Zeitung'' (), nicknamed ''The Staats'', is a German language, German-language newspaper in the United States. Its publisher claims it to be the leading German-language weekly newspaper in the country. In the late 19th ce ...

, head of a German radio station and staff of the American television

ABC ABC are the first three letters of the Latin script. ABC or abc may also refer to: Arts, entertainment and media Broadcasting * Aliw Broadcasting Corporation, Philippine broadcast company * American Broadcasting Company, a commercial American ...

in Miami. After his return to Germany in 1966, he was a senior editor at TV the

Hessischer Rundfunk (; "Hesse Broadcasting"), shortened to HR (; stylized as hr), is the German state of Hesse's public broadcasting corporation. Headquartered in Frankfurt, it is a member of the national consortium of German public broadcasting corporations, A ...

, later head of the editorial Television Sports currently at South German Radio. Here he commented on football games for ARD. From 1971 to 1984, he was one of the moderators of the sports program ''

Sportschau ''Sportschau'' is a German sports magazine on broadcaster ARD, produced by WDR in Cologne. The magazine started in 1961. In its Saturday edition, the ''Sportschau'' shows a summary of the Bundesliga, whereas the Sunday edition reports on the l ...

''. Obermann was involved for many years in the sport-related development assistance in crisis areas. His work as a "sports development expert" led him on behalf of the

German Football Association The German Football Association ( ; DFB ) is the governing body of Association football, football, futsal, and beach soccer in Germany. A founding member of both FIFA and UEFA, the DFB has jurisdiction for the German football league system and ...

and the

National Olympic Committees A National Olympic Committee (NOC) is a national constituent of the worldwide Olympic movement. Subject to the controls of the International Olympic Committee, NOCs are responsible for organizing their people's participation in the Olympic Games ...

around 30 locations, including

East Timor Timor-Leste, also known as East Timor, officially the Democratic Republic of Timor-Leste, is a country in Southeast Asia. It comprises the eastern half of the island of Timor, the coastal exclave of Oecusse in the island's northwest, and ...

Cameroon Cameroon, officially the Republic of Cameroon, is a country in Central Africa. It shares boundaries with Nigeria to the west and north, Chad to the northeast, the Central African Republic to the east, and Equatorial Guinea, Gabon, and the R ...

Nepal Nepal, officially the Federal Democratic Republic of Nepal, is a landlocked country in South Asia. It is mainly situated in the Himalayas, but also includes parts of the Indo-Gangetic Plain. It borders the Tibet Autonomous Region of China Ch ...

Bangladesh Bangladesh, officially the People's Republic of Bangladesh, is a country in South Asia. It is the List of countries and dependencies by population, eighth-most populous country in the world and among the List of countries and dependencies by ...

Sri Lanka Sri Lanka, officially the Democratic Socialist Republic of Sri Lanka, also known historically as Ceylon, is an island country in South Asia. It lies in the Indian Ocean, southwest of the Bay of Bengal, separated from the Indian subcontinent, ...

and

Afghanistan Afghanistan, officially the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan, is a landlocked country located at the crossroads of Central Asia and South Asia. It is bordered by Pakistan to the Durand Line, east and south, Iran to the Afghanistan–Iran borde ...

. Several times he was honored for his commitment. In 1997, he was awarded the

Federal Cross of Merit The Order of Merit of the Federal Republic of Germany (, or , BVO) is the highest state decoration, federal decoration of the Federal Republic of Germany. It may be awarded for any field of endeavor. It was created by the first List of president ...

and 2004, the prize for tolerance and fair play of the

Federal Ministry of the Interior, Building and Community The Federal Ministry of the Interior (, ; abbreviated BMI) is a cabinet-level ministry of the Federal Republic of Germany. Its main office is in Berlin, with a secondary seat in Bonn. The current minister is Nancy Faeser. It is comparabl ...

. Obermann was a senior adviser of the Afghanistan football project sponsored by

FIFA The Fédération Internationale de Football Association (), more commonly known by its acronym FIFA ( ), is the international self-regulatory governing body of association football, beach soccer, and futsal. It was founded on 21 May 1904 to o ...

. From January until March 2003, he led the Afghanistan national football team.Germany backs Afghan effort – UEFA.com
/ref> From March 2004, he was an honorary member of the Afghan Football Association for his contributions to youth development. After the Indian Ocean tsunami of 2004, he was named by FIFA as technical consultant for the reconstruction program in Sri Lanka, where he worked directly on site. Obermann helped to found the German American Society of Hollywood Florida in 1964.

Personal life and death

Obermann married to Barbara in 1961. They had two children. He died from

COVID-19 Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) is a contagious disease caused by the coronavirus SARS-CoV-2. In January 2020, the disease spread worldwide, resulting in the COVID-19 pandemic. The symptoms of COVID‑19 can vary but often include fever ...

Friedrichsdorf Friedrichsdorf () is a town of the Hochtaunuskreis, some north of Frankfurt am Main in Hesse, Germany. Geography Location Friedrichsdorf is located in the Taunus area, ranking third among the Hochtaunuskreis boroughs after Bad Homburg vor der ...

on 30 October 2021, during the

COVID-19 pandemic in Germany The COVID-19 pandemic in Germany has resulted in confirmed cases of COVID-19 and deaths. On 27 January 2020, the first case in Germany was confirmed near Munich, Bavaria. By mid February, the arising cluster of cases had been fully contained ...

Writings

* * *

Awards

* 1997 Officer's Cross of the

Order of Merit of the Federal Republic of Germany The Order of Merit of the Federal Republic of Germany (, or , BVO) is the highest state decoration, federal decoration of the Federal Republic of Germany. It may be awarded for any field of endeavor. It was created by the first List of president ...

* 2004 Clasp of Merit from the

(DFB) * 2004 Fair Play Prize () * 2010

FIFA Order of Merit The FIFA Order of Merit is the highest honour awarded by FIFA. The award is presented at the annual FIFA congress. It is normally awarded to people who are considered to have made a significant contribution to :association football. At FIFA's ce ...

* 2013

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Obermann, Holger 1936 births 2021 deaths Footballers from Kassel German men's footballers Men's association football goalkeepers KSV Hessen Kassel players SC Concordia von 1907 players FSV Frankfurt players Elizabeth S.C. players German football managers Afghanistan national football team managers Officers Crosses of the Order of Merit of the Federal Republic of Germany Deaths from the COVID-19 pandemic in Germany German expatriate football managers German expatriate sportspeople in Afghanistan 20th-century German sportsmen