Jörg Berger (13 October 1944 – 23 June 2010) was a German

football Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kick (football), kicking a football (ball), ball to score a goal (sports), goal. Unqualified, football (word), the word ''football'' generally means the form of football t ...

manager and player, who last managed

Arminia Bielefeld DSC Arminia Bielefeld (; full name: ; commonly known as Arminia Bielefeld (), also known as ''Die Arminen'' or ''Die Blauen'' ), or just Arminia (), is a German sports club from Bielefeld, North Rhine-Westphalia. Arminia is most well known as ...

Career

As an active he played for 1.FC Lok Leipzig.

Coaching career

In 1970, Berger was forced to retire due to a muscle injury and started his managing career after the studying at the DHfK Leipzig. Berger was a reputable manager in

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 ...

who was planned to manage the

national team A national sports team (commonly known as a national team or a national side) is a team that represents a nation, rather than a particular club or region, in an international sport. The term is most commonly associated with team sports, for exa ...

as successor of longtime manager Georg Buschner some day. Berger managed the youth team of the GDR. In 1979, he used a match in

Yugoslavia , common_name = Yugoslavia , life_span = 1918–19921941–1945: World War II in Yugoslavia#Axis invasion and dismemberment of Yugoslavia, Axis occupation , p1 = Kingdom of SerbiaSerbia , flag_p ...

to flee to West Germany. He signed with Second Bundesliga side SV Darmstadt 98. As a GDR refugee he suffered many threats by the East German secret police

Stasi The Ministry for State Security (, ; abbreviated MfS), commonly known as the (, an abbreviation of ), was the Intelligence agency, state security service and secret police of East Germany from 1950 to 1990. It was one of the most repressive pol ...

. He survived being poisoned whilst managing KSV Hessen Kassel in the mid-1980s. Evidence of the threats to his life were not available until 1990 when Germany was reunified, after which he was able to search his Stasi files. He was renowned as a great motivator, helping clubs threatened with relegation, but with little chance to build up teams over a longer period. Berger became the ’’fireman’’ of the Bundesliga after he twice failed to gain promotion to the Bundesliga with KSV Hessen Kassel, ending up in fourth position in the Second division of the Bundesliga (1984 and 1985). His greatest achievements were two third positions with

Eintracht Frankfurt Eintracht Frankfurt e.V. () is a German professional sports club based in Frankfurt, Hesse. It is best known for its football club, which was founded on 8 March 1899. The club currently plays in the Bundesliga, the top tier of the German footb ...

in 1990 and with

FC Schalke 04 Fußballclub Gelsenkirchen-Schalke 04 e. V., commonly known as Schalke 04 (), and abbreviated as S04 (), is a professional sports club from the Schalke district of Gelsenkirchen, North Rhine-Westphalia. It is best known for its football team, ...

in 1996. He was replaced as manager of Schalke by

Huub Stevens Hubertus Jozef Margaretha "Huub" Stevens (; born 29 November 1953) is a Dutch former professional Manager (association football), football manager and player. Playing career Stevens was born in Sittard. While active, he played for Fortuna Sittar ...

in October 1996 shortly before they won the

UEFA Cup The asterisk ( ), from Late Latin , from Ancient Greek , , "little star", is a Typography, typographical symbol. It is so called because it resembles a conventional image of a star (heraldry), heraldic star. Computer scientists and Mathematici ...

in 1997. Berger's last big success was reaching the

DFB-Pokal The DFB-Pokal (), also known as the German Cup in English language, English, is a German knockout Association football, football cup competition held annually by the German Football Association (DFB). Sixty-four teams participate in the competiti ...

final with Alemannia Aachen, a side from the Second division of the Bundesliga. However his contract was cancelled, by mutual agreement, after they lost to the then current champions (

SV Werder Bremen Sportverein Werder Bremen von 1899 e. V. (), commonly known as Werder Bremen, Werder or simply Bremen, is a German professional sports club based in Bremen. Founded on 4 February 1899, Werder are best known for their professional association foo ...

) and failed to gain promotion to the Bundesliga. From 17 November 2004 until 14 August 2005, he was the manager of

FC Hansa Rostock FC Hansa Rostock () is a German association football club based in the city of Rostock, Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania. The club is also called as "the cog" because of its club crest. They have emerged as one of the most successful clubs from ...

. He was fired after a 1–4 defeat by

TSV 1860 München , commonly known as TSV 1860 München (; ''sechzig'' locally ; lettered as ) or 1860 Munich, is a sports club based in Munich. The club's association football, football team plays in the 3. Liga, the third tier of German football league system ...

. On 18 May 2009, was named as the new Head Coach from DSC Arminia Bielefeld. His contract ran until 30 June 2009. He left the club on this date.

Personal life

Berger was the father of three children. In 2002, he had to interrupt his time as Alemannia Aachen manager due to an operation on an intestinal tumour. In 2005, he was operated on again, this time on

liver The liver is a major metabolic organ (anatomy), organ exclusively found in vertebrates, which performs many essential biological Function (biology), functions such as detoxification of the organism, and the Protein biosynthesis, synthesis of var ...

metastasis Metastasis is a pathogenic agent's spreading from an initial or primary site to a different or secondary site within the host's body; the term is typically used when referring to metastasis by a cancerous tumor. The newly pathological sites, ...

. He released his biography ''"Meine zwei Halbzeiten: Ein Leben in Ost und West"'' (English: ''My Two Halves: A Life in the East and in the West'') over the

Leipzig Leipzig (, ; ; Upper Saxon: ; ) is the most populous city in the States of Germany, German state of Saxony. The city has a population of 628,718 inhabitants as of 2023. It is the List of cities in Germany by population, eighth-largest city in Ge ...

based

Rowohlt Verlag Rowohlt Verlag is a German publishing house based in Hamburg, with offices in Reinbek and Berlin. It has been part of the Georg von Holtzbrinck Group since 1982. The company has been dissolved and restarted twice since its creation in 1908. Hi ...

in March 2009. Berger died on 23 June 2010 of an

enteric The gastrointestinal tract (GI tract, digestive tract, alimentary canal) is the tract or passageway of the digestive system that leads from the mouth to the anus. The tract is the largest of the body's systems, after the cardiovascular system. ...

tumor A neoplasm () is a type of abnormal and excessive growth of tissue. The process that occurs to form or produce a neoplasm is called neoplasia. The growth of a neoplasm is uncoordinated with that of the normal surrounding tissue, and persists ...

.Keine Rettung für den Retter

References

External links

Jörg Berger at eintracht-archiv.de
* {{DEFAULTSORT:Berger, Jorg 1944 births 2010 deaths Footballers from Gdynia Sportspeople from West Prussia German football managers German men's footballers East German men's footballers Defecting sportspeople from East Germany East German football managers 1. FC Lokomotive Leipzig players Fortuna Düsseldorf managers Hannover 96 managers SC Freiburg managers SV Darmstadt 98 managers Eintracht Frankfurt managers 1. FC Köln managers FC Schalke 04 managers FC Basel managers Karlsruher SC managers Bursaspor managers KSV Hessen Kassel managers Alemannia Aachen managers FC Hansa Rostock managers Arminia Bielefeld managers Bundesliga managers Expatriate football managers in Switzerland Expatriate football managers in Turkey Deaths from colorectal cancer in Germany 2. Bundesliga managers East German emigrants to West Germany DDR-Oberliga players Men's association football forwards

Career

Coaching career

Personal life

See also

References

External links