Hans-Dieter "Timo" Zahnleiter (born 16 December 1948) is a German former professional football player and manager who played as a

midfielder A midfielder is an outfield position in association football. Midfielders may play an exclusively defensive role, breaking up attacks, and are in that case known as defensive midfielders. As central midfielders often go across boundarie ...

Playing career

Zahnleiter started his professional career in 1967 when he played for

VfR Mannheim VfR Mannheim is a German association football club based in Mannheim, Baden-Württemberg formed in 1911 out of the fusion of Mannheimer FG 1896, Mannheimer FG 1897 Union, and FC Viktoria 1897 Mannheim. The club captured the national title in 194 ...

until 1971. He spent the next three years in

1860 Munich , commonly known as TSV 1860 München (; lettered as ) or 1860 Munich, is a sports club based in Munich. The club's football team currently plays in the 3. Liga, the third tier of German football. 1860 Munich was one of the founding members ...

, a

2. Bundesliga The 2. Bundesliga ( ) is the second division of professional football in Germany. It was implemented 11 years after the founding of the Fußball-Bundesliga as the new second division for professional football. The 2. Bundesliga is ranked below ...

team at the time, where in 1973 he suffered from injuries. In the summer of 1974, he moved to Greece and transferred to

AEK Athens A.E.K ( el, AEK , formally Αθλητική Ένωσις Κωνσταντινουπόλεως; Athlitikí Énosis Konstantinoupόleos, ''Athletic Union of Constantinople''), known as A.E.K, is a major Greek multi-sport club based in Nea Filadelf ...

along with fellow countryman Walter Wagner. Zahnleiter played in the center and was distinguished mainly for his blocking skills, however, from the second year he was placed on the left end of the defense by

František Fadrhonc František Fadrhonc (18 December 1914 – 9 October 1981) was a Czech football manager, who was born in Nymburk, Austria-Hungary, present day Czech Republic. He coached many teams in Europe, mostly in the Netherlands. After winning the Dutch ch ...

, since the latter believed that this way AEK would achieve more beauty in their game. At AEK he suffered from injuries again and finally in 1977 he was released and returned to Germany to undergo surgery. Afterwards, he played for one year in VfR Bürstadt and for two years in

Wormatia Worms VfR Wormatia 08 Worms is a German association football club that plays in Worms, Rhineland-Palatinate. The club and its historical predecessors were regular participants in regional first-division football competition until the formation of the ...

where he also completed his football career.

Managerial career

Zahnleiter began his coaching career in 1983, as an assistant in

Darmstadt 98 Sportverein Darmstadt 1898 e.V., commonly known as Darmstadt 98 (), is a German football club based in Darmstadt, Hesse. The club was founded on 22 May 1898 as FC Olympia Darmstadt. Early in 1919, the association was briefly known as ''Rasen-Sp ...

in the 2. Liga, while in 1984 he joined the coaching staff of

1. FC Köln 1. Fußball-Club Köln 01/07 e. V., commonly known as simply FC Köln () or FC Cologne in English, is a German professional football club based in Cologne in North Rhine-Westphalia. It was formed in 1948 as a merger of the clubs ''Kölner Ballsp ...

again as an assistant. Then he had a spell at

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

until 1989 and other German teams such as

Viktoria Aschaffenburg SV Viktoria 01 Aschaffenburg is a German football club based in Aschaffenburg, Bavaria. Even though Aschaffenburg is located in Bavaria, Viktoria Aschaffenburg historically played its football in the Hessenliga (V) and the associated Hessian l ...

Energie Cottbus FC Energie Cottbus ( Lower Sorbian: ''Energija Chóśebuz'') is a German football club based in Cottbus, Brandenburg. It was founded in 1963 as SC Cottbus in what was East Germany. After the reunification of Germany, Energie played six seasons ...

, VfB Marburg and Rot-Weiß Walldorf until 1994 and in 1995 he returned to Greece on behalf of

PAS Giannina PAS Giannina Football Club ( el, ΠΑΕ ΠΑΣ Γιάννινα 1966), or with its full name Panepirotikos Athlitikos Syllogos Giannina ( el, Πανηπειρωτικός Αθλητικός Σύλλογος Γιάννινα, ''Panepirotic Athleti ...

. Subsequently, and in successive order, he assumed the technical leadership of

Ethnikos Piraeus Ethnikos Piraeus (Greek: Εθνικός Πειραιώς) is a Greek multisport club based in Piraeus. It was founded in 1923. The full name of the club is Ethnikos Omilos Filathlon Pireos/Phalirou or Ethnikos OFPF (Greek: Εθνικός Όμιλ ...

Ethnikos Asteras Ethnikos Asteras F.C. ( el, Γ.Α.Ο. Εθνικός Aστέρας, the ''National Star'') is a professional football club based in Kaisariani, Athens, Greece. History The club, originally named ''Ethnikos Astir,'' was founded in 1927 from the ...

and

Anagennisi Karditsa Anagennisi Karditsa Football Club ( el, ΠΑΕ Αναγέννηση Καρδίτσας) is a Greek professional football club based in Karditsa, Greece, which competes in the Super League 2, the second tier of the Greek football league system. T ...

, but without any remarkable success. In January 1999, he was removed from Anagennisi Karditsa due to poor results and then returned to Germany, being the coach of SV Seckenheim at the

Landesliga The Landesliga ( en, Football State League) is a tier of football in some states of the German football league system. In Bavaria, Saxony, Thuringia, Bremen, Lower Saxony and Hamburg, the Landesligas are set right below the Oberliga and therefor ...

from 2005 to 2008 period.

References

External links

Timo Zahnleiter at eintracht-archiv.de
{{DEFAULTSORT:Zahnleiter, Timo 1948 births Living people Footballers from Mannheim German footballers Footballers from Baden-Württemberg Association football midfielders Bundesliga managers 2. Bundesliga players Super League Greece players VfR Mannheim players TSV 1860 Munich players AEK Athens F.C. players VfR Bürstadt players Wormatia Worms players German football managers Eintracht Frankfurt managers Viktoria Aschaffenburg managers FC Energie Cottbus managers PAS Giannina F.C. managers Ethnikos Piraeus F.C. managers Ethnikos Asteras F.C. managers Anagennisi Karditsa F.C. managers German expatriate footballers German expatriate football managers German expatriate sportspeople in Greece Expatriate footballers in Greece Expatriate football managers in Greece