Anton Turek (18 January 1919 – 11 May 1984) 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 ...

who played as a

goalkeeper In many team sports that involve scoring goal (sport), goals, the goalkeeper (sometimes termed goaltender, netminder, GK, goalie, or keeper) is a designated player charged with directly preventing the opposing team from scoring by blocking or i ...

Career

Born in

Duisburg Duisburg (; , ) is a city in the Ruhr metropolitan area of the western States of Germany, German state of North Rhine-Westphalia. Lying on the confluence of the Rhine (Lower Rhine) and the Ruhr (river), Ruhr rivers in the center of the Rhine-Ruh ...

, Turek started his career at Duisburger Sportverein, but he soon moved to

TuS Duisburg 48/99 Eintracht Duisburg is a German sports club from the city of Duisburg, North Rhine-Westphalia. Founded in 1848, it is one of the country's oldest sport associations. __TOC__ History The club originated in a coming together of a number of earlie ...

. He first came to the attention of later West Germany national team coach

Sepp Herberger Josef "Sepp" Herberger (28 March 1897 – 28 April 1977) was a German football player and manager. He is most famous for being the manager of the West Germany national team that won the 1954 FIFA World Cup final, a match later dubbed '' The Mir ...

was on 27 September 1936, when West Germany played a preparation game against

Luxembourg Luxembourg, officially the Grand Duchy of Luxembourg, is a landlocked country in Western Europe. It is bordered by Belgium to the west and north, Germany to the east, and France on the south. Its capital and most populous city, Luxembour ...

Krefeld Krefeld ( , ; ), also spelled Crefeld until 1925 (though the spelling was still being used in British papers throughout the Second World War), is a city in North Rhine-Westphalia, in western Germany. It is located northwest of Düsseldorf, its c ...

. Before that game, the youth teams of Krefeld and TuS Duisburg 48/99 had met with the 17-year-old Turek standing in the Duisburg goal. During

World War II World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

Turek was lucky things did not turn out worse for him as a shell splinter struck through his helmet.Bitter, Jürgen. ''Deutschlands Fußball Nationalspieler'', Sportverlag, 1997, p. 503. In 1950 Turek transferred to

Fortuna Düsseldorf Düsseldorfer Turn- und Sportverein Fortuna 1895 e.V., commonly known as Fortuna Düsseldorf (), is a Football in Germany, German football club based in Düsseldorf, North Rhine-Westphalia, that competes in the 2. Bundesliga. Founded in 1895, Fo ...

. Between 1950 and 1954 he played 20 games for the West Germany national team. He played in "

The Miracle of Bern ''The Miracle of Bern'' () is a 2003 film by Sönke Wortmann, which tells the story of a German family (particularly of a young boy and his depressed ex-POW father) and the unexpected West German ''miracle'' victory in the 1954 World Cup Final ...

1954 FIFA World Cup The 1954 FIFA World Cup was the 5th edition of the FIFA World Cup, the quadrennial international Association football, football tournament for senior men's national teams of the nations affiliated to FIFA. It was held in Switzerland from 16 June ...

final against

Hungary Hungary is a landlocked country in Central Europe. Spanning much of the Pannonian Basin, Carpathian Basin, it is bordered by Slovakia to the north, Ukraine to the northeast, Romania to the east and southeast, Serbia to the south, Croatia and ...

and won the Championship. After a fine save from a very close shot by

Nándor Hidegkuti Nándor Hidegkuti (3 March 1922 – 14 February 2002) was a Hungarian football player and manager. He played as a forward or attacking midfielder and spent the majority of his playing career at MTK Hungária FC. During the 1950s he was also a ...

, he was described by the sports reporter Herbert Zimmermann with the words "Toni, you're a football God". He later had to apologize for that comment because the church complained about the comparison of a football player with God.

Death

Turek died in

Neuss Neuss (; written ''Neuß'' until 1968; ; ) is a city in North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany. It is on the west bank of the Rhine opposite Düsseldorf. Neuss is the largest city within the Rhein-Kreis Neuss district. It is primarily known for its ...

in 1984. He had been paralyzed from the waist down since August 1973.Bitter, Jürgen. ''Deutschlands Fußball Nationalspieler'', Sportverlag, 1997, p. 504.

Legacy

He has received numerous honours and is still highly regarded in Germany, especially in the Rhineland.Werner Raupp, Toni Turek – „Fußballgott“ (see below, Further Reading), p. 171–176, 183 f.

References

External links

* https://www.Toni-Turek.info (Toni-Turek-Archiv, Private archiv of Werner Raupp, Hohenstein/Schwäb. Alb). * * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Turek, Toni 1919 births 1984 deaths Footballers from Duisburg Sportspeople from the Rhine Province German men's footballers Germany men's international footballers Men's association football goalkeepers SSV Ulm 1846 players Eintracht Frankfurt players Fortuna Düsseldorf players Borussia Mönchengladbach players 1954 FIFA World Cup players FIFA World Cup–winning players Recipients of the Knights Cross of the War Merit Cross German military personnel of World War II West German men's footballers Military personnel from North Rhine-Westphalia

Career

Death

Legacy

References

Further reading

External links