Volkmar Groß (31 January 1948 – 3 July 2014) was a German professional

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 ...

. He spent seven seasons in the

Bundesliga The Bundesliga (; ), sometimes referred to as the Fußball-Bundesliga () or 1. Bundesliga (), is a professional association football league in Germany and the highest level of the German football league system. The Bundesliga comprises 18 teams ...

with

Hertha BSC Hertha, Berliner Sport-Club e. V., commonly known as Hertha BSC () or Hertha Berlin, is a German professional football club based in Berlin. Hertha BSC plays in the 2. Bundesliga, the second tier of German football league system, German footbal ...

Tennis Borussia Berlin Tennis Borussia Berlin is a German football club based in the locality of Westend in Berlin. History The team was founded in 1902 as ''Berliner Tennis- und Ping-Pong-Gesellschaft Borussia'' taking its name from its origins as a tennis and ...

and

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, ...

. He represented

Germany Germany, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It lies between the Baltic Sea and the North Sea to the north and the Alps to the south. Its sixteen States of Germany, constituent states have a total popu ...

once in a friendly against

Greece Greece, officially the Hellenic Republic, is a country in Southeast Europe. Located on the southern tip of the Balkan peninsula, it shares land borders with Albania to the northwest, North Macedonia and Bulgaria to the north, and Turkey to th ...

. He scored one goal in the Bundesliga from a

penalty kick A penalty shot or penalty kick is a play used in several sports whereby a goal is attempted during untimed play. Depending on the sport, when a player commits certain types of penalties, the opposition is awarded a penalty shot or kick attempt. ...

Career

Groß was born in

Berlin Berlin ( ; ) is the Capital of Germany, capital and largest city of Germany, by both area and List of cities in Germany by population, population. With 3.7 million inhabitants, it has the List of cities in the European Union by population withi ...

. In 1967, he began his career with

. In 1971, Groß received a 15,000

Deutsche Mark The Deutsche Mark (; "German mark (currency), mark"), abbreviated "DM" or "D-Mark" (), was the official currency of West Germany from 1948 until 1990 and later of unified Germany from 1990 until the adoption of the euro in 2002. In English, it ...

fine as a result of an investigation into a match fixing scheme. He was suspended for two years from the Bundesliga and banned for life from the national team. During those two years, he played for

Hellenic FC Hellenic FC is a South African association football club based in Cape Town. They are nicknamed ''The Greek Gods''. History Established in 1958 by Greek South Africans, Hellenic campaigned in the lower amateur leagues of Cape Town. But by the ...

South Africa South Africa, officially the Republic of South Africa (RSA), is the Southern Africa, southernmost country in Africa. Its Provinces of South Africa, nine provinces are bounded to the south by of coastline that stretches along the Atlantic O ...

as due to UN Sanctions against this country, South Africa was not a member of

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 ...

. In 1977, he returned to Germany and joined

. In 1979, Groß moved to the United States and signed with the

Minnesota Kicks The Minnesota Kicks was a professional soccer team that played at Metropolitan Stadium in the Minneapolis suburb of Bloomington, Minnesota, from 1976 to 1981. The team was a member of the now defunct North American Soccer League (1968–84), No ...

of the

North American Soccer League The North American Soccer League (NASL) was the top-level major professional soccer league in the United States and Canada that operated from 1968 to 1984. It is considered the first soccer league to be successful on a national scale in the ...

. He began the season in Minnesota, but finished it with the San Diego Sockers. He would go on to play five outdoor, two NASL indoor and one Major Indoor Soccer League seasons with the Sockers before retiring in 1984. Groß died on 3 July 2014 after a long illness.

Honours

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 ...

finalist: 1974–75

References

External links

* * *
NASL/MISL stats
1948 births 2014 deaths Footballers from Berlin German men's footballers Germany men's international footballers Men's association football goalkeepers Bundesliga players Major Indoor Soccer League (1978–1992) players North American Soccer League (1968–1984) indoor players North American Soccer League (1968–1984) players Hertha BSC players Hellenic F.C. players FC Twente players Tennis Borussia Berlin players FC Schalke 04 players Minnesota Kicks players San Diego Sockers (1978–1996) players San Diego Sockers (1978–1996) indoor players West German expatriate men's footballers Expatriate men's soccer players in South Africa Expatriate men's footballers in the Netherlands Expatriate men's soccer players in the United States West German expatriate sportspeople in South Africa West German expatriate sportspeople in the Netherlands West German expatriate sportspeople in the United States West German men's footballers {{Germany-footy-goalkeeper-stub

Career

Honours

See also

References

External links