Heinz Krügel

Heinz Krügel (24 April 1921 – 27 October 2008) was a German footballer and manager.

During World War II, he served in the 5th SS Panzer Division "Wiking" between 1940 and 1944. After being wounded on the Eastern Front, he was transferred to the SS Corps Flak Detachment 509 in the Balkans. While in the Balkans, he was taken as a prisoner of war, and was later allowed to return to Germany in 1946. He would continue playing football, but suffered a knee injury that ended his playing career in 1950.

As a manager, he would coach KVP Vorwärts Leipzig, Einheit Ost/SC Rotation Leipzig, and SC Empor Rostock. Between 1959 and 1961, he was the manager of East Germany. He would also manage Hallescher FC Chemie between 1961 and 1966.

Between 1966 and 1976, he was the manager of 1. FC Magdeburg. With them, he won 3 DDR-Oberliga titles, 2 FDGB-Pokal titles, and the 1973–74 European Cup Winners' Cup. During this time, he received offers to manage other clubs in Europe, like Juventus, but he declined these offers. In 1976, he was banned from managing by the Deutscher Fußball-Verband der DDR who claimed the reason was for "insufficient development of the Olympic athletes at 1. FC Magdeburg".

He died in Magdeburg on 27 October 2008, after a prolonged sickness.


References

 Volkmar Laube, Roland Uhl: „Heinz Krügel – Der Meistermacher“, MDPrint Mediencenter Magd 2003, 
 Volkmar Laube, Roland Uhl, Andreas Prill : „Magdeburger Triumph im "Kuip"“, MDPrint Mediencenter Magd 2004, 

Other websites

Category:1921 births
Category:2008 deaths
Category:Sportspeople from Saxony
Category:German footballers
Category:Association football midfielders
Category:German football managers
Category:East Germany national football team managers
Category:German military personnel of World War II
Category:Waffen-SS people
Category:East German footballers