The hero and traitor of the GDR who became the champion of the FRG

Germany against Germany. The folly of dividing nations after Second World War to configure the two blocs, the capitalist and the communist, to the surprise of its inhabitants who are incapable of understanding the designs of geopolitics, have generated a rejection of other countries transferred to football. What happened when they faced the RFA (Federal German Republic – West Germany – capitalist) and the GDR (German Democratic Republic – East Germany – communist) in 1974 World Cup They were two opposing states that didn’t even recognize each other.

Germany’74

On June 22, 1974 at Hamburg the last match of group 1 phase of world who organized the West Germany. Expect one of the most tense matches in football history. In fact, days before, the Faction of the Red ArmyThe RAFthe armed communist organization operating in the RFAshowed signs of threat and, as a result of the psychosis that exists as a result of the Palestinian attack on JJ. YES. from 1972 to Munichthe match was played with a helicopter flying over the pitch and with snipers located on rooftops near the stadium.

The tension was such that the players did not change shirts. Only Paul Breitnera West German but with strong Maoist beliefs, dared to demand the shirt from Sparwasser already in the locker room tunnel. The hero of the match t-shirt.

hero

Jürgen Sparwasser (6/4/1948, Halberstadt, GDR) scored the only goal of the match that gave victory to East Germany and he became a hero, in spite of himself, for a whole country that needed to be convinced that communism was better than capitalism on all levels. ‘Sparry‘, as his friends called him, reflected the success of the regime. There were rumors that he received a house, a car and cash marks but he always denied it. Sparwasser He considered himself seriously harmed by the regime: he received a multimillion-dollar offer from Bayern Munich which he strangely rejected. “I’m a child of the working class, I don’t need luxury and money,” he said publicly at the time. Apparently, the rejection of the offer was encouraged by the authorities, who did not want to see a sports hero go west as he did five years later with Lutz Eigendorfwhere Stasi (political police of GDR) ended up getting away by cutting his car’s brakes. But this is another story.

That defeat was done by the ‘brothers’ of the east Germany served on RFA to fall into a kind picture with Poland, Sweden and Yugoslavia avoidance Brazil, Holland and Argentina and reached the final. And win it. The GDR He had no other journey to world. But it is important. He managed to qualify for his first worldwas not eliminated the first time and, moreover, was able to beat the RFA thanks to the historical purpose of Sparwasser.

traitor

Sparwasser wore the shirt of 1. FC Magdeburg for 13 seasons between 1966 and 1979, playing 298 games and scoring 133 goals. He won three leagues (DDR Oberliga), four Cups of GDR and the Cup Winners Cup 1974, where Magdeburg beat the Milan. His contribution to the national team is also relevant: 49 games and 14 goals between 1969 and 1977. In addition, he won a bronze medal in Olympics of 1972.

He hung up his boots in 1979 and was offered teaching positions but had to join the communist party and declined. He fell into oblivion and fed up with lies, propaganda and political manipulation, in 1988 he took advantage of a party of Western veterans to divorce his wife. A year later, on November 9, the wall separating the two was torn down. Germans.

He always said he scored that historic goal “from east to west.”