Toni Turek

Toni Turek, real name Anton Turek, (18 January 1919 – 11 May 1984) was a German football goalkeeper.

Toni Turek
Personal information
Full name Anton Turek
Date of birth (1919-01-18)18 January 1919
Place of birth Duisburg, Germany
Date of death 11 May 1984(1984-05-11) (aged 65)
Place of death Neuss, West Germany
Height 1.81 m (5 ft 11 in)
Position(s) Goalkeeper
Youth career
1929–1936 Duisburger SV
Senior career*
Years Team Apps (Gls)
1936–1941 TuS Duisburg 48/99
1941–1943 TSG Ulm 1846
1943–1946 TuS Duisburg 48/99
1946–1947 Eintracht Frankfurt 22 (0)
1947–1950 TSG Ulm 1846 65 (0)
1950–1956 Fortuna Düsseldorf 133 (0)
1956–1957 Borussia Mönchengladbach 4 (0)
National team
1950–1954 West Germany 20 (0)
* Senior club appearances and goals counted for the domestic league only
Bronze statue by Toni Turek next to the Merkur Spiel-Arena in Düsseldorf-Stockum.

Biography

Turek was born in Duisburg.

He started his career at Duisburger Sportverein, but he soon switched to TuS Duisburg 48/99. In 1950 he switched to Fortuna Düsseldorf. Between 1950 and 1954 he played 20 games for the German national team.[1] He played in "The Miracle of Bern" 1954 FIFA World Cup final against Hungary and won the Championship.

After a fine save from a very close shot by Nándor Hidegkuti, he was described by the sports reporter Herbert Zimmermann with the words "Toni, you're a football God".[2][3] He later had to apologize for that comment because the church complained about the comparison of a football player with God.

The first time his later coach Sepp Herberger had noticed Toni Turek was on 27 September 1936, when Germany played a preparation game against Luxembourg in Krefeld. 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 Turek was lucky things didn't turn out worse for him as a shell splinter struck through his helmet.[4]

Turek died in Neuss in 1984.[2] He had been paralyzed from the waist down since August 1973.[5]

References
  1. Arnhold, Matthias (28 July 2016). "Anton 'Toni' Turek - International Appearances". RSSSF. Retrieved 2 August 2016.
  2. "Viel Glück habe ich nicht gehabt" (in German). web.ard.de. Archived from the original on 24 December 2009. Retrieved 30 June 2009.
  3. "Video clip on YouTube".
  4. Bitter, Jürgen. Deutschlands Fußball Nationalspieler, Sportverlag, 1997, p. 503.
  5. Bitter, Jürgen. Deutschlands Fußball Nationalspieler, Sportverlag, 1997, p. 504.

Further reading

Werner Raupp: Toni Turek - "Fußballgott". Eine Biographie, Hildesheim: Arete Verlag 2018

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