Road To Moscow Olympics – D.D.R., U.S.S.R. Draw In Rostock

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Deutsche Demokratische Republik debutant winger JUERGEN HEUN (2nd from left) of FC Rot Weiss Erfurt and central striker DIETER KUEHN of FC Lokomotive Leipzig (far right) compete with a pair from the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics defense during the international match at the Ostseestadion in Rostock, East Germany; off to the right in the background, one can observe the advertisement for the Kunsthalle (art gallery) in the Baltic Sea port city.
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Case in point with respect to the confusing business of sorting out the differences between a “full international” and an Olympic football match ….. May 7, 1980 : the DEUTSCHE DEMOKRATISCHE REPUBLIK meets the UNION of SOVIET SOCIALIST REPUBLICS in front of an audience of 20,000 at the modest Ostseestadion in Rostock, East Germany.

The Deutscher Fussball Verband, the ruling body for football in the German Democratic Republic, somehow always saw this particular contest as an official “A-Laenderspiele” (designation for full international) despite the fact that it was the Olympic squad of Dr. Rudolf Krause that turned out to face the visiting Soviets in Rostock. Six of the thirteen players who appeared for the D.D.R. at the Ostseestadion that day were on their full international debut, according to the official D.F.V. records recognized by FIFA. And only three of this East German baker’s dozen ever did manage more than 20 caps on the whole of their careers with the D.D.R. national side.

The Soviet Union, in direct contrast, never did count this very same match with East Germany in the Baltic Sea port city as a full international as far as their official records validated by FIFA were (and still are for posterity) concerned. Although it was clearly a second-string side, it is also true that ten of the thirteen Soviet players appearing in Rostock had already been capped by the U.S.S.R. at the senior international level. Two of these players, the Dynamo Kiev pair of LEONID BURYAK and VIKTOR ZVYAGINTSEV, were integral members of the squad that had bagged the set of bronze medals at the 1976 Summer Olympic Games in Canada, as well.

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MARTIN TROCHA of FC Carl Zeiss Jena
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As for the match at the Ostseestadion, itself, the experienced Olympian Buryak did send the visiting Soviets from the penalty spot with less than a quarter hour to play. But the U.S.S.R. had also gone in front just ten minutes into the match via Dynamo Moscow striker VALERY GAZZAEV and FC Lokomotive Leipzig striker DIETER KUHEN had already been able to equalize just before the half hour mark. And, once again, the resilient East Germans were able to level when Dynamo Berlin midfielder FRANK TERLETZKI scored his first and last goal for the D.D.R. national team less than five minutes from time.

Gazzaev would be the only player from this particular Soviet team in Rostock chosen to represent the host nation at the 1980 Summer Games although both Buryak and defender SERGEI BOROVSKY of Dynamo Minsk were later named to the U.S.S.R. squad that qualified for the 1982 FIFA World Cup in Spain; nine of the participating East Germans from this meeting at the Ostseestadion would, soon enough, march in the Opening Ceremony of the Moscow Olympics.

There, for the third time in as many Olympiads, the D.D.R. and the U.S.S.R. were destined to take the field opposite one another in the knockout phase of the Summer Games football competition … but that would be another story.

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Georgian goalkeeper OTAR GABELIA earned his one and only full international cap for the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics during the 3-1 loss in Tbilisi to would-be Euro ’80 champion West Germany in the fall of 1979 but later won the 1981 UEFA Cup Winner’s Cup after Dinamo Tbilisi rallied to defeat East German outfit FC Carl Zeiss Jena at the virtually-empty Rheinstadion in Duesseldorf.
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Ostseestadion in Rostock
May 7, 1980

D.D.R. : Rudwaleit – Baum – Brauer (M. Mueller 7′), Uhlig, Strozniak – Schnuphase, Terletzki, Steinbach – Trocha (Baehringer 58′), Kuehn, Heun

U.S.S.R. : Gabelia – Zvyagintsev, Kostava, Borovsky, Kruglov – Buryak, Leshchuk, Maksimenko (Tarakhanov 78′) – Rogovsky (Yarzek 78′), Gazzaev, Staruchin

goals — Gazzaev 11′, Kuhen 28′, Buryak pen 76′, Terletzki 86′

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An aerial view of the old OSTSEESTADION, which was totally renovated in 2001 with the most noticeable improvement being that all spectator areas are now completely covered and is now known as the DKB Arena for sponsorship purposes. The football / track and field stadium in the Batic sea port city was originally constructed in 1954 and, altogether, was the site of eight full international matches hosted by the old Deutsche Demokratische Republik back in the day. The Olympic warm-up with the visiting Soviet Union in early May of 1980 was actually the very last time that the senior national team of the German Democratic Republic ever appeared in Rostock.
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SOVIET UNION national team record
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Leonid BURYAK …………………. Dynamo Kiev ……………. 74-83 … 49 ga, 8 go
Sergei BOROVSKY ………………. Dynamo Minsk …………. 81-85 …. 21 ga, 0 go
Viktor ZVYAGINTSEV ………… Dynamo Kiev …………… 75-76 …. 13 ga, 1 go
Valery GAZZAEV …………………. Dynamo Moscow ……… 78-83 ….. 8 ga, 4 go
Alexander MAKSIMENKOV … Dynamo Moscow ………. 77-79 ….. 8 ga, 1 go
Alexander TARAKHANOV ….. CSKA Moscow …………… 76-83 ….. 6 ga, 0 go
Viktor KRUGLOV ………………… Torpedo Moscow ………. 76-77 ….. 4 ga, 0 go
Tamaz KOSTAVA ………………… Dinamo Tbilisi …………… 78-78 ….. 3 ga, 1 go
Otar GABELIA ……………………… Dinamo Tbilisi …………… 79-79 ….. 1 ga
Vyacheslav LESHCHUK ……….. Chernomorets Odessa … 76-76 ….. 1 ga, 0 go

Formerly Confusing Business Of “Full” International

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Deutsche Demokratische Republik goalkeeper JUERGEN CROY (center) of FC Sachsenring Zwickau shakes hands with a counterpart from the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics at the conclusion of the Bronze Medal Match of the 1972 Summer Olympic Games; the East Germans and Soviet Union finished level 2-2 after extra time at the Olympiastadion in Munich, West Germany, and ultimately shared the set of bronze medals that year.
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It was all a baffling mystery, really, once upon a time — trying to differentiate between a “full international” and an Olympic football match. The Eastern Bloc had collectively succeeded in making a total joke of the International Olympic Committee’s hallowed principle of Amateurism and, in the process, also made a complete mess of bookeeping over at FIFA Headquarters in Switzerland. For decades, some Olympic qualification and final tournament matches were, in fact, officially recognized by FIFA as full internationals even if the standards for attaining such status oftentimes appeared to vary depending upon, well, probably only God knew what.

In 1999, the governing body of world football announced a major policy shift with respect to their official records regarding the Olympic competition. Quite simply, it was decided that all Olympic matches contested from 1908 up until 1956 would be counted as full international matches by FIFA without exception. And all Olympic matches from 1960 onwards are not to be counted in the sanctioned historical totals.

Obviously, it was the former Warsaw Pact nations that were affected most by the change with the Union of Soviet Social Republics, the 1956 Olympic champion, having sixteen matches altogether removed from their official list of full internationals maintained by FIFA.

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Poland captain KAZIMIREZ DEYNA (left) of army club Legia Warsaw, who had scored an Olympic tournament-topping nine goals while leading his country to the footballing glory at the 1972 Munich Summer Games, wears a genuine look of disbelief as East Germany midfielder HARTMUT SCHADE of police club Dynamo Dresden raises both arms in celebration after scoring in only the seventh minute of the Gold Medal Match at the 1976 Summer Olympic Games hosted by Montreal.
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The ten Olympic qualification / final tournament matches for the old DETUSCHE DEMOKRATISCHE REPUBLIC (German Democratic Republic) that are no longer recognized by FIFA as a “full international” would be :

11/18/1967 …. East Berlin ……. 1-0 ….. Romania
12/06/1967 … Bucharest ……… 1-0 ….. Romania
08/28/1972 … Munich ………… 4-0 ….. Ghana
09/01/1972 … Nuremberg …… 1-2 …… Poland
09/03/1972 … Passau …………. 0-2 …… Hungary
11/19/1975 …. Brno …………….. 1-1 …… Czechoslovakia
04/07/1976 … Leipzig …………. 0-0 ….. Czechoslovakia
07/27/1976 …. Montreal ……… 2-0 ….. Soviet Union
07/31/1976 …. Montreal ……… 3-1 …… Poland

The three D.D.R. national team players affected most, perhaps, by FIFA’s decision to adjust the official tables were goalkeeper JUERGEN CROY as well as defenders BERND BRANSCH and KONRAD WEISE, all of whom had each appeared in eight of the ten East German Olympic football matches that had their ‘full international’ status revoked.

Two others, striker JOACHIM STREICH and sweeper HANS-JUERGEN DOERNER, each saw four full international appearances instantly vanish and were, therefore, summarily tossed out of the mythical ’100 Caps Club’.

German Football At The Olympics : Major Policy Shift For Defending Gold Medalists

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The Olympic team of the DEUTSCHE DEMOKRATISCHE REPUBLIK stand at attention for the national anthem prior to the start of the Testspiel (won 2-1 by the D.D.R.) opposite the amateur national team of the Netherlands at the Friedrich Ludwig Jahn Sportpark (situated right along the border of a split city) in East Berlin on April 26, 1980.

left to right … captain Frank TERLETZKI (Dynamo Berlin), Bodo RUDWALEIT (Dynamo Berlin), Juergen BAEHRINGER (FC Karl Marx Stadt), Frank UHLIG (FC Karl Marx Stadt), Andreas TRAUTMANN (Dynamo Dresden), Norbert TRIELOFF (Dynamo Berlin), Matthias LIEBERS (FC Lokomotive Leipzig), Dieter STROZNIAK (FC Chemie Halle), Martin TROCHA (FC Carl Zeiss Jena), Dieter KUEHN (FC Lokomotive Leipzig) and Gert BRAUER (FC Carl Zeiss Jena)
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The Moscow Summer Games of 1980 marked a major shift in Olympic policy by the Deutscher Fussball Verband, the governing body of football in the GERMAN DEMOCRATIC REPUBLIC. Up to this point, the Deutsche Demokratische Republik, more or less, always used the senior national team to represent the country in the Olympic football competition. The D.D.R. had, after all, issued the momentous Leistungssportbeschluss demanding Olympic excellence in 1969 and the East German football program had done its part by contributing a bronze in Munich and a gold in Montreal to the all-important medal count.

By the late 1970s, however, the priorities of both the D.F.V. and the G.D.R. government had begun to ‘evolve’ somewhat. There is little question that the Bundesrepublik Deutschland’s continued success at the highest levels of senior international football weighed heavily on the minds of many on the other side of the Antifaschistischer Schutwall (Anti-Fascist Protection Bulwark) in the divided city of Berlin. Furthermore, East Germany’s ability to not only qualify for the final tournament of the 1974 FIFA World Cup but defeat the host nation and eventual champion, West Germany, had done nothing but increase everyone’s desire to see the D.D.R. do better at major international football events outside the Olympics.

The state-controlled television authority in the German Democratic Republic reported a 70.7% share of all available viewers for the historic East Germany v West Germany clash in Munich while the D.D.R. national team’s meaningless World Cup match with Argentina (both teams were already eliminated) in 1974 had claimed 60.9% share of the available audience, as well. These numbers were not lost on those occupying seats in the Politubro of the Sozilalistische Einheitspartei Deutschlands (Socialist Unity Party of Germany), the supreme governing authority in the G.D.R. to whom the D.F.V. answered. Neither was the failure of the East Germany national team to qualify for the final tournament of the 1978 FIFA World Cup in Argentina.

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East Germany midfielder RUEDIGER SCHNUPHASE (6) of FC Carl Zeiss Jena, who was not a member of the D.D.R. squad that later won the Olympic gold medal at Montreal in 1976, competes for a high ball with Argentina defender RAMON HEREDIA (10) of Spanish La Liga side Atletico Madrid during the 1974 FIFA World Cup second round, Group A match that ended in a 1-1 draw before 54,254 speactators at the Parkstadion in Gelsenkirchen, West Germany. In the background to the right is famous D.D.R. forward JUERGEN SPARWASSER (14) of FC Magdeburg, scorer of the game’s only goal in the historic all-German encounter at Hamburg. To the left is Argentina midfielder ROBERTO TELCH (18) of Buenos Aires-based CA San Lorenzo.
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Meanwhile, the draw for the 1980 UEFA European Championships placed the East Germans in a very difficult group with both the Netherlands (beaten Finalist at both the 1974 and 1978 FIFA World Cups) and Poland. It was decided that the D.D.R.’s elite players would be saved for that demanding task while a separate national squad under the direction of DR. RUDOLF KRAUSE would be created specifically just for the Moscow Summer Games. And, thus, decorated players such as veteran goalkeeper JUERGEN CROY of FC Sachsenring Zwickau would not get the always-rare opportunity to repeat as Olympic champions.

The gold medal won at the expense of a powerful Polish side in Montreal meant that there would be no need to qualify for the 1980 Summer Games in Moscow but the D.D.R. Olympiaauswahl still contested more than 20 training matches to adequately prepare, nevertheless. More than 30 candidates, most of whom had little or no senior international experience in advance, appeared in these matches hoping for a place on the final Olympic squad. Even after the official roster was announced, the only player who had gotten more than ten games for the senior national team ahead of the Olympic tournament in the U.S.S.R. was FC Carl Zeiss Jena midfielder RUEDIGER SCHNUPHASE, the 26-year-old veteran of the World Cup who had already collected 20 of what would be a total of 45 caps for East Germany in his career.

The Deutsche Demokratische Republik was actually knocked out of the running for the European Championships to be hosted by Italy (and eventually won by West Germany) early — by November of 1979. And so the East Germans might have elected to fortify the D.D.R. Olympiaauswahl on its way to Moscow with the late additions of at least a few highly-experienced senior players such as Croy but Krause, perhaps wisely, chose not to mess around with whatever team chemistry that might have been established heretofore.

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May 7, 1980 — Four potential candidates to defend the Olympic gold medal won by Deutsche Demokratische Republik at the ’76 Summer Games in Montreal — (left to right) midfielder JUERGEN BAEHRINGER (FC Karl Marx Stadt), defender DIETER STROZNIAK (FC Chemie Halle), goalkeeper BODO RUDWALEIT (Dynamo Berlin) and defender FRANK UHLIG (FC Karl Marx Stadt) — walk off the field after East Germany and the visiting Soviet Union finished all square at 2-2 in front of a reported crowd of 20,000 Zuschauer at the Ostseestadion in the Baltic Sea port city of Rostock.

Flashback From Leipzig – Zentralstadion In Disrepair

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At the time of its completion in 1956, the mammoth ZENTRALSTADION at the SPORTFORUM LEIPZIG was the largest in all of Europe. The “central stadium” and adjoining facilities served as not only ‘home’ ground for the official football team of the Deutsche Demokratische Republik but also operated as an epicenter for other disciplines in the East German national sports program, such as track and field, as well. After the symbolic fall of the Berlin Wall in November of 1989 and the subsequent reunification of Germany in the following year, the enormous athletic complex in Leipzig had fallen into a depolorable state of disrepair by the late 1990s.
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The photos for the following exhibition are courtesy this curiousity-filled Canadian blogger and his brother, Matthias, who were visiting German relatives in Leipzig back in 2000 and stumbled across the massive Zentralstadion complex; the rest of that interesting story can be found at the following web address — http://wandel.ca/homepage/zentralstadion/index.html
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The photos of the Zentralstadion presented here, which were snapped by the curious Canadian blogger pictured climbing the stairs and his ‘partner in crime’, are said to have been taken in the year 2000, a full decade after the complete disappearance of the old Deutsche Demokratische Republik.
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The enclosed Press / VIP box that communist state-controlled writers and important government bureaucrats shared alike to watch the national football team of the D.D.R. compete in front of overflow crowds in excess of 100,000 spectators for significant athletic triumph and the greater glory of the German Democratic Republic, in general.
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The East German national team played 48 international matches at the imposing Zentralstadion in Leipzig, incluing three Olympic qualification games. The very first Laenderspiel ever staged at the Zentralstadion involved the Deutsche Demokratische Republik and visiting Wales in a FIFA World Cup qualification match that drew an official crowd of 100,000 although some sources claim another eight thousand people or so were present on May 19, 1957. The East Germans came from behind to win that historic contest 2-1 on goals from Guenther Wirth of FC Vorwaerts Berlin as well as Willy Troeger of SC Wismut Karl Marx Stadt and would continue to have Leipzig host most of the nation’s important football matches from there on out.
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EAST GERMANY attendance at ZENTRALSTADION
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110,000 … 10/27/1957 …… vs Czechoslovakia
105,000 … 05/23/1965 …… vs Hungary
100,000 … 05/19/1957 …… vs Wales
100,000 … 05/09/1971 …… vs Yugoslavia
100,000 … 05/29/1974 …… vs England

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95,000 … 10/21/1965 …… Austria
95,000 … 09/26/1973 …… Romania
95,000 … 08/28/1977 …… Soviet Union
95,000 … 10/12/1977 ……. Austria
92,000 … 11/29/1979 ……. Holland
90,000 … 08/12/1959 …… Czechoslovakia
90,000 … 06/02/1963 …… England
90,000 … 07/24/1969 …… Soviet Union

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85,000 … 10/10/1981 ……. Poland
80,000 … 05/31/1964 …… Soviet Union
78,000 … 09/11/1985 ……. France
75,000 … 03/30/1983 …… Belgium
71,000 … 07/28/1987 ……. Hungary
70,000 … 08/17/1960 ……. Soviet Union
70,000 … 05/14/1961 ……. Holland
70,000 … 07/26/1983 ……. Soviet Union

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EAST GERMANY record at ZENTRALSTADION
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48 matches … 22 wins, 14 draws, 12 losses … 75-57 goals for/against

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Perhaps foreshadowing what was in store for both the massive football stadium in Leipzig as well as the Deutsche Demokratische Republik, itself, the East German national team would only win just one more time in its last nine games ever contested at the Zentralstadion following a 1-0 victory over soon-to-be FIFA World Cup champion Italy in the spring of 1982. Although the 2-0 defeat of reigning UEFA European Championships titlist France in a World Cup qualifier in September of 1985 was noteworthy, the other results were not so positive. Furthermore, East Germany scored exactly one goal in its last five games at the Zentralstadion in Leipzig after that last triumph over the French.

Leipzig’s Zentralstadion – Glory Days

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“RUHM DER D.D.R. (Deutsche Demokratische Republik)” — “Glory Of The (German Democratic Republic)”

For the East German government officials desperate to demonstrate the superiority of state socialism over the capitalist class enemy in every aspect of life at all times, athletics notwithstanding, it was a vertiable crown jewel that vistiors were intended to behold and be impressed with. When officially inauguarated in Leipzig on August 4, 1956, for the second-ever German Gymnastics and Sports Festival event held in the D.D.R., the capacity for 100,000 spectators was something that no other stadium in all of Europe could proclaim. As the name would suggest, the ZENTRALSTADION at the SPORTFORUM LEIPZIG was meant to be the showpiece arena as well as the symbolic home ground of the national sports program in the German Democratic Republic.

This, of course, was to include football.

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In 1948, it was decided by East German planners in Soviet-occupied Leipzig that the abundant rubble on hand as a result of World War II should be used to construct a sports stadium in the city. An Olympic swimming facility was first completed in 1952 at the site along the artificially-created Elster river basin that would become the Sportforum Leipzig and construction work on the main athletic stadium began two years later under the direction of Karl Souradny. In the end, roughly 1.5 million cubic meters of Kriegstruemmern (war rubble) went into the building of the massive walls surronding the enormous Zentralstadion.

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October 22, 1957 — Hard-working groundskeeper HANS RICHTER mows the grass on the pitch at the Zentralstadion five days ahead of East Germany’s scheduled FIFA World Cup qualification match with visiting Czechoslovakia to be played in Leipzig. Despite the fact that neighboring Federal Republic of Germany had not only entered but already won its first World Cup tournament by 1954, the Deutsche Demokratische Republik did not succeed with its very first attempt to reach the final tournament of a major international competition. Although Richter could not have possibly realized such in advance, an official attendance record at the Zentralstadion which would never be broken was set but Czechoslovakia scored three goals in the first half on the way to a 4-1 defeat of East Germany.
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The World Cup qualification match between visiting Czechoslovakia and the German Democratic Republic contested on October 27 in 1957 at the sold-out Zentralstadion in Leipzig is considered by researchers to have been the football match with the highest attendance ever to have been staged in the history of the now-defunct nation. The official figure is listed at 110,000 spectators while some accounts attest that the overflowing arena actually held as many as another ten thousand people that historic day. It is documented that roughly 640,000 ticket orders were received prior to the match.

Almost one month later, on November 24 of that same year, another official crowd of 110,000 was recorded at the Zentralstadion when Poland and the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics staged a one-game, neutral site playoff in Leipzig to determine who would qualify for the 1958 FIFA World Cup in Sweden after finishing level on points in Group 6.

Capacity crowds for football matches at the Zentralstadion were commonplace in the 1950s. In the stadium’s first month of operation in August of 1956 alone, two-sellout crowds of 100,000 were reported when D.D.R. Oberliga champion SC Wismut Karl Marx Stadt played the powerful Hungarian army club SE Honved Budapest and a Leipzig City Select side hosted the Romanian team Dinamo Orasul Stalin from Brasov. The very next month, a domestic record in the Oberliga was established for all time in the Deutsche Demokratische Republik when SC Lokomotive Leipzig downed intra-city rival SC Rotation Leipzig 2-1 in a derby match on September 9.

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(photo dated April 4, 1978)
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In October of 1956, the Zentralstadion in Leipzig bore witness to a very famous match when reigning East German champion SC Wismut Karl Marx Stadt hosted visiting West German side 1.FC Kaiserslautern including legendary national team striker Fritz Walter. Many sources list 110,000 as the number of people who showed up to see the former Soviet Prisoner-of-War and captain of West Germany’s 1954 World Cup title-winning squad score the memorable “Hackentor von Leipzig”. Walter intentionally fell forward and then propelled the ball forward over his head with his heel into the upper right hand corner of the net to astonish the crowd as 1.FC Kaiserslautern triumphed 5-3; well-known D.D.R. sports reporter Wolfgang Hempel immediately annointed Walter’s strike as the Goal of the Century (Tor des Jahrhunderts).

Another West German club on a trip across the border, FC Schalke 04 Gelsenkirchen, and local SC Lokomotive Leipzig also attracted an audience of 100,000 football fans to the Zentralstadion in late November of 1956, as well.

The six-figure crowds in Leipzig slowly began to become a thing of the past through the years, though, as the East German national team repeatedly failed to qualify for the final tournament of major international events. The final time official attendance was recorded in excess of capacity at the Zentralstadion occured in late May of 1965 when the G.D.R. could only finish 1-1 with Hungary in a World Cup qualification match. The very last officially-logged audience of 100,000 spectators at the stadium by the Elsterbrecken arrived the very same day that prolific striker Joachim Streich of FC Hansa Rostock neatly curled the ball around FC Liverpool’s highly-accomplished goalkeeper Ray Clemence as the Deutsche Demokratische Republik battled to a 1-1 draw with visiting England on May 29, 1974.

Altogether, the East German national team was credited with having drawn a crowd of 100,000 or more to the Zentralstadion a total of five times.

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The national team of the Deutsche Demokratische Republik line-up prior to the start of a UEFA European Championships qualfication match with Poland in front of an official crowd of 55,000 spectators at the monstrous Zentralstadion in Leipzig on April 18, 1979 … East Germany rallied to defeat Poland 2-1 on the strength of second half goals scored four minutes apart by Streich and Lindemann, respectively … Seven players from the D.D.R. Startelf to face the Poles here were also in the starting line-up for the German Democratic Republic almost three years earlier when East Germany defeated favored Poland in the Final of the Olympic tournament at the 1976 Summer Games in Montreal, Canada.

D.D.R. left to right ……… captain Hans-Juergen DOERNER (SG Dynamo Dresden / 96 caps, 8 go), goalkeeper Hans-Ullrich GRAPENTHIN (FC Carl Zeiss Jena / 21 caps), Hans-Juergen RIEDIGER (FC Dynamo Berlin / 39 caps, 6 go), Hartmut SCHADE (SG Dynamo Dresden / 28 caps, 4 go), Gerd WEBER (SG Dynamo Dresden / 33 caps, 5 go), Reinhard HAEFNER (SG Dynamo Dresden / 54 caps, 4 go), Konrad WEISE (FC Carl Zeiss Jena / 78 caps, 1 go), Gerd KISCHE (FC Hansa Rostock / 59 caps, 0 go), Lutz LINDEMANN (FC Carl Zeiss Jena / 21 caps, 2 go), Joachim STREICH (FC Magdeburg / 98 caps, 53 go), Martin HOFFMANN (FC Magdeburg / 62 caps, 15 go)
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From the time the football facility was first built in 1956 up until the time that the country, itself, formally ceased to exist in 1990, the national team of the German Democratic Republic played a total of 45 full international matches in addition to three Olympic qualification contests at the Zentralstadion at the Sportforum Leipzig. Almost half of these full internationals (21 of 45) were qualification matches for either the FIFA World Cup or UEFA European Championships but the results for East Germany in those are not overwhelming (nine wins, six draws, six losses). This helps to explain why the D.D.R. qualified for exactly one final tournament (ironically enough, the 1974 FIFA World Cup hosted by ultimate class enemy West Germany) in its entire 41 years of existance.

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(photo dated July 31, 1987) — this aerial shot taken just a couple of years before the symbolic fall of the Berlin Wall provides an excellent view of the Elsterbrecken in the background setting alongside the massive sports arena that was the old Zentralstadion in Leipzig during the time of the since-departed Deutsche Demokratische Republik.

Golden Glory For East Germans

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A desperate Poland sweeper WLADYSLAW ZMUDA (left) of Slask Wroclaw can do nothing to prevent Dynamo Dresden midfielder REINHARD HAEFNER from side-footing a third goal for the Deutsche Demokratische Republik in the 84th minute of the football tournament Final for the 1976 Summer Games at the Olympic Stadium in Montreal, Canada.
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Perhaps it was the ghosts of the 1974 FIFA World Cup that arranged for the rain to fall on the Polish parade in Canada on the last day of July in 1976. There are some who insist to this day that the title-winning West Germans could have never defeated the skillful Poles on a dry pitch in the semifinal at Frankfurt’s Waldstadion. Or maybe it was the match referee, himself, who brought the wet weather to the Olympic Stadium in Montreal for the Final of the football tournament at the Games of the XXI Olympiad.

Oddly enough, RAMON BARRETO RUIZ had also been in charge of the historic contest at the Volksparkstadion in Hamburg back in 1974 when the East Germans knocked off the host nation in the first round at the Weltmeisterschaft. Whatever the case, a steady drizzle persisted as the Uruguayan referee led the two teams out for a long walk on the athletics track ringing the playing surface in front of the 71,617 spectators at the Olympic Stadium. Ready or not, it was now time for powerful POLAND to defend its gold medal title won four years earlier against formidable EAST GERMANY, who had shared the bronze at the Munich Games in 1972.

Now, it was the Poles who were noted for all the attacking prowess entering the Olympic Final in the iconic French-Canadian city. The captain, veteran midfielder KAZIMIERZ DEYNA of Legia Warsaw, had been the top scorer at the 1972 Summer Games while striker GRZEGORZ LATO of Stal Mielec had won the prestigous Golden Boot at the last World Cup. And then there was striker ANDRZEJ SZARMACH of Stal Mielec, who just so happened to be leading the ’76 Olympic football tournament with six goals from Poland’s first four matches at the Montreal Games.

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A distraught Poland captain, midfielder KAZIMIERZ DEYNA of army club Legia Warsaw, can only watch as East Germany midfielder HARTMUT SCHADE (14) of Dynamo Dresden shoots the ball into a wide-open net in only the seventh minute of the Olympic Final at the 1976 Summer Games from Montreal.
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But it was the East Germans trained by GEORG BUSCHNER who burst out of the gate at the Olympic Stadium in Montreal firing on all cylinders before what is still to this day a national record audience to witness a football match in Canada. Barely a minute into the Gold Medal Match, a bad pass out of the back from inexperienced Poland defender HENRYK WIECZOREK of Gornik Zabrze — starting his very first match at the Montreal Games — was intercepted on the right by East Germany midfielder REINHARD LAUCK of Dynamo Berlin, who launched a long shot which went off target but turned out to be a lovely pass for World Cup veteran MARTIN HOFFMANN of FC Magdeburg over on the left. The blast which rebounded sharply off the post with Poland goalkeeper JAN TOMASZEWSKI of LKS Lodz completely beaten served as proper notice for the blitz that was shortly to ensue.

HARTMUT SCHADE, the Dynamo Dresden midfielder who did not start either of East Germany’s first two matches at the Montreal Games, was taken down by Poland midfielder HENRYK KASPERCZAK of Stal Mielec on the left flank in the seventh minute. Hoffmann took the free kick, which was neither controlled — nor cleared — until it ran through the box all the way over to Lauck on the right. The World Cup veteran then beat his defender and drove a low ball across the face of the net that two players in the vicinity, the captain Deyna being one, just could not reach.

Schade, in the meantime, arrived at the back post to easily steer home from close range past the stationary Tomaszewski and score the most monumental goal of his entire career while sending upstart East Germany to a 1-0 lead.

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GEORG BUSCHNER, easily the most successful national football team trainer in the history of the Deutsche Demokratische Republik, reflects upon his side’s gold medal success at the 1976 Summer Olympic Games in Montreal.
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East Germany continued to press and, to the amazement of all at the Olympic Stadium, doubled the score in Montreal a scant seven minutes later after goalkeeper JUERGEN CROY of FC Sachsenring Zwickau came way off his line to gather a long Polish ball intended for Lato at the edge of the area; a simple toss from Croy to Dynamo Dresden midfielder REINHARD HAEFNER initiated, perhaps, the most elegant and eye-pleasing movement of the entire tournament.

Starting in his own third of the field, the 24-year-old Haefner set out on a knifing run right straight through the teeth of the Polish defense before dishing off to Schade on the right. The East German goal-scorer quickly one-timed across to HANS-JUERGEN RIEDIGER on the left before the Dynamo Berlin striker, himself, returned the ball to Haefner in the center with a first touch. Haefner, in turn, immediately found Hoffmann on the left wing to compelte some rather fancy passing football.

Hoffmann proceeded to lash a low, left-footed drive from just inside the top, left hand corner of the penalty box that banked off the base of the very same post the 21-year-old had struck earlier and riccocheted into the back of the net. Once again, Tomaszewski appeared to have his boots anchored to the turf at the Olympic Stadium as Poland fell behind by a pair in only the 14th minute of the Gold Medal Match in Montreal. This one-two East German punch would prove to be devastating for the tournament’s defending champions.

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GERD KISCHE of FC Hansa Rostock
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Whether in an attempt to rally the troops or in a response to the ineffectiveness of the first choice, Poland trainer KAZIMIERZ GORSKI decided to pull Tomaszewski from the Olympic Final. An inglorious exit for the 28-year-old who had been named the best goalkeeper at the 1974 FIFA World Cup, then. And so, onto the biggest stage at the ’76 Summer Games stepped back-up PIOTR MOWLIK, the lightly-experienced 25-year-old for army club Legia Warsaw in only the 19th minute.

Riediger probably should have made it three-nil for East Germany roughly ten minutes after the arrival of Mowlik. The 21-year-old striker, who ended the 75/76 season third in the domestic Oberlia with 18 goals for Dynamo Berlin, accepted a slick pass from Hoffmann at the midfield stripe and raced right down the middle. The blond-haired youngster blew right past the hapless Wieczorek but fired his shot over both the shoulder of the Mowlik as well as the crossbar.

Poland actually had its share of opportunities in the first half, too, but were let down by a combination of poor finishing and the fine form of the competent East German goalkeeper. The prolific Szarmach had two clear chances from inside the penalty arc but failed to find the target each time and Deyna, after losing his marker with a nice move inside the box, mishit his angled shot so badly that a throw-in followed. A little over ten minutes before the halftime whistle, winger KAZIMIERZ KMIECIK of Wislaw Cracow rocketed a low shot from the right side of the net that Croy needed to kick out with his legs.

Shortly after the restart, the East Germans really should have, once more, extended the margin to three after winger WOLFRAM LOEWE of FC Lokomotive Leipzig successfully went around the substitute goalkeeper Mowlik but a sliding Poland right back ANTONI SZYMANOWSKI of Wislaw Cracow was able to clear the ball off the line just in the nick of time.

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GRZEGORZ LATO of Stal Mielec
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Szarmach forced another quality save from Croy just before the closely-marked Lato, who had not managed a single attempt at goal up to this point, was finally able to provide Poland a lifeline. Deyna, who had grabbed both Polish goals in the 2-1 triumph over Hungary in the Final at the 1972 Summer Games, swung over another corner and the leading goal-scorer at the last World Cup headed home to halve the deficit 59 minutes into the Olympic Final in Montreal. Poland was clearly not prepared to relinquish its title without some kind of fight.

Deyna, who finished third in the voting for European Player of the Year in 1974, had two legitimate chances with free kicks but hit the first straight at Croy and skied the second well over the crossbar. Szarmach might have equalized at the Olympic Stadium with a skillful side-volley but was denied by a brilliant save from the stingy East German goalkeeper. However, the Polish attack was already petering out by the time Lato had a last shot swallowed up by Croy, who ended the match with eight saves.

Haefner slammed the door shut for the German Democratic Republic after Schade picked off an errant Polish pass with six minutes remaining in the Olympic Final at Montreal’s newly-opened stadium. A square ball from the game’s first goal-scorer evolved into a 50/50 ball just over the midfield line that Wieczorek lost and so off to the races went Haefner. A smooth, clinical finish ushered in the most glorious (and golden) moment of footballing excellence that the nation of East Germany would ever know.

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The full squad of EAST GERMANY, the gold medalists at the football tournament of the 1976 Summer Games, gleefully accept their just reward on the podium during the official medal ceremony at the Olympic Stadium in the iconic French-Canadian city of Montreal.

Gold Medalists of East Germany

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The Olympic squad plus one of EAST GERMANY pose for a traditional team photograph prior to departure for Canada and the 1976 Summer Games hosted by Montreal :

back row — H. Walther (asst), G. Kische, H.J. Doerner, H.J. Riediger, B. Bransch, W. Groebner, H. Schade, G. Weber, G. Buschner (trainer)

middle row — P. Kotte, M. Hoffmann, J. Croy, H.U. Grapenthin, W. Loewe, K. Weise

front row — D. Riedel, R. Haefner, L. Kurbjuweit, R. Lauck, G. Heidler

The last, unfortunate player to be cut from the squad which went on to capture the Olympic gold medal in football was 21-year-old forward PETER KOTTE of 1975/76 Oberliga champion SG Dynamo Dresden, who ultimately earned 21 caps and scored three goals for the senior national team of the Deutsche Demokratische Republik in his career.
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Gold Medal Match
vs Poland
July 31, 1976

EAST GERMANY
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GK — 1 – Juergen CROY ———————- (FC Sachsenring Zwickau : 86 caps)
LB – 12 – Gerd KISCHE ———————– (FC Hansa Rostock : 59 caps, 0 go)
SW — 3 – Hans Juergen DOERNER —– (SG Dynamo Dresden : 96 caps, 8 go)
CB —- 4 – Konrad WEISE ——————- (FC Carl Zeiss Jena : 78 caps, 1 go)
RB —- 5 – Lothar KURBJUWEIT ——– (FC Carl Zeiss Jena : 59 caps, 3 go)
MF – 14 – Hartmut SCHADE ————— (SG Dynamo Dresden : 28 caps, 4 go)
MF —- 8 – Reinhard HAEFNER ———– (SG Dynamo Dresden : 54 caps, 4 go)
MF —- 6 – Reinhard LAUCK —————- (FC Dynamo Berlin : 30 caps, 3 go)
FW – 11 – Martin HOFFMANN ———– (FC Magdeburg : 62 caps, 15 go)
FW —- 9 – Hans Juergen RIEDIGER — (FC Dynamo Berlin : 39 caps, 6 go)
FW – 13 – Wolfram LOEWE —————- (FC Lokomotive Leipzig : 42 caps, 12 go)

substitutes
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DF – 17 – Wilfrid GROEBNER ————- (FC Lokomotive Leipzig : 4 caps, 0 go)
for Loewe – 68th min
DF – 10 – Bernd BRANSCH —————— (FC Chemie Halle : 64 caps, 3 go)
for Riediger – 86th min

unused substitutes
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DF —– 2 – Gerd WEBER ———————— (SG Dynamo Dresden : 33 caps, 5 go)
FW —- 7 – Gert HEIDLER ———————- (SG Dynamo Dresden : 9 caps, 2 go)
FW – 15 – Dieter RIEDEL ———————- (FC Dynamo Berlin : 4 caps, 0 go)
GK – 16 – Hans Ulrich GRAPENTHIN — (FC Carl Zeiss Jena : 21 caps)

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JUERGEN CROY of FC Sachsenring Zwickau, who appeared in 23 Olympic qualification and final tournament matches throughout his distinguished career in addition to the 86 ‘full’ caps earned for the senior national team of the Deutsche Demokratische Republik, enjoyed an outstanding game in the rain between the sticks at Montreal’s Olympic Stadium facing Poland in the Final of the football competition at the 1976 Summer Games.
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Matching up with Poland in the Final of the football tournament at the 1976 Summer Games at the Olympic Stadium in the host city of Montreal, trainer GEORG BUSCHNER made a single change to the Startelf which had toppled the Soviet Union at the semifinal stage.

HANS-JUERGEN RIEDIGER, the bright, 20-year-old prospect who had started the Olympic opener against Brazil in Toronto but had been dropped afterwards, regained his place as the central striker in the East German first team. The Dynamo Berlin attacker did come on as a second half substitute and registered the last goal in the Deutsche Demokratische Republik’s 4-0 destruction of France in the quarterfinal at the Olympic Stadium. Making room for Riediger was GERT HEIDLER, the 28-year-old forward from Oberliga champion Dynamo Dresden who had started all four of the D.D.R.’s matches at the ’76 Summer Games but had not been able to bulge the back of the net.

Heading into the Final opposite Poland, two of the 17-man East German squad had yet to make a single appearance at the ’76 Summer Games and were, for the time being, ineligible to be presented with an Olympic medal. 32-year-old defender BERND BRANSCH of FC Chemie Halle had captained the East Germany team which upended eventual tournament-winners West Germany at the 1974 FIFA World Cup but was now in a reserve role. 27-year-old defender WILFRID GROEBNER of FC Lokomotive Leipzig was a newcomer to the national team with rather limited experience.

1976 Olympischerfinale / Olympic Final

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Legia Warschau Mittelfeldspieler KAZIMIERZ DEYNA (9), der Spielfuehrer von Polen, hat das Ball gegen die Deutsche Demokratische Republik waehrend des Goldmedaillenspiels an dem Olympiastadion in Montreal … Legia Warsaw midfielder Deyna, the captain of Poland, has the ball against the German Democratic Republic during the Gold Medal Match at the Olympic Stadium in Montreal.
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Frohe Weihnachten … Merry Christmas!

Willkommen zu dem Fussball Endspiel der Olympischespiele von Montreal … Welcome to the Football Final of the Olympic Games from Montreal.

Polen hat zwei sehr gute Torjaeger mit beiden GRZEGORZ LATO und ANDRZEJ SZARMACH aber Ostdeutschland hat zwischen den Stoecken ein sehr starke Torhueter, JUERGEN CROY … Poland has two very good gate hunters with both Lato and Szarmach but East Germany has a very strong goalkeeper between the sticks, Croy.

Ein aufregendes Spiel mit vielen Torschuessen … An exciting game with many shots-at-goal.

Geniessen Sie bitte … Please enjoy.

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’76 Olympic Semifinal : East Germany v Soviet Union

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U.S.S.R. striker OLEG BLOKHIN of Dynamo Kiev shoots past East Germany goalkeeper JUERGEN CROY (1) of FC Sachsenring Zwickau to give the Soviet Union a quick 2-0 lead in the 30th minute of the 1972 Summer Olympic Games Bronze Medal Match at the Olympiastadion in Munich, West Germany.
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There had been an Olympic medal at stake for the contest in the Olympiastadion at Munich, but it had really ‘only’ been for the bronze. There was even more on the line however, at the Montreal Summer Games in 1976. Indeed, this particular match between EAST GERMANY and the SOVIET UNION would directly decide which nation would advance to the Gold Medal Game, itself.

The Soviet Union, twenty years later, were still looking for another Olympic football crown to go with the title won at the 1956 Summer Games held in Melbourne, Australia. The U.S.S.R., who had lost experienced defender ANATOLI KONKOV of Dynamo Kiev to injury earlier in the tournament, had conceded a late penalty in the quarterfinal at Sherbrooke but still managed to eliminate Iran 2-1. Trainer VALERY LOBANOVSKY of Dynamo Kiev continued to tinker with the Soviet Startelf and restored the seasoned Dynamo Kiev pair of 29-year-old defender STEFAN RESHKO and 26-year-old VLADIMIR ONISCHENKO, who had scored both goals in the 2-1 victory over host nation Canada to open the Olympic campaign, to the U.S.S.R. line-up for the semifinal at Montreal.

East Germany, especially considering the influential Leistungsportbeschluss declaration of 1969, were eager to reach the Final of the football tournament at the Summer Games for the very first time, ever. Twice before, in 1964 and 1972, the D.D.R. had been able to add the bronze medal to their ‘important’ Olympic medal count, though, and were anxious to do even better in Canada. To face the Soviets in the semifinal at the Games of 1976, the East German trainer GEORG BUSCHNER sent out exactly the same Startelf that had flattened France 4-0 in the quarterfinal at the Olympic Stadium in Montreal.

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Soviet Union midfielder ALEXANDER MINAYEV of Dynamo Moscow, on of only two regular players in the U.S.S.R. Olympic first team to not originate from trainer Valery Lobanovsky’s Dynamo Kiev club side, attempts to put a move on experienced East Germany defender KONRAD WEISE (4) of FC Carl Zeiss Jena during the ’76 Summer Games semifinal match at the brand new Olympic Stadium in Montreal, Canada.
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The U.S.S.R. attack in Montreal was spearheaded by the prolific OLEG BLOKHIN, the reigning award Balon d’Or recipient given annually to the most outstanding football player in all of Europe at that time. The 23-year-old striker, who had helped Dynamo Kiev capture the UEFA Cup Winners’ Cup in 1975, had scored six goals at the 1972 Olympic Games including his strike against East Germany in the Bronze Medal Match (which the D.D.R. rallied to draw 2-2) at Munich. Blokhin, much to the dismay of Soviet supporters, never did get on track at the Montreal Games in 1976 and never did add to a solitary goal notched in the opening round against the North Koreans.

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OLEG BLOKHIN of Dynamo Kiev, the Ukrainian all-time leading goal-scorer for the national football team of the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics
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The strength of the East German team was its staunch defensive wall fortified by JUERGEN CROY, the FC Sachsenring Zwickau goalkeeper who was chosen as the D.D.R.’s Football of the Year three times over the course of his distinguished career. The five players deployed at the back by East Germany, who had yet to concede at these ’76 Olympics, would all eventually earn an impressive 378 international caps, collectively, and their presence in the semifinal at Montreal really made life difficult for the exploisve Blokhin up front. And so, when the halftime whistle sounded at the Olympic Stadium, both sides went to their respective changing rooms to discuss a scoreless draw.

The Soviet defense, in direct comparison to its Eastern Bloc counterparts in the semifinals, were rather inexperienced as a unit at the Montreal Games even before the loss of Konkov and, fatefully, gave a penalty to the East Germans shortly before the hour. Spielfuehrer and sweeper HANS-JUERGEN DOERNER of Dynamo Dresden then beat U.S.S.R. goalkeeper VLADIMIR ASTAPOVSKY of army club CSKA Moscow to provide the D.D.R. with an all-important first strike in the 59th minute. The goal was a team-leading fourth of these 1976 Summer Olympic Games, three of which had been scored from spot kicks, for the productive 25-year-old defender.

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LOTHAR KURBJUWEIT of FC Carl Zeiss Jena
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The East Germans then struck again just seven minutes later to really leave the Soviets chasing the game. Considering the overall nature of the D.D.R. Olympische Auswahl, it was, perhaps, fitting another defender to find the back of the net against the U.S.S.R. in Montreal. 26-year-old LOTHAR KURJUWEIT of FC Carl Zeiss Jena stepped up in the 66th minute for what proved to be the biggest goal, by far, of a long international career which spanned from 1968 until 1980 and included 59 ‘full’ caps for the German Democratic Republic.

With less than twenty minutes remaining, Lobanovsky made a most curious double switch for the Soviet Union. VIKTOR ZVYAGINTSEV, the Dynamo Kiev rearguard who recorded the match-winning goal for the U.S.S.R. against Iran in the quarterfinals, was replaced with yet another defender while the attacking Onischenko gave way to VLADIMIR FEDOROV, the 20-year-old midfielder from FC Pakhtakor Tashkent. Meanwhile, the talented 24-year-old Georgian DAVID KIPIANI of Dinamo Tbilisi, who went on to earn the title of domestic Footballer of the Year for 1977, was yet again left on the bench by the Soviets.

Match referee MARIO DORANTES GARCIA of Mexico pointed to the penalty spot for the second time at the Olympic Stadium with less than twenty minutes remaining in the semifinal at Montreal. Veteran U.S.S.R. midfielder VIKTOR KOLOTOV of Dynamo Kiev converted to register his second goal of the Montreal Games in the 84th minute and offer the Soviets hope. But the East Germans would have nothing to do with an equalizer and, thus, triumphantly marched into the Final at the 1976 Summer Olympics in Canada.

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East Germany netminder JUERGEN CROY of FC Sachsenring Zwickau conceded only one goal — that being from the penalty spot — through the Deutsche Demokratische Republik’s first four Olympic matches at the football tournament of the 1976 Summer Games in Canada.

German Football At The Olympics : D.D.R. and C.C.C.P. – Round Three Team Sheet

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The semifinal of the 1976 Summer Games football competition between EAST GERMANY and the SOVIET UNION contested in the host city of Montreal brought a noteworthy crowd of 57,182 out to the newly-constructed Olympic Stadium in the Hochelaga-Maisonneuve district; a rather large audience, then, still to this day by North American standards, to see two Warsaw Pact nations renew their Eastern Bloc football rivalry on the pitch. This was at this point, in fact, the largest attendance in history for a football match of any kind in Canada.

As regular readers of the “German Football At The Olympics” series here already know, this meeting in Montreal of the Deutsche Demokratische Republik and the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics also marked the third occasion in which the D.D.R. and the U.S.S.R. had clashed in the realm of Olympic football.

GERMAN DEMOCROTIC REPUBLIK
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GK – Juergen CROY ——————— (Sachsenring Zwickau : 86 caps)
DF – Hans Juergen DOERNER —— (Dynamo Dresden : 96 caps, 8 go)
DF – Gerd KISCHE ———————– (Hansa Rostock : 59 caps, 0 go)
DF – Konrad WEISE ——————— (FC Carl Zeiss Jena : 78 caps, 1 go)
DF – Lothar KURBJUWEIT ——— (FC Carl Zeiss Jena : 59 caps, 3 go)
MF – Hartmut SCHADE ————— (Dynamo Dresden : 28 caps, 4 go)
MF – Reinhard HAEFNER ———– (Dynamo Dresden : 54 caps, 4 go)
MF – Renhard LAUCK —————– (Dynamo Berlin : 30 caps, 3 go)
FW – Martin HOFFMANN ———— (FC Magdeburg : 62 caps, 15 go)
FW – Gert HEIDLER ——————— (Dynamo Dresden : 9 caps, 2 go)
FW – Wolfram LOEWE —————– (Lokomotive Leipzig : 42 caps, 12 go)

substitutes
——————
none

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UNION of SOVIET SOCIALIST REPUBLICS
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GK – Vladimir ASTAPOVSKY ——– (CSKA Moscow : 11 caps)
DF – Viktor MATVIYENKO ———– (Dynamo Kiev : 21 caps, 0 go)
DF – Stefan RESHKO ———————- (Dynamo Kiev : 15 caps, 0 go)
DF – Viktor ZVYAGINTSEV ———- (Dynamo Kiev : 13 caps, 1 go)
DF – Vladimir TROSHKIN ————- (Dynamo Kiev : 31 caps, 1 go)
MF – Vladimir VEREMEYEV ——— (Dynamo Kiev : 26 caps, 2 go)
MF – Leonid BURYAK ——————- (Dynamo Kiev : 49 caps, 8 go)
MF – Viktor KOLOTOV —————— (Dynamo Kiev : 55 caps, 22 go)
MF – Alexander MINAYEV ———— (Dynamo Moscow : 22 caps, 4 go)
FW – Oleg BLOKHIN ———————- (Dynamo Kiev : 112 caps, 42 go)
FW – Vladimir ONISCHENKO ——– (Dynamo Kiev : 44 caps, 11 go)

substitutes
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MF – Vladimir FEDOROV ————— (FC Pakhtakor Tashkent : 18 caps, 0 go)
for Onischenko – 71st min
DF – Mikhail FOMENKO —————– (Dynamo Kiev : 24 caps, 0 go)
for Zvyagintsev – 71st min

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The Olympic semifinal in the iconic French-Canadien city at the 1976 Summer Games was the eleventh time in which the East Germany and the Soviet Union had met in international football competition. FIFA used to count some Olympic qualification and final tournament as “full” international matches for their records but reversed what was always something of a confusing policy, anyway, and does no longer. That, however, is a story for another day.

Heading into the match at the Montreal’s brand new Olympic Stadium in Montreal, the Soviets had not defeated the East Germans in football since May of 1962, just a few months before construction work began on what became the notorious Berlin Wall.

07/60 … USSR 1 DDR 0 … Leipzig (70,000) …. friendly
05/62 … USSR 2 DDR 1 … Moscow (70,000) … friendly
05/64 … DDR 1 USSR 1 … Leipzig (80,000) ….. Olympic qualifier
06/64 … DDR 1 USSR 1 … Moscow (85,000) … Olympic qualifier
06/64 … DDR 4 USSR 1 … Warsaw (20,000) … Olympic qualifier
10/66 … DDR 2 USSR 2 … Moscow (50,000) … friendly
07/69 … DDR 2 USSR 2 … Leipzig (90,000) ….. friendly
09/72 … DDR 2 USSR 2 … Munich (80,000) …. Olympic Bronze Medal Match
10/73 … DDR 1 USSR 0 … Leipzig (40,000) ….. friendly
09/75 … DDR 0 USSR 0 … Moscow (25,000) … friendly