 Breuer in the 1967–68 season | |||
| Personal information | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Full name | Christian Breuer | ||
| Date of birth | (1939-04-24)24 April 1939 | ||
| Place of birth | Hüchelhoven-Fliesteden [de],Cologne-Aachen, Germany | ||
| Date of death | 7 September 2017(2017-09-07) (aged 78) | ||
| Place of death | Aachen,North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany | ||
| Position | Midfielder | ||
| Youth career | |||
| ???–1958 | SC Fliesteden | ||
| Senior career* | |||
| Years | Team | Apps | (Gls) |
| 1958–1962 | 1. FC Köln | 100 | (13) |
| 1962–1966 | Alemannia Aachen | 103 | (31) |
| 1966–1970 | Hannover 96 | 122 | (11) |
| 1970–1975 | Alemannia Aachen | ||
| 1975–1978 | Rhenania Würselen [de] | ||
| 1978–1980 | Rhenania Richterich [de] | ||
| * Club domestic league appearances and goals | |||
Christian Breuer (24 April 1939 – 7 September 2017)[1] was a German footballer. He played as amidfielder for various clubs in the Bundesliga including1. FC Köln,Alemannia Aachen andHannover 96 throughout the 1960s and the 1970s.
Together with his cousinChristian Müller, Breuer moved in the summer of 1958 fromSC Fliesteden to1. FC Köln in theOberliga West, whereFritz Breuer [de] (no relation) had been playing since the early 1950s. He was a versatile player as he played as both a forward as well as a midfielder. However, due to the sharp transition from amateur football to the level of the Oberliga as well as the performance of the Köln team squad meant that he did not play in the Oberliga association round in the first season of the1958–59 Oberliga. In the final round of the German championship, however, he made his official debut by coachPéter Szabó on 20 June 1959 inKöln in a match againstFK Pirmasens alongside teammates Fritz Breuer,Fritz Ewert,Josef Röhrig,Hans Schäfer andKarl-Heinz Schnellinger. From the 1959–60 season to the 1961–62 season he belonged to the respective Köln championship teams in the Oberliga West and represented the "Geißbockelf" in 17 games in the final round of the German championship and scored one goal. In the 1959–60 finals, he reached the final of the Oberliga for the first time with Köln but lost the final with his teammates on 25 June inFrankfurt with 2–3 goals againstHamburger SV. The highlight of his playing career was the title win in the championship finals in 1962, when the team of PresidentFranz Kremer replaced the defending champions1. FC Nürnberg. Despite this success, Breuer joined Oberliga rivalsAlemannia Aachen for the1962–63 season. From 1959 to 1962, he played 63 games for Köln in the Oberliga West, scoring eleven goals. In Europe, he had represented the colors of Köln in the Messecup againstAS Roma and 1. In total, Breuer played one hundred competitive games for 1. FC Köln and scored thirteen goals.[2][3]
With the1962–63 Oberliga being the last edition of the old German top-flight, Christian Breuer played all 30 round-robin games for the Tivoli team under coachOswald Pfau and finished fifth with Alemannia. Against his former team and renewed title holder in the West, 1. FC Köln, he scored 3–1 points with his teammatesAlfred Glenski,Josef Martinelli andBranko Zebec. With the offensively strong "Jupp" Martinelli and the Yugoslavian ex-national player Zebec as defensive chief, he formed a line of runners in a class of its own. Surprisingly, Aachen, a continuous member of the Oberliga West from 1947 to 1963, was not nominated for the new Bundesliga for the inaugural1963–64 season, Breuer and his colleagues played in the second division of the Regionalliga West from the start of the Bundesliga, competing withEintracht Duisburg 1848 andPreußen Münster for promotion. As hoped, Alemannia won the championship in 1964 and moved into the promotion playoffs. There, however, the West champions finished third behindHannover 96 andKSV Hessen Kassel and thus remained in the Regionalliga. In the second Bundesliga attempt in 1965, Breuer and colleagues were runners-up behind Borussia Mönchengladbach and failed in the promotion round againstBayern Munich. During the1964–65 DFB-Pokal, Alemannia had previously fought their way intothe cup final with a 4-3 semi-final victory againstFC Schalke 04 after extra time with the powerful Christian Breuer scoring the winning goal in the 100th minute of the game.[1] They later lost 2–0 to old Oberliga West rivalsBorussia Dortmund in Hanover on 22 May. In the1965–66, Aachen would remain in third place behindFortuna Düsseldorf andRot-Weiss Essen and did not reach the promotion playoffs. Even a change of coach in October 1965 from Pfau toWilliberth Werth did not bring any success. At the age of 27, Breuer accepted the offer of the Bundesliga clubHannover 96 in the summer of 1966 after 103 regional league appearances with 31 goals for Aachen and was thus in the squad of the "Reds" in Hanover for the1966–67 season.
In four seasons of Bundesliga football from 1966 to 1970, the new signing from Aachen experienced turbulence in the coaching area in Hannover alongside the signings ofHorst Buhtz,Zlatko Čajkovski,Jupp Heynckes andJosip Skoblar but the club still no saw advance to the top of the table.[4] Breuer was always part of the starting XI for the four years with consistent unsatisfactory placements even with managerial changes. In the Bundesliga, the 96ers fell from ninth in the1966–67 season to 13th place by the1969–70 season and in the Messecup againstSSC Napoli,B 1909 Odense,AIK Stockholm,Leeds United,Ajax, they wouldn't any further success. On 3 May 1970, Breuer played his last game for Hannover 96 in the 4–2 home win against1. FC Kaiserslautern. After 122 Bundesliga games with 11 goals for the Lower Saxon team, Breuer returned to Alemannia Aachen in the Regionalliga West for the1970–71 season.[1]
In his first season following his return from Hanover,[5] he finished sixth in the1970–71 Regionalliga with his teammatesHerbert Gronen,Erwin Hermandung,Werner Scholz andHorst Schauß under the management ofHermann Lindemann but was replaced byVolker Kottmann from the second half of the season. WithVfL Bochum,Fortuna Düsseldorf andWuppertaler SV at the top of the table, the immediate return to the Bundesliga wasn't a feasible goal for Aachen. Until the final season of the old Regionalliga during the1973–74 season, Breuer was named captain of the team as he played with his teammatesGeorg Marwig,Karl Del'Haye,Hans-Jürgen Ferdinand,Willi Haag,Joaquín Montañés,Christoph Walter and coachMichael Pfeiffer but would ultimately fail to qualify for promotion due to competition from other clubs such asWattenscheid 09,Rot-Weiß Oberhausen andBayer 05 Uerdingen and finished seventh in 1974. In his two tenures for the club, Breuer played 238 games for Aachen in the Regionalliga West, scoring 52 goals.[1][6]
At the age of 35, the senior also tackled the inaugural season of the1974–75 2. Bundesliga. Coach Pfeiffer was replaced byHorst Witzler in September 1974 andRolf Kucharski scored 20 goals for Alemannia. In the final season with Aachen, the captain experienced the fight against relegation in the new league. With 30–46 points, the Black and Yellows finished in 15th place, nearly facing relegation. On 15 June 1975, in the 2–0 away defeat againstArminia Bielefeld, Breuer played his last game in the 2. Bundesliga with fellow defendersGerhard Prokop,Josef Bläser,Peter Stollwerk andFranz Pavlak, ending his career as a professional footballer. He had played another 31 round-robin games with one goal.[1]
The trained locksmith ran a stationery shop in the Aachen district ofRichterich and had also made himself at home there. He took over for the 1975–76 season as aplayer-coach for the amateur clubRhenania Würselen [de] and from 1977 to 1979, forRhenania Richterich [de], where he held on to the coaching office until 1982.
His appearances in the 1976–77 and 1977–78 seasons, which are still attributed to Christian Breuer, were played byFranz-Josef Breuer, who came fromSC Jülich 1910.
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