Toni Turek

Bronze statue by Toni Turek next to the Merkur Spiel-Arena in Düsseldorf-Stockum.

Anton Turek (18 January 1919 – 11 May 1984) was a German footballer who played as a goalkeeper.

Career

Born in Duisburg, Turek started his career at Duisburger Sportverein, but he soon moved to TuS Duisburg 48/99. He first came to the attention of later West Germany national team coach Sepp Herberger was on 27 September 1936, when West 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 did not turn out worse for him as a shell splinter struck through his helmet.<ref name="Bitter p.503">Bitter, Jürgen. Deutschlands Fußball Nationalspieler, Sportverlag, 1997, p. 503.</ref>

In 1950 Turek transferred to Fortuna Düsseldorf. Between 1950 and 1954 he played 20 games for the West Germany national team.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> He played in "The Miracle of Bern" 1954 FIFA World Cup final against Hungary and won the Championship.<ref>Werner Raupp, Toni Turek – „Fußballgott“, 2019 (see below, Further Reading), p. 107–114.</ref>

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".<ref name="ard">Template:Cite web</ref><ref>Template:Cite webTemplate:Cbignore</ref> He later had to apologize for that comment because the church complained about the comparison of a football player with God.

Death

Turek died in Neuss in 1984.<ref name ="ard" /> He had been paralyzed from the waist down since August 1973.<ref name="Bitter p.504">Bitter, Jürgen. Deutschlands Fußball Nationalspieler, Sportverlag, 1997, p. 504.</ref>

Legacy

He has received numerous honours and is still highly regarded in Germany, especially in the Rhineland.<ref>Werner Raupp, Toni Turek – „Fußballgott“ (see below, Further Reading), p. 171–176, 183 f.</ref>

Further reading

Werner Raupp: Toni Turek - "Fußballgott". Eine Biographie, Hildesheim: Arete Verlag 2019 (2018) (ISBN 978-3-96423-008-9).

External links

• https://www.Toni-Turek.info (Toni-Turek-Archiv, Private archiv of Werner Raupp, Hohenstein/Schwäb. Alb).
• Template:NFT player
• Template:Fussballdaten
• Template:WorldFootball.net