Erwin Stein (footballer)

Erwin Stein (born June 10, 1935) is a former German football player.

Career

National team, 1959

As 10-year-old boy Erwin Stein started to play football at SG Bornheim Later he moved to Olympia 07 and played from 1954 on at SpVgg Griesheim 02. 24 years old, the striker was capped by Bundestrainer Sepp Herberger and his assistant Georg Gawliczek for the match of the German amateur national team against the Netherlands April 15, 1959 in Enschede. The pacy attacker with the straight shot played well and netted twice at the 2-0. Due to the final round of the German championship starting on May 16, national team manager Herberger picked the Hessian amateur player for the friendly match against Poland in Hamburg. Coming in in the 63rd minute, Stein scored the equaliser in the 81st minute, the final result. On May 27 he was capped for the second time for the amateur national team. He netted both goals at the 2-0 victory against England. When the Luxembourg celebrated the 50th anniversary there was scheduled a match between a Belgian and a German XI. Belgium won 3-1 but Stein scored the only goal for the DFB squad. In the final of the German championship Eintracht Frankfurt played on June 28, 1959 against Kickers Offenbach. Eintracht won in overtime 5-3. The striker Eckehard Feigenspan netted three times for Frankfurt. For Feigenspan moved to TSV 1860 München, the Eintracht board negotiated intensely with the goalgetter from Griesheim 02. Stein signed for the Riederwald club for the 1959-60 and was therefore not eligible for the German amateur national team. Since the qualification matches for the 1960 Summer Olympics took place in November 1959 against Finland and Poland, it was a blow for DFB's plans to take part at the Olympics. Erwin Stein debuted for the Eagles on August 23, 1959 at Eintracht's first season match against SpVgg Fürth. He contributed two goals to the 5-3 victory of Frankfurt. He carried on to show his scoring qualities in the Oberliga Süd but Sepp Herberger never called him up again. At the end of the Oberliga season 1959-60 he amounted 24 goals, plus he managed to enter the European Cup final on May 18, 1960 at Glaswegian Hampden Park against Real Madrid, scoring two goals at the 3-7 loss against legendary José Santamaria (nickname "the wall"). His sportive performances were great but Herberger never forgave him the "escape" from the amateur national team.

Eintracht Frankfurt, 1959-66

In seven years at Eintracht Erwin Stein appeared 342 times (friendlies included) and netted 267 times. In the Oberliga Süd he played from 1959 until 1963 in 107 matches and managed to score 75 goals. Between 1961 and 1962 he became runner-up in the Southern Oberliga and played in the final round with Eintracht. In the Fußball-Bundesliga he had two more good seasons between 1963 and 1965. He bid farewell as an Eintracht active player on September 4, 1965 at Hannover 96, playing with Jürgen Grabowski and Wolfgang Solz. From 1963 until 1966 he contributed 14 goals in Bundesliga 41 matches for the Hessian team. Which that team he reached the DFB-Pokal final against 1860 München on June 13, 1964 which the Eagles lost 0-2 to the Lions.

SV Darmstadt 98, 1966-69

The 31 years aged old hand played three seasons in the Regionalliga Süd for the "Lilies". In 83 fixtures he scored 18 goals, playing as midfielder.

End of the career

Stein ended his career at his home club Griesheim in 1969-70.

After the career

Stein operated a tobacco store in Frankfurt-Griesheim which sold lottery tickets.

Sources

Erwin Stein at eintracht-archiv.de