Torsten Gütschow

Torsten Gütschow

Gütschow takes a shot in a match against FC Berlin in 1990.
Personal information
Full name	Torsten Jens Gütschow[1]
Date of birth	(1962-07-28) 28 July 1962
Place of birth	Görlitz, East Germany
Height	1.75 m (5 ft 9 in)
Playing position	Striker
Club information
Current club	TuS Heeslingen (manager)
Youth career
1968–1973	Traktor Zodel
1973–1976	Dynamo Görlitz
1976–1980	Dynamo Dresden
Senior career*
Years	Team	Apps†	(Gls)†
1980–1992	Dynamo Dresden	247	(116)
1992–1993	Galatasaray	15	(10)
1993–1994	Carl Zeiss Jena	9	(0)
1994–1995	Hannover 96	33	(16)
1995–1996	Chemnitzer FC	34	(15)
1996–1999	Dynamo Dresden	82	(33)
Total		420	(190)
National team
1979	East Germany U-18	4	(3)
1981–1983	East Germany U-21	16	(4)
	East Germany Olympic	3	(2)
1984–1989	East Germany	3	(2)
Teams managed
2003–2004	FC Oberneuland
2006–	TuS Heeslingen
* Senior club appearances and goals counted for the domestic league only. † Appearances (Goals).

Torsten Gütschow (born 28 July 1962 in Görlitz) is a German former footballer who played as a striker.^[2] He is most associated with Dynamo Dresden, with whom he had two successful spells, playing top level football in East Germany and after reunification.^[3] In between these he played for three other German clubs, and spent six months with Galatasaray of the Turkish Super Lig.^[3] A strong and instinctive goalscorer, Gütschow was top scorer in each of the last three seasons of the DDR-Oberliga,^[4] and was the last ever East German Footballer of the Year.^[5] He won three international caps for East Germany, scoring two goals between 1984 and 1989.^[6] Since retiring he has taken up coaching, and has been manager of TuS Heeslingen since 2006.^[7]

Playing career

In East Germany

Gütschow played as a youth for Traktor Zodel and Dynamo Görlitz,^[3] before joining Dynamo Dresden in 1976.^[8] After four years in their youth setup, he was promoted to the first-team, making his DDR-Oberliga debut in 1980.^[3] He established himself as a consistent goalscorer, and scored 17 goals in the 1984–85 season.^[3] The next two seasons were blighted by injury, but he returned to form, partnering Ulf Kirsten up front, and was the league's top scorer in its last three seasons.^[4] His seven goals in the 1988-89 UEFA Cup made him the competition's top scorer and in 1991 he was named as the last ever East German Footballer of the Year.^[5]

During much of Gütschow's time with Dynamo Dresden, the league was dominated by Berliner FC Dynamo, who won ten consecutive league titles from 1979 to 1988.^[9] Dresden broke this run by winning the championship in 1989 and 1990,^[9][10] adding a cup win in the latter season to complete the double. They had also won the cup in 1982, 1984 and 1985.^[10]

After reunification

The last season of the DDR-Oberliga (now renamed the NOFV-Oberliga) saw Dynamo Dresden finish second, behind Hansa Rostock,^[11] and with German reunification they qualified for the Bundesliga.^[11] In their first season they finished in 14th place,^[12] and Gütschow was the team's top scorer, with 10 goals from 31 appearances.^[13][14] The following season, he played eight matches, scoring twice,^[15] before leaving in December 1992, joining Galatasaray of the Turkish Super Lig.^[1] Gütschow's 12 Bundesliga goals are still the most of any Dynamo Dresden player.

Galatasaray had a German coach, Karl-Heinz Feldkamp, and two other German players in Falko Götz and Reinhard Stumpf. Gütschow settled in immediately, and scored 10 goals in 15 league appearances,^[1][3] as the club won a league and cup double.^[16] Gütschow only spent six months in Turkey, returning to Germany in summer 1993^[3] but remains a popular figure with Galatasaray fans.

Gütschow returned to Germany with Carl Zeiss Jena of the 2. Bundesliga,^[3] but had a singularly unsuccessful season, making only nine league appearances and failing to score.^[17] He left Jena after one year, and followed this with single-year spells at two other 2. Liga clubs – Hannover 96 and Chemnitzer FC.^[3] He had more personal success in both these seasons, scoring 16 and 15 goals respectively,^[18][19] but the latter ended in relegation for Chemnitz.^[20]

In 1996, Gütschow returned to Dynamo Dresden, now in the third-tier Regionalliga Nordost.^[3] He spent three years with the club as they tried unsuccessfully to get promoted to the second division,^[21] before retiring in 1999.^[3] In total, he had made 329 league appearances for Dynamo, scoring 149 goals, across two spells.^[3]

• 

  Gütschow (left) chases the ball in a 1990 match against Chemnitzer FC.

• 

  Gütschow (centre) watches a shot being saved by Henryk Lihsa shot saved during Dynamo Dresden's 5–0 win over 1. FC Union Berlin in 1989

• 

  Gütschow celebrates with Steffen Büttner (number 5) during a 3–0 win against Rot-Weiß Erfurt in 1990.

Statistics

1. ↑ Includes FDGB Pokal, NOFV Pokal, DFB-Pokal, Turkish Cup and Sachsenpokal
2. ↑ Includes European Cup, UEFA Cup and UEFA Cup Winners' Cup

International career

Gütschow was called up to the East Germany national team in February 1984, making his debut in a 3–1 away win against Greece.^[6] His second cap came later in the same year, also against Greece – this time he scored again in a 1–0 home win.^[6] His third and final cap didn't come until 1989, in a 1–1 draw with Finland at his home stadium in Dresden.^[6] He was also capped at under-21 level and made three appearances for the DDR Olympic team.^[8]

International goals

Scores and results table.^[6] East Germany's goal tally first:

#	Date	Venue	Opponent	Result	Competition
1.	15 February 1984	Olympic Stadium, Athens, Greece	Greece	3–1	Friendly
2.	12 September 1984	Georgi-Dimitroff-Stadion, Zwickau, East Germany	Greece	1–0	Friendly

Honours

• FDGB Pokal: 1982, 1984, 1985, 1990
• DDR-Oberliga: 1989, 1990
• Turkish Super League: 1993
• Turkish Cup: 1993

Coaching career

After ending his playing career, Gütschow took up coaching. He worked with VfL Bochum's reserve team,^[7] and was manager of FC Oberneuland from 2003 to 2004.^[7] In 2006 he was appointed as manager of TuS 1906 Heeslingen,^[7] and won promotion to the Oberliga Nord in his first season. Gütschow is still in charge at the club,^[7] who are still in the Oberliga, albeit now in the Oberliga Niedersachsen^[24] after the league was restructured in 2008.

Stasi

Gütschow worked as an Inoffizieller Mitarbeiter (paid informant) for the Stasi.^[25] This came about after he was arrested in Sweden for drink-driving; the East German authorities offered him a deal where he would be released on condition that he would provide the Stasi with information. However, he immediately confessed this involvement to his team-mates, and promised never to report anything negative about them.

References

External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Torsten Gütschow.

• Career stats at RSSSF
• Club profile (German)
• Torsten Gütschow at fussballdaten.de (German)

v t e East German Footballer of the Year 1963: Kaiser 1964: Urbanczyk 1965: Weigang 1966: Nöldner 1967: Erler 1968: Bransch 1969: Vogel 1970: R. Ducke 1971: P. Ducke 1972: Croy 1973: Kreische 1974: Bransch 1975: Pommerenke 1976: Croy 1977: Dörner 1978: Croy 1979: Streich 1980: Grapenthin 1981: Grapenthin 1982: Schnuphase 1983: Streich 1984: Dörner 1985: Dörner 1986: Müller 1987: Müller 1988: Thom 1989: Trautmann 1990: Kirsten 1991: Gütschow

v t e DDR-Oberliga Top Scorer 1949–50: Satrapa 1950–51: Schöne 1951–52: Krause 1952–53: Arlt 1953–54: Satrapa 1954–55: Tröger 1955: Seligow 1956: Lindner 1957: Kaulmann 1958: Müller 1959: Bauchspieß 1960: Bauchspieß 1961–62: Bialas 1962–63: Ducke 1963–64: Backhaus 1964–65: Bauchspieß 1965–66: Frenzel 1966–67: Rentzsch 1967–68: Kostmann 1968–69: Kostmann 1969–70: Skrowny 1970–71: Kreische 1971–72: Kreische 1972–73: Kreische 1973–74: Matoul 1974–75: Vogel 1975–76: Kreische 1976–77: Streich 1977–78: Havenstein 1978–79: Streich 1979–80: Kühn 1980–81: Streich 1981–82: Schnuphase 1982–83: Streich 1983–84: Ernst 1984–85: Ernst 1985–86: Sträßer 1986–87: Pastor 1987–88: Thom 1988–89: Gütschow 1989–90: Gütschow 1990–91: Gütschow