Reinhard Häfner (2 February 1952 – 24 October 2016) was a German football player and coach.

Career

Häfner played children's and youth football for his hometown club BSG Motor Sonneberg. As a junior player he was assigned to Rot-Weiß Erfurt before joining Dynamo Dresden in 1971. He stayed with the Dresden club until his retirement as a player in 1988 having played in 366 East German first division DDR-Oberliga matches, scoring 49 goals. He is second to Hans-Jürgen Dörner in matches played for Dynamo. Häfner was part of four DDR championship and FDGB Pokal (East German Cup) winning teams there.

Reinhard Häfner

Between 1971 and 1984 he was capped 58 times for the East Germany national team, scoring 5 goals, and was part of the gold medal-winning squad at the 1976 Summer Olympics in Montreal, Canada.

Reinhard Häfner

In April 1990, two years after his retirement as a player, Häfner became head coach of Dynamo Dresden, replacing Eduard Geyer. Weeks later Dynamo claimed its eighth championship and seventh cup. The following season, despite the sale of star players Ulf Kirsten and Matthias Sammer, Häfner guided the Dresden team to a second-place finish in the final DDR-Oberliga season before the merger of the football competitions of East and West Germany following the reunification of the country, qualifying the club for the first division Bundesliga. Despite this success he was dismissed in June 1991. He moved on to coach second division club Chemnitzer FC from 1993 to 1996.

Reinhard Häfner

Häfner joined SV Grün-Weiß Langeneichstädt (Kreisliga Merseburg/Querfurt, Sachsen-Anhalt) in the post-season of 2006–07.

References

External links

Veterans

1952 births

2016 deaths

People from Sonneberg

German men's footballers

East German men's footballers

FC Rot-Weiß Erfurt players

Dynamo Dresden players

Dynamo Dresden managers

Footballers at the 1972 Summer Olympics

Footballers at the 1976 Summer Olympics

Olympic footballers for East Germany

East Germany men's international footballers

Dynamo Dresden non-playing staff

Chemnitzer FC managers

DDR-Oberliga players

Men's association football midfielders

Footballers from Thuringia

German football managers

Olympic medalists in football

Olympic bronze medalists for East Germany

Olympic gold medalists for East Germany

Medalists at the 1972 Summer Olympics

Medalists at the 1976 Summer Olympics

Recipients of the Patriotic Order of Merit in silver