Ex-footballer Fabijan Hrgota: The easygoing guy with great potential

After many stops, Fabijan Hrgota found a footballing home at TSV Eching.

However, he had imagined his last game very differently.

Eching

- He is a legend in the recent club history of TSV Eching.

A striker who stressed the opposing defensive ranks and who even used for the zebras as a 40-year-old.

Fabijan Hrgota (44) loves football.

But he only takes the round leather off the shelf for a kick with friends.

That's why he's been jogging recently.

"If you don't do anything at this age, you can pick up the kilos right away," says Hrgota and laughs.

During his footballing career, endurance runs were still a chore - “I hated the preparation”.

If he had loved her, he would probably never have ended up at TSV Eching - and ultimately felt at home there.

Because actually he was always on the move.

Hrgota was born in 1977 in Neunkirchen, Saarland, as the son of a migrant worker from the Croatian part of the former Yugoslavia.

He spent his childhood in what is now Croatia.

There were good footballers there like midfielder Robert Prosinecki, who kicked for Real Madrid and FC Barcelona - and like Hrgota was born in Germany.

No wonder that Fabijan also ended up playing football.

“I only started when I was twelve, so I was a real late starter,” says Hrgota.

In 1992 he came back to Munich.

He needed a club - and started looking at the very top.

From FC Bayern to TSV 1860

“We just asked FC Bayern about a trial session.

That was still possible back then.

It worked, but I only played there for three months, ”says Hrgota.

He moved to the other major football club in the state capital.

"For 1860 I played three or four years." And diplomatically he adds: "I like both clubs." As a junior, he kicked for the amateurs of the sixties and rose to the championship in the 1995/96 season Bayernliga on.

By the way, TSV Eching came fourth in that regional league season - and Hrgota gave the zebras a goal when he was 18 at the time.

At that time he had no idea that he would later find happiness in Eching.

Hrgota had other goals.

"That was one of the greats in amateur sport," says Sepp Summerer, who coached TSV Eching at the beginning of the 1990s and now coaches SVA Palzing.

There was no direct duel with Hrgota, but “I've always followed his career”.

Hrgota fought for a place in the Bundesliga squad from coach Werner Lorant.

“Unfortunately, he didn't rely on the youth at all,” regrets Hrgota.

He moved to the Bayern League for SV Lohhof.

The coach: his former teammate and later second division coach Gino Lettieri.

However, Hrgota was seriously injured.

Diagnosis: fibula fracture and syndesmosis ligament tear.

“It wasn't sure if I could continue.

I actually wanted to quit, ”says Hrgota.

"It was a perfect match."

Fabijan Hrgota about his time at TSV Eching

But then Gianni Lettieri, Gino's brother, asked whether he would like to switch to the district league for SpVgg Moosburg.

Hrgota agreed, found the joy of football again and played strongly.

He just missed promotion to the district league with the Moosburgers in 1999 in the relegation.

Via SpVgg Landshut with highlights such as a DFB Cup game against second division Hansa Rostock, he landed at the then Bayern division FC Augsburg in 2000 - trained by Gino Lettieri.

“We have known each other for a long time.

Gino was more of a buddy than a person of respect.

And I wasn't determined and went on vacation once.

A mistake in hindsight.

But that's just how I am, ”says Hrgota.

After a year in Augsburg, he joined SC Baldham, where he first met coach Ivo Bacic.

It fit, but Hrgota didn't stay there long either.

This was followed by games for TSV Ampfing and TSV Großhadern - and even an assignment abroad: “At the age of 27, I was drafted by the Croatian armed forces.” Then I went back to Germany and in the summer of 2007 to TSV Eching.

"Ivo helped to thread the change," said the striker about Bacic, who was active for the zebras in the meantime.

"I had other offers, but after so many stations it will be enough at some point," he says, looking back.

He was happy in Eching.

"It was a perfect match."

The best moment in his career

With the TSV he rose in his first season from the district to the district league.

“The promotion was a must for the club - also from a financial point of view,” says Hrgota.

He and his teammates withstood the pressure.

The relief was enormous: “The ascent with Eching was the best moment in my career.” A few years later, a very bitter one followed: In 2011, coach Wolfgang Donders lost the fight against cancer.

His death is still close to Hrgota today: "Unfortunately, he left much too early." Donders was a club legend.

And Hrgota on the best way there.

The goalgetter scored goals like on the assembly line.

Matthias Koston, coach of SpVgg Kammerberg and back then on the field with ASV Dachau against TSV Eching, remembers: “Our coach explicitly warned about Fabijan.

We were better at that game for 80 minutes, but once we gave him too much space - and that far from the goal.

But then he cut it in from 26, 27 meters, ”says Koston.

“That was one of the most complete players.

He never ran much, but could score goals out of any situation.

And he was a very pleasant guy on the pitch and after the game. "

Hrgota scored his last goal in 2017 in the first leg of the relegation relegation to the state league at TSV Jetzendorf.

Three and a half months after his 40th birthday, the rascal showed the sometimes half his age team and opponents what makes a good striker.

After a ball that was too wide in the top, he followed up, spittin the ball away from the keeper and pushed it into the empty goal.

After the 2: 2, the zebras lost the second leg with 0: 4.

It was his last appearance.

“I was long overdue,” he looks back.

"And then I said goodbye with the relegation - that wasn't ideal."

Not made for the coaching job

Someone who has experienced so much and has been so successful would definitely be a good coach.

The 44-year-old thinks the opposite.

“I'm not made for the coaching job.

I'd have a hard time putting pals on the bench.

And I want to go on vacation. ”There he is again, the easygoing type.

And in terms of time it would not be feasible anyway.

Hrgota works as a CNC lathe operator in a Karlsfeld company.

“In shift work it is impossible to always get into training.

That wouldn't make any sense, ”says Hrgota.

And that also has something good: He has time for his girlfriend and his hobbies, chess and basketball.

And for the runs with his work colleagues.

“We jog around Lake Karlsfelder See two or three times a week.

That's 5500 meters, which is good, ”emphasizes Hrgota.

He still enjoys being in the Willi Widhopf Stadium in Eching.

Then he shakes a lot of hands and exchanges ideas with people.

“I'm always happy to go there.

Eching was like a home.

And it still is. "

You can also read the article from the FT series:

Alfons Hecher - SV Siegfried Hallbergmoos and his strong wedding loader