The Limited Times

Now you can see non-English news...

More goals than Gerd Müller: "Turbine" Monika Schmidt bombed for FC Bayern

2021-07-12T09:46:19.926Z


Monika Schmidt was one of the first stars in women's football. She scored 378 goals in 520 games.


Monika Schmidt was one of the first stars in women's football.

She scored 378 goals in 520 games.

Erding - Gerd Müller looks the 23-year-old in the eye.

He hands her two gold mini football boots: "Keep shooting so many goals, Monika!" It is the year of world championship 1974, and a reporter writes: "The bomber honors the bomber."

Monika Schmidt scored 378 goals in 520 games for FC Bayern between 1970 and 1995 - as a Libera and midfielder.

She wins the German championship, is in the final four more times and could even have played in Italy.

Not bad for a girl from Hörlkofen who only started playing club football at the age of 18.

In 1955, the DFB banned women's football in the club.

Little Monika is four years old.

Not much later she can only be seen with a ball on the meadows around Hörlkofen.

“I wasn't allowed to join the club, but we bolted wildly straight away after school - every day.” She grows up with five brothers and three sisters.

“You learn to assert yourself there,” she says with a laugh.

This is easy for her on the football field.

“There wasn't a single stupid saying because I was a girl,” says the 69-year-old.

"Most of the time I was the first to join their team."

And so it will be for her at FC Bayern.

The Reds already had a women's team in 1967, but not officially.

But pioneers like Hans Press or Managing Director Walter Fembeck are impatient.

Three months before the association finally clears the way in 1970, the FCB calls for a sighting.

+

Football pioneers: the first women's team at FC Bayern with President Wilhelm Neudecker (front).

Monika Schmidt (kneeling, 3rd from right) will wear the FCB dress a total of 520 times

© FC Bayern Museum

The first game rises on October 17, 1970 - and stage fright. "If it rains, the game is canceled," announced coach Karl-Heinz Mainz. A player mumbles: "Hopefully it will rain!" The concern is unfounded: Bayern shoot SV Olching 7-1 off the pitch. The crew is ready.

And is society ready for women's football? “Nobody has ever said anything stupid to me,” says Schmidt. She raves about Bomber Müller. "He was always interested in our results and sometimes whistled a game from us - Katsche Schwarzenbeck too, by the way." Franz Beckenbauer was always very polite. This also applies to Uli Hoeneß, who later did a lot for the development of women's football at Bayern, says Schmidt. “Only Paul Breitner was always grumpy. He didn't like us, "she says," but I didn't like him either. But men with full beards are not my thing anyway ”.

The press goes wrong several times.

After the win against Olching, the evening newspaper headlined “Sex: 1 für Bayern”.

But the soccer players won't let that put them off.

They master PR stories such as with the magazine "Quick" with ease and joy - especially since everyday football is not exactly exciting.

“We just had no competition in Bavaria,” she says.

They often play against male youth teams to be challenged.

More than a little annoyance (“The Waldkraiburg women were quite good at that”) is not an option for the female opponents.

+

Bombers among themselves: Gerd Müller and his female counterpart.

© FC Bayern Musem

Often the women just keep playing for themselves after the games on Säbener Straße. "We were a great group, got on really well and just always wanted to play football." A great and colorful group: there is Edda Haller, the cleaner. Or Eva Reichheim, who is compared to Günter Netzer because she transforms corners directly. Or the two twins who say of themselves: "If my sister plays badly, nothing works for me either." Scored goals and also played the 9-0 win against the Sechzger - in front of 40,000 spectators in the Grünwalder Stadium as a prelude to the Bundesliga hit Bayern against Gladbach.

The FCB women rush from victory to victory. With a 4: 2 in the brand new Olympic Stadium against SpVgg Landshut, they won the first Bavarian championship in 1972, which they won 19 times in a row. Away from home, FC Bayern is always an attraction, attracting fans, which Schmidt cleverly uses. “I buckled up a vendor's tray and sold Bayern souvenirs.” The proceeds then went to the team's treasury, because there was never any money from the club for the soccer players. “We were happy when we were invited to dinner. And before the season there was new football boots and a tracksuit for everyone. "

Monika Schmidt is one of the undisputed top performers on the team. "At first I played Libera, but then I quickly moved to midfield." The coaches know: Nobody is as strong and persistent as the young woman from Hörlkofen - where she has long since left. At the age of 16 she moved to Munich because of her training as a hairdresser - to a room of her uncle who runs a greengrocer's shop. Soon she works in the sports department at the Kaufhof. The club gave her the job and made sure that she got enough space for the games and long trips.

The Bayern women cross all of Germany in the team bus. “It was never boring there.” Schmidt talks about long rounds of carters. “We even taught our teammate from Bremen to play sheep's head,” says Schmidt. And there was a little Bavarian tuition on top of that. Every time he drives home, Schmidt grabs the microphone and gives Kathi Prechtl, the Bavarian Ratschkathl. "Mei, that's what the others wanted," she says and effortlessly quotes a few lines from the work of the cracked cabaret artist. Only once, she says, “we didn't feel like having fun anymore”.

It's June 30, 1985. FC Bayern are in the DM final for the fifth time and are clearly better than hosts Duisburg.

"We dominated the opponent, and then we conceded the 0: 1 shortly before the end." She also felt sorry for her mother Ida, who was on the bus.

"Each player was allowed to take two people to the finals," remembers Schmidt.

She took parents or siblings with her, especially since the whole family is proud of her Moni.

“As soon as I was home, my father liked to do some errands with me,” she says.

"He's already bragged a little about me."

+

Playful class: Monika Schmidt (left) with teammates.

© FC-Bayern-MUSEuM

And the people of Hörlkofen are also proud of their Moni, who can always look forward to a few fans from home.

But back to the German championships.

Somehow the worm was in there.

This is already indicated by the gold cup, the unofficial DM in 1973, when FC lost 3-1 to TuS Wörrstadt.

It doesn't get much better later.

"We were really impressed that SG Bergisch-Gladbach was so much better than us." Bayern lose the finals significantly in 1979 and 1982 against this star eleven from the Rhineland.

And even against the Bonner SC Schmidt and Co. are only second winners (1975).

But then there would still be June 20, 1976. In the Siegener Leimbach Stadium, tennis Borussia is close.

Schmidt shoots the Reds 2-1 in the lead, but the Berliners equalize.

Inge Mayerhofer and Doris Niederlöhner shoot their team to the championship in extra time.

It is the biggest day in Monika Schmidt's sports life.

Incidentally, Gerd Müller keeps his promise by donating jerseys and new football boots.

But there was no bonus.

“We stayed in a very nice hotel.

And after the victory we all jumped into the pool - with all the gangs. ”The club officials would have scolded, Schmidt said,“ but we didn't care ”.

+

Family: Monika Schmidt (left) grows up in Hörlkofen with eight siblings.

In the picture (from right): Edeltraud, Ernestine, a friend (hidden), Heinrich and Franz.

© private

In general: there was always a little resistance.

She had never allowed the cigarette with the coffee cup to be forbidden.

Once - during a guest performance in Wörrstadt - she simply ignores the recommended tattoo.

“You see each other so seldom, and so we sat in the bar a little longer.” The result: Schmidt was not allowed to play the next day.

“That was the only time I was outside,” she says.

None of the coaches ever wanted to do without the lightning-fast player.

It was called “Turbo”, and later “Turbine”.

These were great times, Schmidt still enthuses today. She only regrets one thing: “It's a shame that there hasn't been a national team for so long.” She was then invited to a course, “but I was already 34. Of course, the coaches wanted to work with younger players”.

An international match is still a priority.

With FC Bayern she played against the Italian national team in San Pellegrino in the early 1970s.

"We won 2-1 and the Italians wanted to sign me straight away," she said.

She must have played a big game, which is not surprising, “because I have always preferred great heat.

But when it's cold, you can't do anything with me. ”The offer was tempting.

"I would have gotten a job, but I didn't dare."

So she stays loyal to Bayern.

That only changes many years later, when she goes to Obertaufkirchen - as a club host.

“That was always my dream.

And that's why I just tried it.

But such a huge house on the prairie, that was scary to me. "

After two years she will return to Bayern and will be the coach of the second team for a short time ("That wasn't for me. I have too little patience for that.").

At 40, she helps out again in the Bundesliga.

"The club even had to issue a new player pass for me," says Schmidt with a laugh.

After her active career, she works for her club in the organizational area, taking care of the VIP area.

When the Bayern women move to campus, she draws a line.

“I lived in Poing at the time.

The driving would have been too much for me. "

Monika Schmidt now lives in Erding. Osteoarthritis makes golfing, her second passion, impossible. "The many training sessions on the ash pitches and artificial turf are now making themselves felt," she says. But mei, she'll be happy to accept that. "It was just really good times with football."

Source: merkur

All sports articles on 2021-07-12

You may like

Trends 24h

Latest

© Communities 2019 - Privacy

The information on this site is from external sources that are not under our control.
The inclusion of any links does not necessarily imply a recommendation or endorse the views expressed within them.