Everything has come full cir­cle in Leverkusen

Falko Götz settled here in his mid-50s. A couple of years ago, he built a second house with his wife Rita in Odenthal. The first, which the couple moved into over 30 years ago, is only 800 metres away. The former player and coach says everything has come full circle in a wonderful way. Falko Götz began a new life in Leverkusen in 1983 after his adventurous flight from the GDR. On this Saturday, 26 March, our UEFA Cup winner, who has been back at Bayer 04 since 2019, today celebrates his 60th birthday.

The story has often been told and also made into a documentary. Together with his friend and teammate Dirk Schlegel on 2 November 1983, he defected from his club BFC Dynamo Berlin the day before the European game away to Partizan Belgrade and, with the help of the German embassy, he travelled on the overnight train to Munich via Zagreb and Ljubljana. From there he went to an emergency reception centre in Gießen. Through Jörg Berger, a former GDR citizen and then coach at Hessen Kassel, contact was made with Reiner Calmund and, a week after the defection, Götz and Schlegel, two of the biggest talents in GDR football, had signed for Bayer 04.

Defection to the west

Falko Götz always said his flight had no political connotations. "I was a big talent in football I just wanted to play in the Bundesliga." At BFC Dynamo, the club of the Stasi boss Erich Mielke, the striker often came off second best and had to wait his turn because his mother had lots of relations in the West. "I wasn't considered to be politically pure." He would have been unable to establish a sporting career in the GDR that would lived up to his talent. Blocking off that route would have been the same as capitulation for him. Therefore, he decided to risk defecting. And what can happen to players from East Germany was shown by Norbert Nachtweih and Jürgen Pauls who fled from the GDR in 1976 and made their Bundesliga debuts for Eintracht Frankfurt. On the other hand, the mysterious accidental death of the GDR player Lutz Eigendorf happened six months before in March 1983. Whichever way you looked at it: The whole thing definitely involved a lot of risk. Never mind worrying about your family, parents and brothers and sisters who you would not see again for a long time. "Nobody imagined the Wall would come down six years later," said Götz who recounted his story in a Werkself podcast (episode 18).

UEFA Cup Triumph: "A great show"

Falko Götz experience the meaning of support and trust at Leverkusen, primarily from his coach Dettmar Cramer who lived very close to him in Schlebusch. "He took great care of me," said Götz who, like Schlegel, was banned for twelve months and only able to train. When the ban was lifted, Cramer took the first opportunity to play the two Berliners in the Bundesliga away fixture at Bielefeld exactly one year after their flight. "I was very moved by the confidence shown by Cramer," said Götz.

The former GDR international immediately became a regular first choice at Leverkusen and he made a significant contribution as a striker to Bayer 04 qualifying for Europe for the first time in 1986. Two years later, he won the UEFA Cup with the Werkself that included a magnificent flying header to make it 2-0 in the second leg of the final against Espanyol with Bum-kun Cha later putting the Werkself 3-0 up to level the scores after the 3-0 defeat in the first leg. Extra time, penalties, triumph. Up to this day, Götz is grateful to goalkeeper Rüdiger Vollborn that he didn't have to step up to take the fifth penalty. On Vollborn: "Whenever we were in trouble, Rüdiger was on a completely different level. It was infectious the way was really up for it on that night and he did his psychological stuff. It was a great show. When Espanyol missed the deciding penalty, I first ran in the opposite direction when I was celebrating. That showed how mixed up I was," recalls Götz and he has to laugh.

The fact he moved on to the unpopular neighbours FC Köln after the first title with his club and four and a half years under the Bayer Cross caused a stir. "That was just down to Rinus Michels who took over as coach in the summer and said some derogatory things about me and he said he didn't want me." Götz made 140 appearances for Bayer 04 and scored 33 goals. Now the next chapter was to start on the other side of the Rhine.

champion and cup winner with Galatasaray

In his four years at FC Köln, Götz twice finished runner-up in the league and once made it to the DFB Cup final (1991 in a 4-3 defeat on penalties against Werder Bremen). He made an enormous development under young coach Christoph Daum in a team including World Cup winners Bodo Illgner, Pierre Littbarski and Thomas Häßler.

The Saxony-born player is happy to remember his next club, the first one abroad. The now 30-year-old played for Galatasaray from 1992 to 1994 where he twice won the Turkish league title and the Turkish domestic cup under coach Karl-Heinz Feldkamp. "A wonderful time in a great, pulsating city," said Götz who return to Germany in 1994. He played in Saarbrücken for two years before signing for Hertha Berlin and he was promoted to the Bundesliga at the close of his career with the capital club in 1997.

Berlin years: an eye for Talent and succes as a head coach

Götz ended his playing career at the age of 35 due to problems following a torn Achilles but he had completed a number of coaching badges before and studied a course in sports management. "I didn't have to think about it very long when Dieter Hoeneß, then general manager at Hertha Berlin, offered me the chance to join the coaching staff," said Götz. He took over the reserve team, later became youth coordinator at the club where he brought through young talents like the Boateng brothers, Ashkan Dejagah and Sejad Salihovic. "I quickly discovered I had an eye for identifying youth players," said Götz who was caretaker coach for the first team in February 2002 where he took Hertha, following on from Jürgen Röber, from seventh to fourth in the remaining 13 games to qualify for the UEFA Cup.

Two years later, after one year as head coach at 1860 Munich, he was back in Berlin. However, fourth place was a disappointment this time as they missed out on third place and the Champions League with a goalless draw against Hannover 96 on the final matchday. "Back then I had top stars in my team such as Marcelinho, Arne Friedrich, Fredi Bobic, Artur Wichniarek, Yildiray Bastürk and Niko Kovac but we also thrived from our good youth development work," said Götz in remembering the three successful years in the capital.

Vietnam adventure

In 2011 he proved he was still up for adventures with a one-year contract as the Vietnam coach. "A wonderful country," enthused Götz. “I learned a lot there, had to improvise a lot, and do a lot of things myself. It was a bit of a case of back to the roots. I was thrilled by the hospitality of the people, I learned a lot about the history of the country and did a lot of travelling there."

Falko Götz had a number of jobs on his return to Germany. He was a coach at Erzgebirge Aue, FC Saarbrücken and FSV Frankfurt. "After Frankfurt I did have to ask myself if coaching was still something for me. And that's why I’m happy I was able to take up the great job at Bayer 04 in the summer of 2019," said Götz who has now been looking after talented youngsters in the transition from the youth section to the senior squad at Leverkusen. He is highly motivated in investing his experience and making his contribution in the development of talented young players.

Falko Götz still plays regularly for the Bayer 04 Veterans team. When he's not busy with football, he likes to swing his golf clubs. He is also an enthusiastic skier and fan of Tuscany.

The former striker and coach celebrates his 60th birthday today Saturday. Happy birthday, Falko and many happy returns from Bayer 04.