Obituary: 1. FC Nürnberg mourns the loss of its former player Reiner Wirsching

The second division soccer team 1. FC Nürnberg mourns the loss of its former Bundesliga professional Reiner Wirsching. The former offensive player fell off his bike on Thursday after a collision with a deer and seriously injured his head; he died as a result of the accident. Wirsching will be remembered for a career that represented a completely unusual rise at the time and that seems unimaginable today: at the age of almost 25, he played for his hometown club TSV Stammheim in Lower Franconia in the sixth-class district league in a village of 900 inhabitants.

In 1988, the medical student moved to FC Schweinfurt 05 in the then third-tier Bayernliga – and quickly drew the attention of 1. FC Nürnberg. Because attacker Dieter Eckstein had left the club, the Nuremberg team signed the “highly gifted player,” as coach Hermann Gerland called him, during the 1988/89 winter break. In his first game for the club, Wirsching scored two goals in a 5-3 win against FC St. Pauli. He immediately became a regular player and contributed a total of six goals in the second half of the season, including one in the 2-1 win against FC Bayern Munich, which ensured they stayed in the league.

His Bundesliga record: 72 games with 14 goals

Wirsching was also a regular player in the 1989/90 season, now in midfield. On matchday 32, he scored his seventh and final goal of the season against VfL Bochum. Then he got injured and missed the remaining three games. For the 1990/91 season, a new coach, Arie Haan, came to the club, who continued to plan with him, but things no longer went so well for Wirsching. He scored once in 26 appearances, and then Eckstein also came back to Nuremberg. Wirsching was injured again and was no longer in the squad for the 1991/92 season. His Bundesliga record: 72 games with 14 goals. In 1992 he returned to Schweinfurt.

Two years later he moved to Bayernliga rivals TSV Vestenbergsgreuth. With this club he appeared again in Nuremberg’s Frankenstadion in 1994 – and was on the field for 90 minutes when the village club sensationally knocked FC Bayern, with Oliver Kahn, Lothar Matthäus and Mehmet Scholl, out of the DFB Cup 1-0. At the same time, Wirsching had completed his medical studies; He worked as a surgeon, orthopedic surgeon and sports doctor. He also worked for many years as a team doctor for FC Schweinfurt, and later also for the table tennis Bundesliga team TSV Bad Königshofen.

Wirsching also acquired football titles: At the end of the 1990s, he became world champion with the German national medical team at the “World Medical Games”. And in 2009 he won the German championship for over-40 seniors with TSV Bergrheinfeld.