The meticulous football coach exemplified discipline for his pros. Gerd Schädlich has now passed away at the age of just 69.
He was promoted to the 2nd Bundesliga as a coach with FC Erzgebirge Aue and FSV Zwickau and also led Chemnitzer FC back to professional football. Now Gerd Schädlich died at the age of only 69 after a long illness on Saturday night. This was confirmed by long-time companions from the circle of friends of the legendary coach. “It is incredibly sad and so difficult to find words and for us to grasp the scope. Gerd Schädlich was a constant, a person and worker who was there for the club quietly and always without making a fuss about himself and whose success was above all presented”, the chairwoman of the CFC, Romy Polster, was quoted as saying in a press release.
Born on December 30, 1952 in Rodewisch in Vogtland, he began his footballing career at local TSG. In 1968, Schädlich moved to FC Karl-Marx-Stadt. A protracted injury forced him to retire at the age of 25.
Schädlich then worked as a qualified sports teacher at a municipal vocational school in Karl-Marx-Stadt and later as a DTSB trainer. Other coaching positions were activist Black Pump (1986-1987), BSG Aufbau dkk Krumhermersdorf (1987-1990), Stahl Riesa (1990-1991), FSV Zwickau (1991-1996), FC Sachsen Leipzig (1997-1998), the FSV Hoyerswerda (1998-1999) and FC Erzgebirge Aue (1999-2007). From the 2008/09 season he took over the coaching position at Chemnitzer FC. After a brilliant season in 2010/11, he secured the championship title in the regional league early with the club and was promoted to the 3rd division with the sky blues. In October 2013, Schädlich resigned at his own request after a 4-0 defeat by Prussia Münster.
Of course, the ambitious coach was annoyed that he hadn’t managed to lead the region’s third major club, CFC, into the lower house of football. In an interview with “Freie Presse” he once said in response to a corresponding question: “In the beginning it hurt, but at some point that was checked.” Another episode makes clear what Gerd was Schädlich: When, strangely enough, he was supposed to be honored for his “life’s work” at the sports gala in Chemnitz the year after his resignation from CFC, he refused the award. Even at 61, he still had ambitious goals in mind.
Gerd Schädlich was an old-school trainer, usually first at work in the morning and the last employee to leave the dressing room. He didn’t like hype about himself, not even after promotion to the second division with Zwickauer (1994) and local rivals Aue (2003). The meticulous football coach exemplified discipline for his pros. As long as he was healthy, he attended the home games of Chemnitzer FC until the end. Now a coaching legend who had made a name for himself throughout Germany has died. The football fans of the region are in deep mourning.