Friedhelm Konietzka

Friedhelm "Timo" Konietzka (2 August 1938 – 12 March 2012) was a German professional football player and manager who played as a striker. He earned his nickname "Timo" due to a supposed resemblance to the Soviet commander Semyon Timoshenko.

Biography Konietzka was born in Lünen, Province of Westphalia, and started his football career at his hometown club VfB 08 Lünen. In his youth (for five years since the age of 14) he worked in a coal mine. Max Merkel, coach of Borussia Dortmund at that time, discovered his talent when Konietzka was 20 and included him in the Dortmund squad. Together with fellow striker Jürgen Schütz, he formed the most dangerous attack of the Oberliga West. Konietzka played a total of 100 Bundesliga matches for Borussia Dortmund and TSV 1860 Munich and scored 72 goals, being the second best scorer of the league from 1964 to 1966 in the process. He was also capped nine times (three goals) for Germany between 1962 and 1965. Despite Konietzka's fine goalscoring record in the German league, Germany national team manager Sepp Herberger thought of him as too inconsistent, which could be one of the reasons Konietzka never featured regularly for the national side. He had been suffering from cancer prior to his death on 12 March 2012.

Honours Player Borussia Dortmund West German champions: 1963 DFB-Pokal: 1964–65

1860 Munich Bundesliga: 1965–66

Manager FC Zürich Nationalliga A: 1973–74, 1974–75, 1975–76

Grasshoppers Nationalliga A: 1981–82