Jörn Lenz

Jörn Lenz (born 12 April 1969) is a German former professional footballer who played as a defender. Lenz had four different spells with BFC Dynamo during his professional playing career and has continued to serve as part of the club's backroom staff since retiring in 2008. Lenz played a total of 374 matches for BFC Dynamo between 1988 and 2008. He made two appearances for BFC Dynamo in the 1989-90 European Cup Winners' Cup.

Career Early career Lenz was born in Warnemünde. He began playing football for the youth teams of enterprise sports community BSG Schiffahrt/Hafen Rostock in Rostock. He was admitted into a Children and Youth Sports School (KJS) in 1981 and then taken over by football club FC Hansa Rostock. Lenz then joined the youth academy of BFC Dynamo in 1985. He was promoted to the reserve team of BFC Dynamo in 1987. Lenz made 54 appearances with the BFC Dynamo II in the second tier DDR-Liga between 1987 and 1989.

BFC Dynamo Lenz made his first appearance with the first team of BFC Dynamo as a 19-year-old in the first round of the 1988–89 FDGB-Pokal against BSG Energie Cottbus II on 9 September 1988. He started the match as a substitute and was exchanged for Waldemar Ksienzyk in the 80th minute. BFC Dynamo won the 1988–89 FDGB-Pokal. The team was set to play the first ever DFV-Supercup against SG Dynamo Dresden on 5 August 1989. Lenz started the match as a substitute, but was exchanged for Jörg Fügner in the 77th minute. BFC Dynamo won the match 4–1 and became the first and only winner of the DFV-Supercup in the history of East German football.

Lenz then made his international debut for BFC Dynamo in the return leg of the first round of the 1989–90 European Cup Winners' Cup against Valur on 26 September 1989. He started the match as a substitute, but was exchanged for Heiko Bonan in the 33rd minute. Lenz scored the winning 2–1 goal for BFC Dynamo in the 83th minute. Lenz also played in the first leg of the second round against AS Monaco FC at the Stade Louis II on 17 October 1989. AS Monaco FC was coached by Arsène Wenger and fielded prominent players such as George Weah at the time. Lenz started the match in the starting line-up, but was exchanged for Eike Küttner in the 46th minute. He missed the return leg against AS Monaco FC due to an injury.

Lenz made 12 appearances for BFC Dynamo in the 1989–90 DDR-Oberliga. BFC Dynamo was rebranded as FC Berlin on 19 February 1990. Lenz played five matches for FC Berlin the 1990 Intertoto Cup. FC Berlin reverted to its old club name BFC Dynamo during the season. BFC Dynamo reached the final of the 1998–99 Berlin Cup. The team defeated Berlin Türkspor 1965 4–1 in the final at the Friedrich-Ludwig-Jahn-Sportpark on 11 May 1999. Lenz was team captain of BFC Dynamo also in the following season. BFC Dynamo was qualified for the 1999–2000 DFB-Pokal as winner of the 1998–99 Berlin Cup. The team lost 2–0 to DSC Arminia Bielefeld in the second of the 1999–2000 DFB-Pokal in front of 2,400 spectators at Friedrich-Ludwig-Jahn-Sportpark on 7 August 1999 The team finished the 1999–2000 Regionalliga Nordost on 17th place and was relegated to the NOFV-Oberliga Nord.

VfB Leipzig BFC Dynamo dominated the 2000–01 NOFV-Oberliga Nord. The team had only suffered three losses and conceded 17 goals during the league season. However, BFC Dynamo was defeated by 1. FC Magdeburg in the play-offs for the Regionalliga. And it was now also clear that the club was in serious financial difficulties. Insolvency proceeding were opened against BFC Dynamo on 1 November 2001. The club now had to continue under amateur conditions and the team was going to be automatically relegated to the Verbandsliga Berlin. Lenz left BFC Dynamo for VfB Leipzig when the insolvency proceeding were opened. VfB Leipzig was coached by SG Dynamo Dresden legend Hans-Jürgen "Dixie" Dörner at the time. Lenz played his first match for VfB Leipzig against FSV Hoyerswerda in the 2001–02 NOFV-Oberliga Süd on 18 November 2001. He also played for VfB Leipzig in the 2002–03 NOFV-Oberliga Süd. Lenz made 45 appearanaces for VfB Leipzig in the NOFV-Oberliga Süd between 2001 and 2003.

Return to BFC Dynamo Lenz returned to BFC Dynamo in the 2003–04 season. He once again became the team captain. BFC Dynamo finished 2003–04 Verbandsliga Berlin on first place and won promotion back to the NOFV-Oberliga Nord. The team had won all 17 matches of the second half of season. Lenz celebrated the promotion as his first athletic promotion, as Tennis Borussia Berlin had benefited from the license withdrawal of 1. FC Union Berlin in 1993. Ingo Rentzsch became the new coach in late October 2006. Lenz then again took over as interim player-coach together with Thomaschewski after the dismissal of coach Rentzsch in January 2007. Uluc decided to move Lenz from a libero position to densive midfield position. Lenz suffered a torn cruciate ligament in the fifth matchday of the 2007–08 NOFV-Oberliga Nord.

Lenz has played a total of 374 matches for BFC Dynamo since 1988, according to club statistics. The number includes two appearances in the European Cup Winner's Cup and five appearances for FC Berlin in the Intertoto Cup. He has continued to serve in the club's backroom staff since the 2008–09 season. He serves as team manager of BFC Dynamo and as the head of the Kita-Projekt as of 2021. The Kita-Projekt is a day care project of BFC Dynamo.

Miscellaneous Lenz said in an interview with the Berlin football magazine Fußball-Woche in 2008 that his favorite football clubs besides BFC Dynamo were FC Hansa Rostock and Hamburger SV. He explained that he had played for FC Hansa Rostock and had sympathy for the North German clubs, as he grew up on the Baltic coast. He also said that he admired Dutch football player Ruud Krol in his youth.

Honours BFC Dynamo FDGB-Pokal Winner: 1988-89 DFV-Supercup Winners: 1989 NOFV-Oberliga Nord Winner: 1991-92, 2000-01 Verbandsliga Berlin Winner: 2003–04 Berlin Cup Winner: 1998-99 Runner-up: 1999-00

Tennis Borussia Berlin Regionalliga Nordost Winner: 1995-96 NOFV-Oberliga Nord Winner: 1992-93 Berlin Cup Winner: 1992-93, 1994-95, 1995-96