Norberto Höfling

Norberto Höfling (20 June 1924 – 18 April 2005) was a Romanian footballer and manager.

Playing career Dinamo Cernăuți Höfling, who was of Jewish origin, was born on 20 June 1924 in Cernăuți, Kingdom of Romania. He began playing junior-level football at local club Dinamo. Höfling scored 22 goals by the end of the 1946–47 season, which made him the top-scorer of Ciocanul and the third top-scorer of the league, after Ladislau Bonyhádi and Iosif Kovács. In the first half of the 1947–48 season, he scored two goals in 10 matches. In the following match, he scored his first goal in the competition in a 6–1 win over ESMTK. He scored his first goal in the competition on 13 March in a 2–2 draw against Torino. Subsequently, he scored 11 goals in the following season.

Pro Patria Höfling joined Pro Patria in 1951 and made his first league appearance under coach Mario Varglien in a 2–2 draw against Padova in which he closed the scoring. On 6 April 1952, he scored a brace in a 2–0 success over Bologna. Afterwards, he scored eight goals in the 1954–55 season, including one goal in a win over his former club Lazio, and a double in a 3–1 victory against Genoa.

Vicenza In 1955, Höfling moved from pro Patria to fellow Serie A club Vicenza. He scored his first goal for Vicenza, opening the scoring in a 3–1 away win over Sampdoria. Höfling made his last Serie A appearance on 6 November 1956 in a 0–0 draw against Juventus, totaling 169 matches with 48 goals in the competition. He successfully guided the team to promotion into the Belgian First Division by the end of the 1958–59 season. Though sacked from Feyenoord after just one year, he returned to Belgium shortly after signing with Racing White Brussels, once again leading his new squad to a first-division promotion.

Höfling returned to Club Brugge and helped the team win the 1967–68 Belgian Cup after defeating Beerschot in the final. Subsequently, in 1968 he was appointed head coach at Anderlecht.

In 1969, Höfling went to coach for two seasons at the second-tier club Daring Club Brussels but failed to help them gain promotion to the first division. He went to work in the 1977–78 season at the second-tier club Gent. His last coaching experience took place in Italy in the early 1980s at the club for which he previously played, Pro Patria.

Writing Höfling wrote a book about football titled Le virus du football (The football bug), which was released in 1967.

Death Höfling died on 18 April 2005 in Bruges, Belgium at the age of 80.

Honours Manager Racing White Brussels Belgian Second Division: 1964–65 Club Brugge Belgian Cup: 1967–68 Daring Club Brussels Belgian Cup runner-up: 1969–70 AS Oostende Belgian Third Division: 1972–73