Name: Gerhard Heinze
Nickname: "Flieger" - Aviator



Country: Germany
Club: MSV Duisburg
Position: *GK
Side: RF/BS
Age: 29-31 years (30/11/1948)

Height: 176 cm
Weight: 75 kg


Attack: 30
Defence: 84
Balance: 79
Stamina: 68
Top Speed: 70
Acceleration: 74
Response: 91
Agility: 82
Dribble Accuracy: 51
Dribble Speed: 52
Short Pass Accuracy: 54
Short Pass Speed: 58
Long Pass Accuracy: 59
Long Pass Speed: 60
Shot Accuracy: 44
Shot Power: 78
Shot Technique: 44
Free Kick Accuracy: 44
Curling: 48
Header: 46
Jump: 92
Technique: 53
Aggression: 59
Mentality: 81
Goalkeeper Skills: 85
Team Work: 78

Injury Tolerance: B
Condition: 6
Weak Foot Accuracy: 4
Weak Foot Frequency: 4
Consistency: 7
Growth Type: Standard/Lasting

CARDS:
S12 - 1-on-1 Keeper

SPECIAL ABILITIES: 1-on-1 Stopper

Attack/Defence Awareness Card: Defence Minded


INFO:
One of the smallest goalkeepers in the league with 176cm, but he had a tremendous jumping ability, leap and particularly fantastic reflexes. Liked to jump acrobatically in the air to punch and clear the ball. His saves did not have a lot of catching, mostly punching the ball to the side. His spectacular flight inserts from one goal angle to another and numerous glitter parades, the legend at MSV Duisburg remains unforgettable. Gerhard Heinze - a unique goalkeeper.

The classic line-line goalkeeper with extreme jumping power, excellent reaction and agility and brilliant with spectacular aerial performances, played in top German football from 1967 to 1983. 16 years of competitive football in the Bundesliga and in European club football testify to a professional training ethic and performance-enhancing attitude; With his talent alone, this long career would not have been possible. Bernard Dietz, legend of MSV Duisburg put him in his personal top 11 of all time: "Gerhard didn't necessarily look like a goalkeeper at 1.75 m. With his size, he wouldn't have stood a chance at today's time. But he compensated for that with his tremendous jumping power. In addition, he was simply strong as a bear with his reflexes on the line."

In 1965, Heinze moved from TSV Eggenfelden in the district of Rottal-Inn in Lower Bavaria to VfB Stuttgart. For the 1967/68 season, he signed his first professional contract with VfB. In his first season, the 19-year-old goalkeeping talent was still overshadowed by 10-time international Günter Sawitzki, only making his Bundesliga debut at the end of the second half of the season. In front of 40,000 spectators, he made a brilliant debut behind midfielder Klaus-Dieter Sieloff. At the age of 20 Heinze was VfB Stuttgart's number one and remained so until 1975, although he was controversial because of his relatively small height of 176 centimetres. However, Heinze was able to compensate for this deficiency with great jumping power and great reflexes on the line. In 1972/73, when they qualified for the next year's UEFA Cup with a 6th-place finish, Heinze had been in goal in 29 league games. The 1973/74 UEFA Cup matches were a success story, which only ended in the two semi-finals in April 1974 against Feyenoord Rotterdam. Regarding the 2-1 defeat in the first leg in Rotterdam on 10 April, "As was to be expected, Feyenoord pushed almost non-stop for the VfB goal, which was excellently guarded by Gerhard Heinze, in the packed stadium (58,395 spectators) from the start.". In the 1974–75 season, VfB Stuttgart was relegated from the Bundesliga for the first time in the club's history.

For the 1975/76 season, Heinze moved to MSV Duisburg, where he became the backbone of the "Zebras" for years. In the 1976–77 season, he was substituted on November 1976, due to an injury. The MSV chronicle states: "Keeper Heinze was taken to hospital with kidney bleeding after the 3-2 defeat to Schalke. The 28-year-old had only been sent to the clinic as a precaution after a collision by club doctor Dr. Preißler. That saved Heinze's life." In the 1977/78 season, when MSV qualified for the UEFA Cup with a 6th place finish, Heinz had been in goal for the team in 31 league games. In the 1978/79 season, coach Rolf Schafstall called for a "dance at three weddings": the Bundesliga, the DFB Cup and the UEFA Cup. Heinze's men rushed from one English week to the next. At the start of the round, the goalkeeper suffered a broken hand in training ahead of Bundesliga Matchday 2 (19 August) and was therefore out for two months; While things didn't go well in the Bundesliga, with MSV finishing 13th at the end of the round, the "Zebras" advanced to the semi-finals of the UEFA Cup after victories over Lech Poznan, Carl Zeiss Jena, Racing Strasbourg and Honved Budapest. That led Heinze's team to Borussia Mönchengladbach and the "Foals" prevailed with a 4-1 home win on 25 April 1979 and progressed to the final. In May 1979, Duisburg defeated FC Bayern Munich 3-1 and Borussia Mönchengladbach and Eintracht Braunschweig 2-0 in three catch-up games, which meant that the final defeats against FC Schalke 04 (1-2) and Eintracht Frankfurt (0-2) could no longer prevent them from staying in the league. In the second half of the season, from 4 April to 9 June, coach Schafstall's team had to play in 16 competitive matches in the Bundesliga, the UEFA Cup and the DFB Cup; Heinze was in the MSV box in all games. In the 1981–82 season, Heinze was relegated from the German top flight with MSV Duisburg, making 29 league appearances. Heinze played his last Bundesliga game on 29 May 1982 in a 2–1 home win against Fortuna Düsseldorf. He stayed with Duisburg for another year in the 2nd division and ended his career after 30 appearances in the 2nd Bundesliga.