Paint the doors, clean out the cellar and get the garden ready for spring. "Now we finally find the time", says jorg dittwar and laughs. The corona pandemic forces the 150-time bundesliga player, who now lives in dietersdorf (coburg district), to devote himself to his own four walls and not to the kicking youngsters. The 56-year-old is responsible for the youth teams of the SG ebersdorf/grobgarnstadt/frohnlach as athletic director. Dittwar is also involved with his former club, the 1.FC nurnberg. With herbert harrer, dittwar has been responsible for the FCN’s inclusion school project since april 2017 and holds a session once a week with the workshops at the valznerweiher sports park, where people with and without disabilities play soccer together.
Dittwar is passionate about helping people with disabilities. Already in his days as a player at the club (1987 to 1994) the trained painter helped out in workshops for the disabled. From 2009 to 2017 he was national coach of fubball players with intellectual impairment (national team ID). "It is very fun to work with these people", says dittwar. When the german disabled sports association (DBS) is looking for a new national coach, he is made aware of the vacancy. "The position was advertised and I was asked if I would be interested in applying. But I did not apply to be able to call myself national coach." Dittwar, who had already completed further training in the care of the handicapped, finally prevailed over four competitors. To play in the national team ID, an IQ below 75 must be established. Because the tests are not standardized worldwide, there is a large performance gap in the national teams. "For the netherlands, players who could play in the bavarian and regional leagues in germany are playing", says dittwar. For germany, on the other hand, there were players who played at the level of the lower divisions. "It’s like 18-year-olds playing against ten-year-olds."
New structures built
When dittwar took over, he had to build a completely new structure – and a new team. "There were players who cheated on the test to be able to play with us. But we didn’t let that pass." With the national team ID dittwar participated in two world championships (2010 in south africa, 2014 in brazil) and two european championships (2012 in sweden, 2016 in france).
The rough goal of reaching a semi-final once is not achieved. The competition is too rough. But dittwar was satisfied with the performances of his team. In terms of organization, he says, these tournaments are not comparable to rough events. "The national team has 20 or 30 coaches. There were four or five of us, although the boys needed a lot more supervisors," he says, says dittwar. In his training work, dittwar, who comes from stadtsteinach, has noticed one major difference above all: "the handicapped boys want to play, but they can’t. The guys without handicaps can, but don’t always want to," explains." Although dittwar was interested in the national coaching job, he resigned from his post in 2017.
"I missed the support and there are people working in the association who don’t put their heart and soul into it." But the 56-year-old didn’t remain unemployed for long. He then took on the honorary task of inclusion at the FCN. After his early career ended in 1994, dittwar also worked in soccer schools and was responsible for a number of clubs in upper franconia – including his hometown club TSV stadtsteinach – as a player coach or trainer. With FC burgkunstadt dittwar climbed up to the district league, before he finally quit in 2008.
"I had to end my professional career early due to injury. When I could play again, I thought to myself that it could not have been yet", dittwar explains why he returned to amateur soccer years after his career in the bundesliga. At the age of 31, dittwar had to end his professional career after suffering cartilage damage in his knee. He is sure: "I still had a few good years ahead of me."
No contact with beckenbauer
Since his move from bayreuth to nurnberg in 1987, dittwar has been one of the league’s strongest man-to-man defenders – and was regarded as a reliable penalty taker. Before the 1990 world championship, which germany won, he was even on the verge of being nominated for the dfb team. "Some newspapers wrote that I was a man for germany", says dittwar "but i never had any contact with the then team manager franz beckenbauer".
Because dittwar was injured before the world championship in italy, the topic of the national team was a foregone conclusion. A country game he never made. But jorg dittwar does not quibble with that. "I am proud to have been a professional during this time. Because back then there were five grenades in one position and it was much harder to get into the national team.", says dittwar. A change of club might have increased his chances of making the DFB team, but that didn’t help the club loyalty despite several offers. "I had been able to earn more money elsewhere, even abroad. But I always wanted to play for the club."
His former coach and mentor, hermann gerland, suggested that bayern munchen should sign dittwar. But beckenbauer, who by now was coaching the FCB, decided in favor of oliver kreuzer. Whether he had really switched from club to bayern? "I’m glad I never had to ask myself this question", says dittwar and laughs.
He remained connected to the french traditional club also after his career. As a youth coach, as the person responsible for the workshop program and as an expert on fan radio.