Died at the age of 71
Joachim Streich initially snapped under the radar. When he moved from his youth club in Wismar to Hansa Rostock at the age of 16, he was allowed to live in the boarding school, but was not fed. The association had not noticed the high hit rate – and was not worth supporting. Finally, the older roommates helped out the attacker, who was to mature into the GDR’s most extraordinary striker in his career. Streich died on Saturday night at the age of 71 after a long and serious illness.
The 98-time GDR player, once known as “Strich”, suffered from myelodysplastic syndrome, which in the worst case can lead to blood cancer. Streich has been in treatment for the past few weeks for advanced anemia and had to postpone a stem cell transplant due to pneumonia.
“We had hoped until the end. He was seriously ill for a long time. It’s been up and down in the past few weeks,” Marita Streich told the German Press Agency on Saturday. After Hans-Jürgen Dörner, who died in January, Eastern football lost its next big idol within a few months.
Of the #DFB mourns the GDR record scorer Joachim Streich. The former world-class goalscorer died of a serious illness three days after his 71st birthday. pic.twitter.com/J9OV4VO1Iw
— DFB (Federation) (@DFB) April 16, 2022
Death of Joachim Streich: mourning throughout football Germany
“We are stunned and mourn the loss of our club legend Joachim Streich,” said 1. FC Magdeburg on Twitter. SC Magdeburg expressed its “deepest sympathy and sincere condolences”. From 1967 to 1975 Streich played for FC Hansa, but luckily for him in Magdeburg he was forced to play after Rostock’s relegation.
“I wanted to continue playing in the premier league and switch to FC Carl Zeiss Jena. The club was set up very professionally, and there was already agreement with coach Hans Meyer. They also found a job for my wife in Jena,” Streich told the German Press Agency shortly before his 70th birthday. But the association straddled and delegated Streich to FCM. This did not detract from his performance. Streich was top scorer in the GDR Oberliga four times and won the FDGB Cup three times with FCM. Because of his slyness, he was often compared to Gerd Müller, for many Streich was the “Gerd Müller of the East”.
Streich about Gerd Müller: “Also a role model for me”
“Of course we watched the Bundesliga in the sports show on Saturday evening. Gerd Müller was also a role model for me because of his brilliant goals,” said Streich, who won Olympic bronze with the East German selection in 1972 and took part in the 1974 World Cup: “There were many great moments nationally and internationally, but my international match in London I have particularly fond memories of Wembley Stadium.”
The striker scored 53 times in his 98 games in the DDR jersey. Despite these impressive numbers, Streich was often criticized throughout his career. “The then ‘FuWo’ editor-in-chief Klaus Schlegel often singled me out and criticized me for what he saw as poor mileage and playing style. Jürgen Croy always wanted to build me up morally afterwards. So I said to him: ‘Jürgen, you don’t have to raise me up. I know I’m the best here,'” said Streich.
Streich lived near Magdeburg until the end. The man from Wismer found his great love on the Baltic Sea. In 1970 he met his Marita, and they married a year later. The birth of daughter Nadine made happiness perfect. A flight from the republic was therefore never up for debate. In terms of sport, Streich was convinced that he would have done it: “But I think, and the comparisons with the West German teams have shown that, that I would have prevailed in the Bundesliga.”
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