For more than half a century, Rainer Holzschuh left his mark on kicker, of which he was editor until 31 December 2020. He passed away on Thursday night at the age of 77.
After two years in the Bundeswehr and five semesters of law, the son of a bank clerk born in Bad Kissingen turned his great passion “football” into a profession: During his studies, he worked as a freelancer for the Augsburger Allgemeine, and from 1971 onwards as head of the West editorial department at kicker.
From 1978 to 1983, Holzschuh took over as head of the North editorial department. After that, the German Football Association (DFB) became a stopover for him as the association’s press officer. During this time, a deep friendship developed with the then team manager Franz Beckenbauer.
In 1988, Holzschuh returned to kicker, now to Nuremberg and as successor to long-time editor-in-chief Karl-Heinz Heimann. The returnee not only brought his “phone book” from the DFB headquarters in Frankfurt to the central editorial office in Nuremberg, but also great visions. He had long since built up a large network of players, coaches, officials and decision-makers in politics, business and culture.
As editor-in-chief and later as publisher (from 2010), Holzschuh was the initiator and co-founder of ESM (European Sports Media), of which he was president until the end. Just a few weeks ago, on 21 September, he wanted to award the “Golden Shoe” for the most successful goal scorer in Europe to Robert Lewandowski; his illness prevented him from attending the event in Munich.
In 2004, Holzschuh was one of the co-founders of the German Academy for Football Culture (Nuremberg), which annually awards the Walther Bensemann Prize in memory of the kicker founder. For years, Holzschuh was the jury chairman. As a member of the jury, he was also involved in the selection of the “Sports Photo of the Year”, has been a member of the board of trustees of the DFB Cultural Foundation since 2001 and has been a member of the board and chairman of the jury of the “German Football Ambassador” association since 2016.
With his enormous commitment, Rainer Holzschuh has strengthened the “kicker” brand beyond the classic tasks of an editor-in-chief and publisher. “Rainer Holzschuh has helped shape the sports media landscape for decades as the face of kicker. His work will remain visible for a long time to come,” said Olympia-Verlag Managing Director Bärbel Schnell, paying tribute to the sports journalist.
