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Werner Lorant was football player from Germany, who could play as a defender or as a defensive midfielder. He later became a manager, notably managing TSV 1860 Munich for nine years between 1992 and 2001. He passed away on 20 April, 2025.
Biography
Werner was born on 21 November 1948. In 1970, Lorant made his professional debut in the second division with Westfalia Herne. He relocated to Borussia Dortmund a year later, where he had a difficult time that included the team’s notorious 11-1 loss to Bayern Munich and consequent relegation in 1972. Before moving to Rot-Weiss Essen in 1973, Lorant showed devotion by staying with Dortmund for a season in the second division.
He played with German football legends like Willi Lippens, Manfred Burgsmüller, and Horst Hrubesch in Essen, but the team was relegated in 1977 after another relegation struggle. After that, he played for 1. FC Saarbrücken for a season, which also resulted in his third relegation.
In 1978, Lorant joined Eintracht Frankfurt, which improved his fortunes. He had his most prosperous playing career, winning the DFB-Pokal in 1981 and the UEFA Cup in 1980 during a four-and-a-half-season span. He performed with legends like Bruno Pezzey, Bernd Hölzenbein, and Jürgen Grabowski in Frankfurt.
After serving as a player-manager at SV Heidingsfeld and later at 1 FC Schweinfurt 05, where he was promoted from the amateur levels, Lorant made the move into coaching in the middle of the 1980s. He won another divisional title with Viktoria Aschaffenburg, continuing his coaching career on the rise.
In 1992, he started his most memorable coaching career with TSV 1860 Munich. In barely two years, Lorant took over a third-tier team and guided them to promotion to the Bundesliga. He guided the team to UEFA Cup qualification in 1997 and, although losing to Leeds United in the qualifiers, almost made it to the Champions League group stage in 2000.
On the sidelines, Lorant was a fierce and passionate individual who finally ran afoul of Karl-Heinz Wildmoser, the president of 1860. After losing badly to Bayern Munich in a derby, his tenure came to an end in 2001.
In the 2010s, Lorant returned to coaching in Germany and Austria’s lower levels, where he managed FC Hallein 04, ÖTSU Hallein, and TSV Waging. He was Tennis Borussia Berlin’s temporary sporting director in 2010.
Was Werner Lorant Married?
He was married to Doris from 1981 to 2011. They have two children.#
What was Werner Lorant’s Cause of Death?
Lorant passed away in Wasserburg am Inn on April 20, 2025, at the age of 76. He had been sick for a year and a half.
