Career
Nigbur initially wanted to train as a harness racing driver, but played football for SV Gelsenkirchen-Hessler in his youth and was initially deployed as a center forward. After he substituted for the goalkeeper who had been sent off during a match and saved two penalties, he was only used as a goalkeeper from then on. On his 18th birthday, his father signed his first professional contract with Schalke's president Fritz Szepan, as his son was not yet of legal age. For the 1966–67 Bundesliga season, Nigbur was part of the FC Schalke 04 squad as the second man behind the starting goalkeeper Josef Elting. On 3 September 1966, in a match against 1. FC Nürnberg, he replaced Elting and became the number one goalkeeper at the age of 18.
In 1969, Schalke lost the final of the DFB-Pokal to FC Bayern Munich with a score of 1–2. The team, including Nigbur, Klaus Fichtel, Rolf Rüssmann, Klaus Fischer, and Reinhard Libuda, became league runners-up in 1972. Nigbur had the fewest goals conceded among Bundesliga goalkeepers that season. He went over 555 minutes without conceding a goal. This record stood for over ten years. Schalke won the DFB-Pokal 5–0 against 1. FC Kaiserslautern. This was Nigbur's first national title and the first for the club since their championship win in 1958. Notably, during this cup triumph, in the semifinal second leg against 1. FC Köln (first leg 1–4), Nigbur saved his team with a saved penalty in regular time (after a score of 5–2). He saved two more penalties and even took one against Köln's goalkeeper Gerhard Welz. After 21 penalties, Schalke advanced to the final. Nigbur was considered one of the best Bundesliga goalkeepers of the 1970s, alongside Sepp Maier from FC Bayern Munich, Wolfgang Kleff from Borussia Mönchengladbach, Rudi Kargus from Hamburger SV, and Gerhard Welz from 1. FC Köln.
He was not involved in the Bundesliga scandal, which involved several Schalke players. He did not participate in the "fixed" game against Arminia Bielefeld, which was lost 0-1 on 17 April 1971, due to an injury. Dieter Burdenski took his place.
On 14 September 1974, during a Bundesliga match against VfL Bochum, it was overlooked that Nigbur was still in the dressing room at the time of the restart after halftime. [1] A police officer initially prevented him from entering the field and intervening in the already resumed match. [1] Although Schalke's goal was unguarded in the first minutes of the second half, no goals were conceded. [1]
After disagreements with coach Max Merkel and president Günter Siebert over the extension of his contract, he was dismissed in 1976. Nigbur joined Hertha BSC for the 1976–77 season. With this club, he reached the final matches for the domestic cup against 1. FC Köln in 1977 and against Fortuna Düsseldorf in 1979. He spent three years in Berlin and only missed one league match, [2] before coming to an agreement with Günter Siebert and returning to Schalke in 1979.
In the 1980–81 season, Schalke was relegated to the 2. Bundesliga with 88 goals conceded. Nigbur contributed to the team’s promotion with his performances. However, there was a falling out with the new manager Rudi Assauer. After a 2–2 draw in Karlsruhe, Nigbur was suspended by the club and banned from the stadium. However, he forced his participation in team training through a temporary injunction. He still has a tense relationship with Schalke 04, where he played in a total of 455 competitive matches in goal.
After being replaced on Schalke by Walter Junghans, who came from FC Bayern, Nigbur had a half-year commitment with VfB Hüls, for whom he made his debut on 5 February 1984. [3] In the summer of 1984, he transferred to Rot-Weiss Essen in the then third-tier Oberliga Nordrhein, where he played 27 league matches. In the subsequent promotion round, he was not used anymore, so he ended his career after the 1984–85 season.
International career
Through the district selection, Nigbur reached the DFB youth team, for which he played 13 times: first on 21 March 1965, in Oberhausen in a 1–2 loss against the Hungarian team, and lastly on 25 May 1966, in Priština in a 1–3 loss against the Spanish team in the group stage of the UEFA Junior Tournament in Yugoslavia.
On 23 February 1974, Nigbur made his debut for the A national team in a 0–1 loss against Spain in Barcelona. He was one of the two reserve goalkeepers in the national squad, alongside Wolfgang Kleff from Borussia Mönchengladbach, which won the World Cup in 1974. Nigbur remained on the bench and did not play during the tournament. On 2 April 1980, he played his last of a total of six international matches against Austria in Munich. [4] For the 1980 European Championship in Italy, he was intended to be the starting goalkeeper but had to withdraw due to a serious injury. After that, Toni Schumacher from 1. FC Köln became the starting goalkeeper, and Nigbur did not return to the national team.
As a member of the German national football team at the 1974 World Cup, he received the Silver Laurel Leaf on 23 September 1974, for winning the World Championship title with the team. [5]
