Andreas had a brilliant time at the club. He won five GDR league titles in succession (1984 – 1988) and in 1988 he was voted GDR Footballer of the Year. In 158 Oberliga games he scored an impressive 77 goals. He played his first European game in November 1983 away to Partisan Belgrade in the European Cup. His appearance came when his teammates and later Bayer 04 player Falko Götz defected to the West during this away trip and thereby released a place in attack. Andi made his debut for the GDR national team a year later and between October 1984 and 1990 he played 51 games and scored 16 goals.
fast move under the cross after the fall of the berlin wall
In December 1989, just a few weeks after the fall of the Berlin Wall, Andreas made headlines: He was the first GDR international who officially moved to the Bundesliga. Bayer 04 manager Reiner Calmund has so often was the quickest and he brought him under the Bayer Cross – an historic transfer that also stood for the inner German rapprochement. Andreas scored his first goal in his first Bundesliga game for the Werkself in February 1990 and in the following years he became a key performer in attack and attacking midfield with his pace and outstanding technique. He was the perfect counterpart to goal-getter Ulf Kirsten. And he scored 38 goals in 161 Bundesliga games. His biggest success with Bayer 04 was winning the DFB Pokal in 1993 which he played a big part in having scored six goals in the competition.
Andreas made ten international appearances for Germany scoring two goals. One of those was seconds after coming on as a substitute in his debut against Switzerland in December 1990. That match was the first of the "all-Germany" team after reunification.
