Hans-Dieter "Timo" Zahnleiter (born 16 December 1948) is a German former professional football player and manager who played as a midfielder.
Club career
Zahnleiter started his professional career in 1967 playing for VfR Mannheim until 1971. Afterwards, he spent the next three years in 1860 Munich, who compteted at 2. Bundesliga at the time. From 1973 his playing time was signifianctly reduced, since he was suffering from injuries.
In July 1974, he moved to Greece and signed for AEK Athens[2] for a fee of 150,000 Deutsche Marks (1.2 million drachmas),[3] alongside his fellow countryman, Walter Wagner. Zahnleiter played in the midfield and was distinguished mainly for his blocking skills, however, from the second year he was placed on the left side of the defense by František Fadrhonc, since the latter believed that this way AEK would achieve more beauty in their game. At AEK he suffered from injuries again and eventually in February 1977 he was released and returned to Germany to undergo surgery.[4]
Afterwards, he played in VfR Bürstadt for one year and in Wormatia Worms for two years, where he also completed his football career.[5]
