Erwin Helmchen

FV Brandenburg Cottbus

Helmchen started his career at FV Brandenburg Cottbus in 1923, at the age of 16. In Lower Lusatia, he played for FV Brandenburg in the finals of the South Eastern German football championship. However, the Breslau clubs Sportfreunde Breslau and Breslauer SC 08 dominated the competition. He scored at least 104 goals in 70 official games.

PSV Chemnitz

In 1928, Helmchen joined PSV Chemnitz. He scored 213 goals in his first five seasons at PSV in the regional championship rounds. However, they found fierce rivalry with local competitors Chemnitzer BC. In 1932, PSV managed to reach the Central German football championship final against Dresdner SC to win 3–2 after extra-time. Helmchen scored 51 goals in the championship for PSV, with a total of 120 goals in the 1931–32 season. PSV later participated in the 1932 German football championship, where they lost 2–3 to the eventual German champions Bayern Munich in the quarter-finals. However, Helmchen managed to score 5 goals in that competition to finish in second place behind Karl Ehmer. The Gauliga Sachsen was inaugurated in 1933. In the debut 1933–34 season, PSV Chemnitz finished third behind Dresdner SC and VfB Leipzig. In 1934–35 and 1935–36 seasons, PSV Chemnitz managed to win two titles in the Gauliga Sachsen, both in front of the Dresdner SC. In the 1935 German football championship, PSV lost in the semi-finals 2–3 against the eventual winners FC Schalke 04, both PSV goals were scored…

He was called up on 24 May 1931, in the German defeat 0–6 against Austria. In 1937, there were two more appearances in test matches before international matches: on 22 May in Stuttgart against Manchester City and on 24 October in Berlin against Gau Brandenburg. However, he did not feature in any of the national team matches, due to several reasons including injury, bad form, leaving a bad impression and, on one occasion, having to attend a wedding.

Helmchen lived with his wife Erna in the Elmschenhagen district of Kiel until his death on 8 June 1981, where he is also buried. The wish he expressed to want to rest under the ground of the Chemnitz Stadion an der Gellertstraße was symbolically fulfilled on 8 September 2001. On this day, Holstein Kiel and Chemnitzer met in the Regionalliga Nord for their first league game. The CFC fan club "Clubsurfer" carried out the "Lawn for Erwin" campaign, in which a piece of turf from the Chemnitz soccer turf was cut off and placed on Helmchen's grave in Kiel with a small devotion.

PSV Chemnitz

Central German football championship: 1932 Gauliga Sachsen: 1935, 1936 Saxon Cup: 1935 VfB Lübeck

Schleswig-Holstein-Liga: 1951, 1952