Lothar Spranger

Spranger played in the DDR-Oberliga in the 1950s with 1. FC Lokomotive Leipzig for five seasons.^[1] In 1957, he received a short-term travel visa to West Germany and as result defected.^[1] In 1960, he played abroad in Switzerland with FC Kreuzlingen and played with the organization for two seasons.^[1][2] In 1961, he continued his career this time in North America where he played in Canada's National Soccer League with Toronto Olympia for the 1962 season.^[3][4] He would re-sign with Toronto for the 1963 season.^[5]

For the remainder of the 1963 season, he played in the Greater Los Angeles Soccer League with Germania.^[6] He furthered his soccer career in Southern California by playing with Germania for an additional two seasons.^[7][8] In 1966, he played in the Continental Soccer League with Montebello.^[9] The following season he signed with Los Angeles Toros of the National Professional Soccer League.^[10] He originally was signed as a backup keeper for Blagoje Vidinić but became the starting goalkeeper after Vidinic sustained an injury for the majority of the season.^[11] He would make 14 appearances for Los Angeles.^[12]

In 1968, he returned to the Greater Los Angeles League to play with Montebello Armenians and was named to the All-Star team.^[13] Spranger featured in the 1969 National Challenge Cup final but Montebello was defeated by reigning champions Greek American AA.^[14] He was named once more to the All-Star team for the 1970 season.^[15] He played his final season in the Greater Los Angeles Soccer League with Montebello in 1978.^[16]