Career
In his youth, Tröger played handball before converting to football, where he initially played as a goalkeeper. Both of these activities were cut short in 1945, however, when he lost his hand while fighting in World World War II: having been drafted into the Wehrmacht as the war drew to a close, he was injured by a grenade in Berlin. He continued in the game, however, and converted to the position of striker, playing for a succession of local clubs in Zwickau before joining Wismut Aue of the Deutsche Demokratische Republik-Oberliga in 1951, following coach Walter Fritzsch.
He remained with the club, who were renamed Wismut Karl-Marx-Stadt in 1954, until 1962, scoring 114 goals in 237 games.
His 114 goals at the highest level of East German football are a club record. Tröger died of stomach cancer on 30 March 2004 in Pirna-Copitz, having been unsuccessfully operated on twice.
A song was written in tribute by local artist Stefan Gerlach, and the stadium in Pirna was renamed the Willy-Tröger-Stadion in his honour.