Fritz Walter

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Template:Short description Script error: No such module "about". Script error: No such module "Unsubst". Template:Use British English Template:Infobox football biography Friedrich "Fritz" Walter (Script error: No such module "IPA".; 31 October 1920 – 17 June 2002) was a German footballer who spent his entire senior career at 1. FC Kaiserslautern. He usually played as an attacking midfielder or inside forward. In his time with the Germany and West Germany national teams, he appeared in 61 games and scored 33 goals, and was the captain of the team that won the 1954 FIFA World Cup. After his career, he was named honorary captain of the Germany national team. Walter holds the record for the most assists provided in FIFA World Cup tournaments with 9 assists.

Life and career

Early club career

Born on 31 October 1920, Walter was exposed to football early with his parents, Ludwig (1894–1976) and Dorothea Walter (née Kieburg; 1896–1978), working at the 1. FC Kaiserslautern club restaurant.[1] By 1928 he had joined the Kaiserslautern youth academy, and he made his first team debut at 17, continuing an association with the club that would be his only professional club.[2][3][4]

International pro teams had repeatedly offered him hefty sums, but with support from his wife always declined in order to stay at home, to play for his home town, the national team and "Chef" (German for "Boss") Herberger.

International debut

Walter debuted with the Germany national team in 1940 under Sepp Herberger, and scored a hat-trick against Romania.[3]

War

Walter was drafted into the armed forces in 1942. However, the end of the war found 24-year-old Walter in a Prisoner of War camp in Maramures in which he played with Hungarian and Slovak guards. When the Soviets arrived they generally took all German prisoners back to Gulags in the Soviet Union. One of the Hungarian prison guards had seen Walter playing for Germany, and told them that Fritz was not German but from the Saar Protectorate.[5] Walter would later call the match in question as the most important of his life as it spared him and his brother from a gulag sentence.

Return to Germany

Upon his return in 1945, Walter, who by now suffered from malaria, again played for Kaiserslautern,[6] leading them to German championships in 1951 and 1953. Walter coached VfR Kaiserslautern during the 1948–49 season and helped them win the 1948–49 Westpfälzischen Amateurliga. Sepp Herberger recalled Walter to the national team in 1951, and he was named captain.[3]

He was captain of the West German team that won their first World Cup in 1954, beating Hungary. He and his brother, Ottmar Walter, became the first brothers to play in a World Cup winning team.[4]

In 1956, after the crackdown by the Soviets of the Hungarian Uprising, the Hungarian football team were caught away from home, and for two years, Fritz managed their games and provided the financial backing and in small measure, paid them back for having saved him from deportation to the Soviet Union. Walter received his last cap[7] during the semi-final against Sweden in the 1958 World Cup, suffering an injury which ended his international career, and he retired from football in 1959.

Later life and legacy

File:DielautrerheldenvonBern.JPG
Memorial for the 1. FC Kaiserslautern players in the 1954 FIFA World Cup Final. From left to right: Werner Liebrich, Walter, Werner Kohlmeyer, Horst Eckel and Ottmar Walter.

The home stadium of 1. FC Kaiserslautern was renamed the Fritz-Walter-Stadion in 1985.

Fritz Walter was named an honorary captain of the German football squad in 1958.[8] The other five are Uwe Seeler, Franz Beckenbauer, Lothar Matthäus, Bettina Wiegmann and Jürgen Klinsmann.

Walter died in Enkenbach-Alsenborn on 17 June 2002, aged 81.[9] It was his dream to see the World Cup 2006 in "his" town Kaiserslautern as the town had not been selected in the smaller tournament of 1974, but it was denied with his death. But on the fourth anniversary of his death on 17 June 2006, the United States played Italy in Kaiserslautern and a minute of silence was observed in his memory. Today people may visit the "Fritz Walter Haus" in the town of Enkenbach-Alsenborn approx. 20 km east of Kaiserslautern (first exit from Kaiserslautern on Bundesautobahn 6 direction Mannheim).[10]

In November 2003, to celebrate UEFA's 50th anniversary, the German Football Association (DFB) selected him as its Golden Player of the past 50 years (from 1954 to 2003).[11]

During the eighties and nineties, there was another successful Bundesliga striker called "Fritz Walter", who mainly played for VfB Stuttgart. Although he had no relationship to the great Kaiserslautern captain, sports fans jokingly called him "Fritz Walter junior".

In 2005, the Fritz Walter Medal, a series of annual awards which were established in his honour, and which are given by the German Football Association to youth footballers in Germany, was first awarded.[12]

Personal life

File:Fritz Walter Trainingslager der Deutschen Fußballnationalmannschaft in der Sportschule Malente (cropped).jpg
Walter in 1965

Walter's wife of five decades was Italia Walter (née Bortoluzzi; 1922–2000), a woman from Belluno, Italy.

It was popular knowledge in Germany that Walter appeared to play better the worse the weather was, and so now the term "Fritz Walter's weather" is used to describe rainy weather conditions, often rendered with odd local dialect grammar "of Fritz, his weather". This is because he, as many other soldiers, had contracted malaria during the war, thus rendering him unable to stand the heat of the sun. The 1954 World Cup final was played in "Fritz Walter's weather" conditions.

On 6 October 1956, Walter scored a spectacular goal in Leipzig in front of 100,000 East Germans during a friendly against Wismut Aue, when he hit the ball back-heel while diving forward.[13]

Career statistics

Club

Source:[14]
Club Season League
Division Apps Goals
1. FC Kaiserslautern 1939–40 Gauliga Südwest/Mainhessen 15 21
1940–41 Gauliga Südwest/Mainhessen 12 16
1941–42 Gauliga Südwest/Mainhessen 14 39
1942–43 Gauliga Südwest/Mainhessen 3 1
1945–46 Oberliga Südwest 14 16
1946–47 Oberliga Südwest 14 22
1947–47 Oberliga Südwest 24 31
1948–49 Oberliga Südwest 22 30
1949–50 Oberliga Südwest 26 34
1950–51 Oberliga Südwest 19 5
1951–52 Oberliga Südwest 27 19
1952–53 Oberliga Südwest 30 38
1953–54 Oberliga Südwest 29 20
1954–55 Oberliga Südwest 21 10
1955–56 Oberliga Südwest 25 16
1956–57 Oberliga Südwest 21 15
1957–58 Oberliga Südwest 26 5
1958–59 Oberliga Südwest 22 10
Total 364 348

International

Scores and results list Germany's goal tally first, score column indicates score after each Walter goal.
List of international goals scored by Fritz Walter
No. Date Venue Opponent Score Result Competition Ref.
1 Template:Dts Frankfurt, Germany File:Flag of Romania.svg Romania 4–0 9–3 Friendly [15]
2 8–2
3 9–3
4 Template:Dts Leipzig, Germany File:Flag of Finland.svg Finland – 13–0 Friendly [16]
5 –
6 Template:Dts Stuttgart, Germany File:Flag of Switzerland (Pantone).svg  Switzerland – 4–2 Friendly [17]
7 Template:Dts Cologne, Germany File:Flag of Hungary (1915-1918, 1919-1946).svg Hungary – 7–0 Friendly [18]
8 Template:Dts Stadionul Republicii, Bucharest, Romania File:Flag of Romania.svg Romania 2–0 4–1 Friendly [19]
9 Template:Dts Vienna, Austria Template:Country data Independent State of Croatia – 5–1 Friendly [20]
10 –
11 Template:Dts Råsunda Stadium, Stockholm, Sweden File:Flag of Sweden.svg Sweden 2–4 2–4 Friendly [21]
12 Template:Dts Wrocław, Poland File:Flag of Slovakia.svg Slovakia – 4–0 Friendly [22]
13 Template:Dts Népstadion, Budapest, Hungary File:Flag of Hungary (1915-1918, 1919-1946).svg Hungary 1–0 5–3 Friendly [23]
14 3–3
15 Template:Dts Bytom, Poland File:Flag of Romania.svg Romania 1–0 7–0 Friendly [24]
16 2–0
17 3–0
18 Template:Dts Wankdorf Stadium, Bern, Switzerland File:Flag of Switzerland (Pantone).svg  Switzerland – 5–3 Friendly [25]
19 Template:Dts Neckarstadion, Stuttgart, Germany Template:Country data Independent State of Croatia 2–0 5–1 Friendly [26]
20 Template:Dts Letzigrund, Zurich, Switzerland File:Flag of Switzerland (Pantone).svg  Switzerland – 3–2 Friendly [27]
21 Template:Dts Dalymount Park, Dublin, Republic of Ireland File:Flag of Ireland.svg Republic of Ireland 2–2 2–3 Friendly [28]
22 Template:Dts Rosenaustadion, Augsburg, Germany File:Flag of Switzerland (Pantone).svg  Switzerland – 5–1 Friendly [29]
23 Template:Dts Südweststadion, Ludwigshafen, Germany File:Flag of Yugoslavia (1946-1992).svg Yugoslavia – 3–2 Friendly [30]
24 Template:Dts Ullevaal Stadion, Oslo, Norway File:Flag of Norway.svg Norway 1–1 1–1 1954 FIFA World Cup qualification [31]
25 Template:Dts Volksparkstadion, Hamburg, Germany File:Flag of Norway.svg Norway 3–1 5–1 1954 FIFA World Cup qualification [32]
26 Template:Dts St. Jakob Stadium, Basel, Switzerland File:Flag of Switzerland (Pantone).svg  Switzerland – 5–3 Friendly [33]
27 –
28 Template:Dts Letzigrund, Zurich, Switzerland File:Flag of Turkey.svg Turkey 6–1 7–2 1954 FIFA World Cup [34]
29 Template:Dts St. Jakob Stadium, Basel, Switzerland File:Flag of Austria.svg Austria 3–1 6–1 1954 FIFA World Cup [35]
30 5–1
31 Template:Dts Central Dynamo Stadium, Moscow, USSR File:Flag of the Soviet Union.svg Soviet Union – 2–3 Friendly [36]
32 Template:Dts Wildparkstadion, Karlsruhe, Germany File:Flag of Norway.svg Norway – 2–0 Friendly [37]
33 Template:Dts Olympiastadion, Berlin, Germany File:Flag of England.svg England 1–3 1–3 Friendly [38]

Honours

Club

1. FC Kaiserslautern

German football championship: 1950–51, 1952–53[39]

International

West Germany

FIFA World Cup: 1954[39]

Individual

See also

Notes and references

Notes

Template:Notelist

References

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  8. ↑ The DFB Fritz Walter: Das Idol vom Betzenberg.
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External links

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Sporting positions
Preceded byTemplate:S-bef/check West Germany captain
1951–1956 Template:S-ttl/check 		Template:S-aft/check Succeeded by

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