Fritz Walter

Template:Short description Template:About Template:Use dmy dates Template:Use British English Template:Infobox football biography Friedrich "Fritz" Walter ({{#invoke:IPA|main}}; 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.

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.<ref name="fritz-walter-museum">{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> 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.<ref name="uefa1">{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref><ref name="fifaclassicplayer1">{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref><ref name="ContiSoccerWorld1">{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>

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.<ref name="fifaclassicplayer1" />

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 Slovakian 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.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> 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,<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> 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.<ref name="fifaclassicplayer1" />

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.<ref name="ContiSoccerWorld1" />

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<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> 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.<ref>The DFB Fritz Walter: Das Idol vom Betzenberg.</ref> 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.<ref name="bbc1">Template:Cite news</ref> 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).<ref name="boston1">Template:Cite news</ref>

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).<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>

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.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>

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.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref>

Career statistics

Club

Source:<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation

|CitationClass=web }}</ref>

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	Template:Abbr
1	Template:Dts	Frankfurt, Germany	Template:Fb	4–0	9–3	Friendly	<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation	CitationClass=web }}</ref>
2				8–2
3				9–3
4	Template:Dts	Leipzig, Germany	Template:Fb	–	13–0	Friendly	<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation	CitationClass=web }}</ref>
5				–
6	Template:Dts	Stuttgart, Germany	Template:Fb	–	4–2	Friendly	citation	CitationClass=web }}</ref>
7	Template:Dts	Cologne, Germany	Template:Fb	–	7–0	Friendly	citation	CitationClass=web }}</ref>
8	Template:Dts	Stadionul Republicii, Bucharest, Romania	Template:Fb	2–0	4–1	Friendly	citation	CitationClass=web }}</ref>
9	Template:Dts	Vienna, Austria	Template:Fb	–	5–1	Friendly	<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation	CitationClass=web }}</ref>
10				–
11	Template:Dts	Råsunda Stadium, Stockholm, Sweden	Template:Fb	2–4	2–4	Friendly	citation	CitationClass=web }}</ref>
12	Template:Dts	Wrocław, Poland	Template:Fb	–	4–0	Friendly	citation	CitationClass=web }}</ref>
13	Template:Dts	Népstadion, Budapest, Hungary	Template:Fb	1–0	5–3	Friendly	<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation	CitationClass=web }}</ref>
14				3–3
15	Template:Dts	Bytom, Poland	Template:Fb	1–0	7–0	Friendly	<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation	CitationClass=web }}</ref>
16				2–0
17				3–0
18	Template:Dts	Wankdorf Stadium, Bern, Switzerland	Template:Fb	–	5–3	Friendly	citation	CitationClass=web }}</ref>
19	Template:Dts	Neckarstadion, Stuttgart, Germany	Template:Fb	2–0	5–1	Friendly	citation	CitationClass=web }}</ref>
20	Template:Dts	Letzigrund, Zurich, Switzerland	Template:Fb	–	3–2	Friendly	citation	CitationClass=web }}</ref>
21	Template:Dts	Dalymount Park, Dublin, Republic of Ireland	Template:Fb	2–2	2–3	Friendly	citation	CitationClass=web }}</ref>
22	Template:Dts	Rosenaustadion, Augsburg, Germany	Template:Fb	–	5–1	Friendly	citation	CitationClass=web }}</ref>
23	Template:Dts	Südweststadion, Ludwigshafen, Germany	Template:Fb	–	3–2	Friendly	citation	CitationClass=web }}</ref>
24	Template:Dts	Ullevaal Stadion, Oslo, Norway	Template:Fb	1–1	1–1	1954 FIFA World Cup qualification	citation	CitationClass=web }}</ref>
25	Template:Dts	Volksparkstadion, Hamburg, Germany	Template:Fb	3–1	5–1	1954 FIFA World Cup qualification	citation	CitationClass=web }}</ref>
26	Template:Dts	St. Jakob Stadium, Basel, Switzerland	Template:Fb	–	5–3	Friendly	<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation	CitationClass=web }}</ref>
27				–
28	Template:Dts	Letzigrund, Zurich, Switzerland	Template:Fb	6–1	7–2	1954 FIFA World Cup	citation	CitationClass=web }}</ref>
29	Template:Dts	St. Jakob Stadium, Basel, Switzerland	Template:Fb	3–1	6–1	1954 FIFA World Cup	<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation	CitationClass=web }}</ref>
30				5–1
31	Template:Dts	Central Dynamo Stadium, Moscow, USSR	Template:Fb	–	2–3	Friendly	citation	CitationClass=web }}</ref>
32	Template:Dts	Wildparkstadion, Karlsruhe, Germany	Template:Fb	–	2–0	Friendly	citation	CitationClass=web }}</ref>
33	Template:Dts	Olympiastadion, Berlin, Germany	Template:Fb	1–3	1–3	Friendly	citation	CitationClass=web }}</ref>

Honours

Club

1. FC Kaiserslautern

German football championship: 1950–51, 1952–53<ref name="FIFA">{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation

|CitationClass=web }}</ref>

International

West Germany

FIFA World Cup: 1954<ref name="FIFA"/>

Individual

• FIFA World Cup Bronze Ball: 1954<ref name="FIFA"/>
• FIFA World Cup All-Star Team: 1954
• FIFA Order of Merit: 1995<ref name="FIFA"/>
• UEFA German Golden Player: 2003<ref name="uefagoldenplayers">{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation

|CitationClass=web }}</ref>

• UEFA Jubilee Poll (2004): #68<ref>Template:Cite news</ref>
• Member of Germany's Sports Hall of Fame

See also

• List of one-club men
• List of men's footballers with 500 or more goals

Notes and references

Notes

References

External links

• Template:Sports links
• DFB Statistics of Fritz Walter
• UEFA – Germany's Golden Player
• Fritz Walter – Obituary – The IndependentTemplate:Dead linkTemplate:Cbignore