 | |||
| Personal information | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Full name | Matthias Sindelar | ||
| Birth name | Matěj Šindelář | ||
| Date of birth | (1903-02-10)10 February 1903 | ||
| Place of birth | Kozlov, Moravia,Austria-Hungary | ||
| Date of death | 23 January 1939(1939-01-23) (aged 35) | ||
| Place of death | Vienna,Nazi Germany | ||
| Height | 1.75 m (5 ft 9 in) | ||
| Position | Centre-forward | ||
| Youth career | |||
| 1918–1922 | Hertha Vienna | ||
| Senior career* | |||
| Years | Team | Apps | (Gls) |
| 1921–1924 | Hertha Vienna | 23 | (4) |
| 1924–1939 | Austria Wien | 312 | (240) |
| Total | 335 | (244) | |
| International career | |||
| 1926–1937 | Austria | 43[1] | (26) |
| * Club domestic league appearances and goals | |||
Matthias Sindelar (German:[maˈtiːasˈʃɪndəlaːɐ̯],Czech:Matěj Šindelář; 10 February 1903 – 23 January 1939) was an Austrian professionalfootballer. Regarded as one of the greatest Austrian players of all time, Sindelar notably played forAustria Vienna and thenational side.
He played as acentre-forward for the celebrated Austrian national side of the early 1930s that became known as theWunderteam, which hecaptained at the1934 World Cup. Known as "TheMozart of football" orDer Papierene ("The Paper Man")[2] for his slight build, he was renowned as one of the finest pre-war footballers, known for his fantastic dribbling ability and creativity. He was voted the best Austrian footballer of the 20th Century in a 1999 poll by theInternational Federation of Football History and Statistics (IFFHS)[3] and was named Austria's sportsman of the century a year before.[4][5]
With the Wunderteam, Sindelar was one of the key elements of their developing formation and style of play as it evolved into a 2-3-5. According to specialists like Paul Dietschy, this formation provided "such fluidity to the Austrian system", leading to its earning the nickname of "the Viennese whirlpool". Although the Wunderteam regularly lacked efficiency, Sindelar's individual technical skill and vision often compensated for these issues.
OfCzech descent, Sindelar was bornMatěj Šindelář (Czech:[ˈmacɛjˈʃɪndɛlaːr̝̊]) inKozlov,Moravia, then part of theAustro-Hungarian Empire, the son of Jan Šindelář, a blacksmith, and his wife Marie (née Švengrová). Despite occasional claims that Sindelar was of Jewish origin, the family was Catholic. These claims most likely arise from his main club,Austria Vienna's connection to Vienna's Jewish population.[6][7]
They moved toVienna in 1905 and settled in the predominantly working-class district ofFavoriten, which had a largeCzech-speaking community. Young Matěj, whose name would be Germanized as Matthias, began playing football in the streets with the other children of the neighbourhood, many of whom were immigrants from Bohemia and Moravia. Notably, he grew up alongside his future Austrian teammateJosef Bican.
According to many sources, upon the death of his father, Sindelar took up a job as either an apprentice mechanic or a locksmith; during this time, he also had many other odd jobs, such as selling sporting goods to the people of Vienna.
Sindelar began his footballing career with Hertha Vienna, whom he joined in 1918. This opportunity arose when, at the age of fifteen, he was spotted by a scout, who signed him up for Hertha's youth teams. Already considered to be "an excellent dribbler and finisher" as a teenager, Sindelar had quickly progressed into the first team by the early 1920s.
Playing in the blue and white jersey of Hertha, Sindelar quickly learned to compensate for his rather frail, infantile physique through the development of his high-level technique, allowing him "to dodge and dribble at will his opponents, and to squeeze with disconcerting ease (through gaps in [sic]) the opposing defences”. It is these characteristics which make him obtain the nickname of “der Papierene” ("the Paper man").
Sindelar quickly earnt his keep at Hertha Vienna, scoring his first goals in the national championship, in particular, thanks to his quick feet, and becoming a vital cog in their team. Both his and the club's fortunes took a turn for the worse, however, as Sindelar suffered a serious knee injury in May 1923, making him indefinitely unavailable. Concurrently, Hertha also went through a great economic crisis and Sindelar, as well as some of his teammates, were made redundant. In his time at Hertha Vienna, Sindelar scored 4 goals in 23 matches.
Now a free agent but still injured, Sindelar consulted the club doctor ofSV Amateure who suggested that he should undergo meniscus surgery. At the time, such an operation was operation considered quite risky as it could mark the end of his career. Feeling that such a risk was necessary to take Sindelar had the surgery and, once successfully healed, signed for SV Amateure in 1924, who were at the time Austrian league and cup champions. In 1926, SV Amateure would become professional and take on its current name ofFK Austria Vienna.
His time at Austria Vienna coincided with one of the club's most successful spells pre-War. He helped the team win theAustrian Cup five times across an eleven-year spell - in 1925, 1926, 1933, 1935 and 1936. He also won an1. League title in 1926, and theMitropa Cup twice, in 1933 and 1936 respectively. Much like his time at Hertha Vienna, Sindelar was a center forward and utilised his technical ability, talent on the ball, and eye for goal to overcome his physical disadvantages. He was also seen as a great leader in the pitch. Gifted with 'ankle-breaking' agility his ability to beat the defender one-on-one was often described as 'exceptional'. In this sense, he is often compared in terms of modern-day footballers to counterparts such asFerenc Puskás.
Overall, in 703 matches for Austria Vienna, he scored 600 goals and In 2001 was named in their Team of the Century.
Sindelar was arguably one of Europe's best and, in scope, most influential footballers of his generation, recognized for his ball control, passing and dribbling, and especially his creativity. There are anecdotal claims that some fans went attended Sindelar's games not only to see him play but to get a better understanding of how football 'should' be played.
In 1938 he appeared as himself in the Austrian filmRoxy and the Wonderteam.
From 1926 to 1937, Sindelar wascapped 43 times for his country, scoring 26 goals.[8] He scored four goals in his first three international matches, including one in his debut match, a 2–1 victory overCzechoslovakia on 28 September 1926. Sindelar became an essential part of the AustrianWunderteam that was coached byHugo Meisl, until the two later had a falling out. WriterDavid Goldblatt described the events:
He made his international debut in 1926 and played well before falling out of favour with the disciplinarian Meisl. Four years in the international wilderness followed until Meisl was cornered by a gathering of the city's leading football commentators as he sat in the Ring Café in 1931. Everyone was arguing for Sindelar's recall and Meisl changed his mind. Sindelar played. Scotland were beaten and theWunderteam – already disciplined, organized, hardworking and professional – acquired their playmaker and inspiration, that vital spark of unpredictability.[9]
while Austria had not quite earned the moniker ofWunderteam yet, a young Sindelar helped them to their first major international tournament performance, being a part of the squad that made Runners-up in the Central European International Cup.
TheWunderteam started by winning theCentral European International Cup:1931–32, Sindelar scoring 4 goals to help Austria win its first and so far only international Trophy.
This time around TheWunderteam finished as Runners-up. Sindelar scoring 3 goals to make him Austria's all-time top goalscorer at theCentral European International Cup.
Sindelar and Austria made the whole their stage at the1934 World Cup, where they truly earned their nickname of the "Wunderteam". The high point came with their win overHungary in the quarterfinals, when Sindelar was matched up againstcentre-halfGyörgy Sárosi, who would go on to claim a runners-up medal at the following World Cup in France. In a bruising encounter, one Hungarian was sent off, andJohann Horvath, the Austrian midfielder, was injured and missed the semi-final againstItaly. Austria was then defeated by the host nation, with Sindelar affected by the harsh marking ofLuis Monti.
On 3 April 1938, the Austrian team playedGermany in thePrater Stadium in Vienna. This match was significant as, just a few weeks earlier Nazi Germany had annexed Austria (known as theAnschluss), and had absorbed the national team into that of Nazi Germany, ignoring their qualification for that summer'sWorld Cup. Thus, this would be Austria's last international match until after theSecond World War. This was and is seen by many as a great tragedy forAustrian football as they feel that Austria were one of the favourites to lift that year'sWorld Cup trophy.
The match dubbed the "Anschlussspiel" in German (lit. Anschluss game), was planned as a celebration by the Nazi regime of the Anschluss and Austria's "cominghome to the Reich". At Sindelar's behest, the Austrian team played in red-white-red strips which mimicked theAustrian flag's colours instead of their traditional white and black strips. Austria squandered many easy goalscoring opportunities during the match in a way that looked deliberate. However, in the last 20 minutes, Sindelar and teammateKarl Sesta both scored as the game finished 2–0.[10] Sindelar is claimed[by whom?] to have celebrated extravagantly in front of seniorNazi dignitaries.
Refusing to leave his home country, Sindelar refused to play for the newGermany national team citing old age (by this point he was 35 years old) and injury as the cause.
On 23 January 1939, both Sindelar and his girlfriend Camilla Castagnola were found dead at the apartment they shared inVienna; the official verdict citedcarbon monoxide poisoning as the cause.[11] Different theories speculated that his death was an accident, suicide or murder.[12]
Austrian writerFriedrich Torberg later dedicated the poem"Auf den Tod eines Fußballspielers" ("On the death of a footballer") to Sindelar. The poem suggested that he had committed suicide as a result of the GermanAnschluss of Austria in 1938. On the other hand, it has been thought and reported that his death was accidental, caused by a defective chimney.[11] A neighbour had reported a defective chimney in the block a few days before Sindelar's death.[12] However, in a 2000s documentary screened on the BBC, Egon Ulbrich, a lifelong friend of Sindelar, stated that a local official was bribed to record his death as an accident, which ensured that he would receive a state funeral. "According to the Nazi rules, a person who had been murdered or who has committed suicide cannot be given a grave of honour. So we had to do something to ensure that the criminal element involved in his death was removed," he stated.[13] It has also been suggested that Sindelar was killed for his opposition for the Anschluss. TheGestapo notably had a file on him and had kept his café under surveillance.[14]
| Club | Season | League | Cup | Mitropa Cup | Total | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Apps | Goals | Apps | Goals | Apps | Goals | Apps | Goals | ||
| Hertha Vienna [de] | 1921–22 | 8 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 8 | 0 |
| 1922–23 | 17 | 3 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 18 | 3 | |
| 1923–24 | 8 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 9 | 0 | |
| Austria Vienna | 1924–25 | 17 | 4 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 17 | 4 |
| 1925–26 | 7 | 2 | 5 | 4 | 0 | 0 | 12 | 6 | |
| 1926–27 | 23 | 18 | 5 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 28 | 21 | |
| 1927–28 | 19 | 8 | 2 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 21 | 9 | |
| 1928–29 | 21 | 7 | 3 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 24 | 8 | |
| 1929–30 | 18 | 15 | 6 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 24 | 16 | |
| 1930–31 | 17 | 14 | 9 | 8 | 0 | 0 | 26 | 24 | |
| 1931–32 | 22 | 15 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 23 | 15 | |
| 1932–33 | 21 | 11 | 5 | 6 | 0 | 0 | 26 | 17 | |
| 1933–34 | 21 | 22 | 3 | 4 | 6 | 5 | 30 | 31 | |
| 1934–35 | 15 | 9 | 4 | 7 | 2 | 1 | 21 | 17 | |
| 1935–36 | 17 | 8 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 29 | 22 | |
| 1936–37 | 21 | 13 | 4 | 5 | 10 | 4 | 35 | 22 | |
| 1937–38 | 15 | 9 | 1 | 0 | 6 | 6 | 22 | 15 | |
| 1938–39 | 11 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 12 | 0 | |
| Total | 298 | 158 | 56 | 46 | 31 | 24 | 385 | 228 | |
The following is a list of Sindelar's international appearances and goals with theAustria national football team.[17][18][19][20]
| Cap # | Date | Location | Type of match | Result | Opponent | Minutes played | Goals | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 28 Sep 1926 | Prague | Friendly | 2–1 |  Czechoslovakia | 90 | 1 | |
| 2 | 10 Oct 1926 | Vienna | Friendly | 7–1 |  Switzerland | 90 | 2 | |
| 3 | 7 Nov 1926 | Vienna | Friendly | 3–1 |  Sweden | 90 | 1 | |
| 4 | 20 Mar 1927 | Vienna | Friendly | 1–2 | Czechoslovakia | 90 | 0 | |
| 5 | 10 Apr 1927 | Vienna | Friendly | 6–0 |  Hungary | 48 | 0 | [21] |
| 6 | 6 May 1928 | Vienna | Friendly | 3–0 |  Yugoslavia | 90 | 0 | [22] |
| 7 | 28 Oct 1928 | Vienna | Central European International Cup | 2–0 | Switzerland | 90 | 0 | |
| 8 | 23 Mar 1930 | Prague | Friendly | 2–2 | Czechoslovakia | 90 | 0 | |
| 9 | 16 May 1931 | Vienna | Friendly | 5–0 |  Scotland | 90 | 1 | |
| 10 | 24 May 1931 | Berlin | Friendly | 6–0 |  Germany | 90 | 0 | |
| 11 | 14 Sep 1931 | Vienna | Friendly | 5-0 | Germany | 90 | 3 | |
| 12 | 4 Oct 1931 | Budapest | Central European International Cup | 2–2 | Hungary | 90 | 0 | |
| 13 | 29 Nov 1931 | Basel | Central European International Cup | 8–1 | Switzerland | 90 | 1 | |
| 14 | 20 Mar 1932 | Vienna | Central European International Cup | 2–1 |  Italy | 90 | 2 | |
| 15 | 24 Apr 1932 | Vienna | Friendly | 8–2 | Hungary | 90 | 3 | [23] |
| 16 | 22 May 1932 | Prague | Central European International Cup | 1–1 | Czechoslovakia | 90 | 1 | |
| 17 | 17 Jul 1932 | Stockholm | Friendly | 4–3 | Sweden | 90 | 1 | |
| 18 | 2 Oct 1932 | Budapest | Friendly | 3–2 | Hungary | 90 | 0 | |
| 19 | 23 Oct 1932 | Vienna | Central European International Cup | 3–1 | Switzerland | 90 | 0 | |
| 20 | 7 Dec 1932 | London | Friendly | 3–4 |  England | 90 | 1 | |
| 21 | 12 Feb 1933 | Paris | Friendly | 4–0 |  France | 90 | 1 | |
| 22. | 9 April 1933 | Vienna | Friendly | 1–2 | Czechoslovakia | 90 | 0 | |
| 23 | 30 Apr 1933 | Budapest | Friendly | 1–1 | Hungary | 90 | 0 | |
| 24 | 11 Jun 1933 | Vienna | Friendly | 4–1 |  Belgium | 90 | 1 | |
| 25 | 17 Sep 1933 | Prague | Friendly | 3–3 | Czechoslovakia | 90 | 2 | |
| 26 | 1 Oct 1933 | Vienna | Friendly | 2–2 | Hungary | 90 | 0 | |
| 27 | 29 Nov 1933 | Glasgow | Friendly | 2–2 | Scotland | 90 | 0 | |
| 28 | 10 Dec 1933 | Amsterdam | Friendly | 1–0 |  Netherlands | 90 | 0 | |
| 29 | 15 Apr 1934 | Vienna | Friendly | 5–2 | Hungary | 90 | 0 | |
| 30 | 25 Apr 1934 | Vienna | World Cup qualification | 6–1 |  Bulgaria | 90 | 1 | |
| 31 | 27 May 1934 | Turin | 1934 FIFA World Cup | 3–2 | France | 120 | 1 | |
| 32 | 31 May 1934 | Bologna | 1934 FIFA World Cup | 2–1 | Hungary | 90 | 0 | |
| 33 | 3 Jun 1934 | Milan | 1934 FIFA World Cup | 0–1 | Italy | 90 | 0 | |
| 34 | 23 Sep 1934 | Vienna | Central European International Cup | 2–2 | Czechoslovakia | 90 | 0 | |
| 35 | 7 Oct, 1934 | Budapest | Central European International Cup | 1–3 | Hungary | 90 | 0 | |
| 36 | 24 Mar 1935 | Vienna | Central European International Cup | 0–2 | Italy | 90 | 0 | |
| 37 | 6 May 1936 | Vienna | Friendly | 2–1 | England | 90 | 0 | |
| 38 | 17 May 1936 | Rome | Friendly | 2–2 | Italy | 90 | 0 | |
| 39 | 27 Sep 1936 | Budapest | Central European International Cup | 3–5 | Hungary | 90 | 2 | |
| 40 | 21 Mar 1937 | Vienna | Central European International Cup | 2–0 | Italy | 73 | 0 | [24] |
| 41 | 9 May 1937 | Vienna | Friendly | 1–1 | Scotland | 90 | 0 | |
| 42 | 23 May 1937 | Budapest | Friendly | 2–2 | Hungary | 90 | 0 | |
| 43 | 19 Sep 1937 | Vienna | Central European International Cup | 4–3 | Switzerland | 90 | 1 | |
| Totals | 3841 | 26 | ||||||
| == | 3 Apr 1938 | Vienna | Friendly | 2–0 |  Germany | 90 | 1 | [25] |
Sindelar was ranked as Austria's best footballer of the twentieth century by theIFFHS, also ranking as the world's 22nd best. His career titles include:
Austria Wien
Austria
Individual
{{cite web}}:|archive-url= is malformed: timestamp (help)CS1 maint: url-status (link)There have been suggestions that Sindelar and/or Castignola were Jewish. It is true that Sindelar played for Austria Vienna, the club of the Jewish bourgeoisie, and came from Moravia, from where several Jews had migrated to Vienna, but his family was Catholic.
Despite reports to the contrary, neither Sindelar nor the woman he would soon begin a fatal affair with were of Jewish heritage.
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