 Kuzorra in 1987 | |||
| Personal information | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Date of birth | (1905-10-16)16 October 1905 | ||
| Place of birth | Gelsenkirchen, Germany | ||
| Date of death | 1 January 1990(1990-01-01) (aged 84) | ||
| Position | Forward | ||
| Youth career | |||
| 1920–1923 | Schalke 04 | ||
| Senior career* | |||
| Years | Team | Apps | (Gls) |
| 1923–1950 | Schalke 04 | 398 | (375) |
| International career | |||
| 1927–1938 | Germany | 12 | (7) |
| Managerial career | |||
| 1935–1936 | Borussia Dortmund | ||
| 1946–1947 | Schalke 04 | ||
| * Club domestic league appearances and goals | |||
Ernst Kuzorra (16 October 1905 – 1 January 1990) was a Germanfootballer of the pre-war era. During his entire career, he played forSchalke 04, whom he led to six national championships and one national cup. He is commonly regarded as the greatest Schalke player of all time alongsideFritz Szepan.[citation needed] A highly athletic, technical and prolificforward, Kuzorra is also commonly regarded as one of the greatest German forwards.[citation needed]
Ernst Kuzorra was born as the son of Karl Kuzorra fromEast Prussia and his wife Bertha in the industrial town ofGelsenkirchen where his father worked as a coal miner. Ernst joined the club in 1920 at the age of 14, allegedly playing his first match in hisconfirmation shoes after being asked to join the team while watching from the sidelines. Three years later, he advanced to the first team, where he soon became one of the starting players. He was part of Germany's team at the1928 Summer Olympics, but he did not play in any matches.[1] During the years 1930–31, he and thirteen teammates were banned for a relatively minor infraction of the strict amateur statutes, having received ten instead of the allowed fiveReichsmark as compensation for playing in an away game.
In the following years, Kuzorra along with his brother-in-lawFritz Szepan led Schalke to become the dominant team in German soccer, winning six national championships from 1934 to 1942. He was one of the main axes of what became known as theSchalker Kreisel, a system that used quick, short passes to confuse and overwhelm the opponent.
Even though he may have been the best German player on his position at the time, he only had 12 appearances for the national team,[2] a fact that is widely attributed to bad relations with national coachOtto Nerz. Nevertheless, because of his success and his athletic prowess,national socialist propaganda soon took an interest in him. Great efforts were made to show that Kuzorra, despite hisSlavic sounding name and mixed origin, was in fact of purelyGermanic stock. The success of these efforts was limited, however, as Kuzorra remained politically uninterested and due to his taciturn character a poor instrument for public campaigns.
After the war, Kuzorra remained playing for a few years, mainly for material reasons - at the time, soccer players were often reimbursed in otherwise scarce foodstuff. In 1950 he retired, and from then on earned his livelihood as proprietor of a tobacco and lottery store. Over time, he became a living legend, especially among the supporters of Schalke 04. In 1985, he finally received the honorary citizenship of his home town, Gelsenkirchen. Ernst Kuzorra died on New Year's Day in 1990 at the age of 84. Including official games, friendlies and youth games, he reportedly scored over 1000 goals forSchalke.[3]
| Club | Season | League | German Champ'ship | Cup[a] | Other[b] | Total | ||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Division | Apps | Goals | Apps | Goals | Apps | Goals | Apps | Goals | Apps | Goals | ||
| Schalke 04 | 1924–26 | Emscher-Kreisliga | 9 | 16 | — | — | — | 9 | 16 | |||
| 1926–27 | Gauliga Ruhr | 14 | 21 | 1 | 0 | — | 8 | 11 | 23 | 32 | ||
| 1927–28 | Gauliga Ruhr | 10 | 16 | 1 | 0 | — | 9 | 11 | 20 | 27 | ||
| 1928–29 | Gauliga Ruhr | 7 | 11 | 2 | 1 | — | 9 | 8 | 18 | 20 | ||
| 1929–30 | Gauliga Ruhr | 16 | 34 | 2 | 1 | — | 6 | 5 | 24 | 40 | ||
| 1930–31 | Gauliga Ruhr | 0 | 0 | — | — | — | 0 | 0 | ||||
| 1931–32 | Gauliga Ruhr | 11 | 18 | 3 | 2 | — | 5 | 9 | 19 | 29 | ||
| 1932–33 | Gauliga Ruhr | 15 | 19 | 4 | 2 | — | 5 | 4 | 24 | 25 | ||
| 1933–34 | Gauliga Westfalen | 16 | 18 | 4 | 3 | — | — | 20 | 21 | |||
| 1934–35 | Gauliga Westfalen | 16 | 5 | 6 | 6 | — | — | 22 | 11 | |||
| 1935–36 | Gauliga Westfalen | 15 | 18 | 8 | 8 | 6 | 9 | — | 29 | 35 | ||
| 1936–37 | Gauliga Westfalen | 14 | 15 | 7 | 5 | 7 | 4 | — | 28 | 24 | ||
| 1937–38 | Gauliga Westfalen | 17 | 21 | 9 | 5 | 6 | 0 | — | 32 | 26 | ||
| 1938–39 | Gauliga Westfalen | 16 | 9 | 7 | 4 | 1 | 2 | — | 24 | 15 | ||
| 1939–40 | Gauliga Westfalen | 11 | 8 | 7 | 7 | 2 | 2 | — | 20 | 17 | ||
| 1940–41 | Gauliga Westfalen | 16 | 13 | 8 | 2 | 3 | 0 | — | 27 | 15 | ||
| 1941–42 | Gauliga Westfalen | 12 | 12 | 5 | 2 | 6 | 4 | — | 23 | 18 | ||
| 1942–43 | Gauliga Westfalen | 15 | 12 | 3 | 0 | 4 | 3 | 4 | 4 | 26 | 19 | |
| 1943–44 | Gauliga Westfalen | 12 | 11 | 2 | 0 | 4 | 2 | 4 | 4 | 22 | 17 | |
| 1944–45 | Gauliga Westfalen | 4 | 5 | — | — | — | 4 | 5 | ||||
| 1945–46 | Landesliga Westfalen | 6 | 2 | — | — | — | 6 | 2 | ||||
| 1946–47 | Landesliga Westfalen | 7 | 4 | — | — | 5 | 0 | 12 | 4 | |||
| 1947–48 | Oberliga West | 14 | 1 | — | — | — | 14 | 1 | ||||
| 1948–49 | Oberliga West | 4 | 0 | — | — | — | 4 | 0 | ||||
| Career total | 277 | 289 | 79 | 48 | 39 | 26 | 55 | 56 | 450 | 419 | ||
| National team | Year | Apps | Goals |
|---|---|---|---|
| Germany | 1927 | 1 | 0 |
| 1928 | 2 | 1 | |
| 1929 | 0 | 0 | |
| 1930 | 2 | 3 | |
| 1931 | 2 | 1 | |
| 1932 | 3 | 0 | |
| 1933 | 0 | 0 | |
| 1934 | 0 | 0 | |
| 1935 | 0 | 0 | |
| 1936 | 1 | 2 | |
| 1937 | 0 | 0 | |
| 1938 | 1 | 0 | |
| Total | 12 | 7 | |
Schalke 04
{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: numeric names: authors list (link)
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