Fritz Szepan
Friedrich "Fritz" Szepan (2 September 1907 in Gelsenkirchen – 14 December 1974 in Gelsenkirchen) was a German footballer in the period leading up to and including World War II. He spent his entire career with Schalke 04 where he won six national championships and one German Cup. He is commonly regarded as one of the greatest Schalke players of all time. To celebrate the 100th birthday of the club, the supporters voted the Schalker Jahrhundertelf, the "Team of the century": he was included in the midfield. From 1929 to 1938 he played for the German national team which he led as captain in 30 matches and during two World Cups.
Personal information | ||||||||||||||||
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Full name | Friedrich Szepan | |||||||||||||||
Date of birth | 2 September 1907 | |||||||||||||||
Place of birth | Gelsenkirchen, German Empire | |||||||||||||||
Date of death | 14 December 1974 67) | (aged|||||||||||||||
Place of death | Gelsenkirchen, West Germany | |||||||||||||||
Position(s) | Forward | |||||||||||||||
Youth career | ||||||||||||||||
1924–1925 | Schalke 04 | |||||||||||||||
Senior career* | ||||||||||||||||
Years | Team | Apps | (Gls) | |||||||||||||
1925–1950 | Schalke 04 | 265 | (199) | |||||||||||||
National team | ||||||||||||||||
1929–1939 | Germany | 34 | (8) | |||||||||||||
Teams managed | ||||||||||||||||
1949–1954 | Schalke 04 | |||||||||||||||
1954–1956 | Rot-Weiss Essen | |||||||||||||||
Honours
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* Senior club appearances and goals counted for the domestic league only |
Usually a highly skilled midfielder, his versatility allowed him to play centre half and as forward. He wasn't very fast, however he compensated his lack of speed with fantastic intelligence, technique and positional play. Because of his extraordinary game understanding and leadership, he was later known as "Beckenbauer before the war".[1]
Career
Fritz Szepan was born in 1907 in the industrial town of Gelsenkirchen, in a family that came to Gelsenkirchen from the East Prussian Kreis Neidenburg. He joined Schalke 04 as a youth player in 1924 and remained with the side until his retirement in 1950. He first played for the senior side at the age of 17 in 1924. He and his brother-in-law Ernst Kuzorra led Schalke during the era of the team's greatest success in the 1930s when it was the dominant club in Germany. Together they established the famous "Schalker Kreisel" system that used short flat passes to overwhelm their opponent's defence.
Unlike Kuzorra, Szepan also had a successful international career. From 1929 to 1939[2] he played for the German national team which he led as captain in 30 matches and during two World Cups. In 1938, Szepan was named captain of the "Unified Germany" team shortly after the Anschluss. He started out at inside right but gained international recognition in his interpretation of the centre half role. Szepan made the play of Schalke and the German national side at a time when other centre halves were largely committed to covering the opposing centre forward. He however was not an easy-going player and declared his retirement from international play more than once. Szepan had a comeback in late 1936, playing at inside left. His displays again reached the high level of his 1934 World Cup performance and by 1937 Szepan was the outstanding playmaker of the Breslau XI.
After his retirement in 1950, Szepan remained active as coach for Wuppertaler SV, Schalke 04 and Rot-Weiß Essen,[3] leading that club to the German championship in 1955. He served Schalke again as club president from 1964 to 1967. Fritz Szepan died on 14 December 1974 in his hometown Gelsenkirchen.
In his 1978 book "Fussball", Helmut Schön characterised Szepan as follows:
"One from the gallery of great playmakers, not markedly pacy, but talented to make the game pacy. He knew how to play directly but also capable of great solos - all that while being strong enough defensively to have played as a stopper. A commander."
Career statistics
Club
Club | Season | League | German Champ'ship | Cup[lower-alpha 1] | Other[lower-alpha 2] | Total | ||||||
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Division | Apps | Goals | Apps | Goals | Apps | Goals | Apps | Goals | Apps | Goals | ||
Schalke 04 | 1924–26 | Emscher-Kreisliga | 5 | 7 | — | — | — | 5 | 7 | |||
1926–27 | Gauliga Ruhr | 11 | 12 | 1 | 0 | — | 8 | 0 | 20 | 12 | ||
1927–28 | Gauliga Ruhr | 10 | 7 | 1 | 1 | — | 9 | 4 | 20 | 12 | ||
1928–29 | Gauliga Ruhr | 13 | 18 | 2 | 3 | — | 8 | 10 | 23 | 31 | ||
1929–30 | Gauliga Ruhr | 16 | 11 | 2 | 1 | — | 6 | 5 | 24 | 17 | ||
1930–31 | Gauliga Ruhr | 0 | 0 | — | — | — | 0 | 0 | ||||
1931–32 | Gauliga Ruhr | 10 | 14 | 3 | 2 | — | 5 | 4 | 18 | 20 | ||
1932–33 | Gauliga Ruhr | 14 | 7 | 4 | 2 | — | 5 | 6 | 23 | 15 | ||
1933–34 | Gauliga Westfalen | 16 | 5 | 8 | 4 | — | — | 24 | 9 | |||
1934–35 | Gauliga Westfalen | 6 | 4 | 7 | 2 | — | — | 13 | 6 | |||
1935–36 | Gauliga Westfalen | 15 | 8 | 8 | 3 | 6 | 3 | — | 29 | 14 | ||
1936–37 | Gauliga Westfalen | 14 | 15 | 8 | 6 | 6 | 2 | — | 28 | 23 | ||
1937–38 | Gauliga Westfalen | 9 | 8 | 9 | 3 | 4 | 2 | — | 22 | 13 | ||
1938–39 | Gauliga Westfalen | 16 | 10 | 8 | 5 | 1 | 0 | — | 25 | 15 | ||
1939–40 | Gauliga Westfalen | 17 | 14 | 8 | 7 | 2 | 5 | — | 27 | 26 | ||
1940–41 | Gauliga Westfalen | 17 | 11 | 8 | 6 | 3 | 3 | — | 28 | 20 | ||
1941–42 | Gauliga Westfalen | 16 | 12 | 5 | 8 | 5 | 0 | — | 26 | 20 | ||
1942–43 | Gauliga Westfalen | 17 | 16 | 3 | 1 | 4 | 1 | 4 | 5 | 28 | 23 | |
1943–44 | Gauliga Westfalen | 13 | 15 | 2 | 2 | 4 | 3 | — | 19 | 20 | ||
1944–45 | Gauliga Westfalen | 0 | 0 | — | — | — | 0 | 0 | ||||
1945–46 | Landesliga Westfalen | 9 | 3 | — | — | — | 9 | 3 | ||||
1946–47 | Landesliga Westfalen | 11 | 1 | — | — | 2 | 1 | 13 | 2 | |||
1947–48 | Oberliga West | 6 | 1 | — | — | — | 6 | 1 | ||||
1948–49 | Oberliga West | 4 | 0 | — | — | — | 4 | 0 | ||||
Career total | 265 | 199 | 87 | 56 | 35 | 19 | 47 | 35 | 434 | 309 |
- Tschammer-Pokal (forerunner of today's DFB-Pokal)
- Includes Ruhr / Western German championship (1926–1933), Westphalian Cup (1943), Westphalian / British zone championship (1947)
Trivia
- He and fellow Schalke star Ernst Kuzorra married each other's sisters, and thus became brothers-in-law.
References
- "Archived copy". Archived from the original on 3 March 2016. Retrieved 15 January 2012.CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)
- Arnhold, Matthias (12 September 2004). "Fritz Szepan - International Appearances". RSSSF. Retrieved 20 June 2017.
- http://www.weltfussball.de/spieler_profil/fritz-szepan/
- FC Schalke 04 (2015). Königsblau: Die Geschichte des FC Schalke 04. Die Werkstatt. ISBN 978-3-7307-0204-8.
- "Fritz Szepan » Club matches". worldfootball.net.
External links
- Fritz Szepan at fussballdaten.de (in German)
- Fritz Szepan at National-Football-Teams.com
Sporting positions | ||
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Preceded by Ernst Albrecht |
Germany captain 1934–1939 |
Succeeded by Paul Janes |