Willibald Kress

Willibald Kreß (born November 13, 1906 in Frankfurt am Main , † January 27, 1989 in Giessen ) was a German football player and coach .

As a goalkeeper , he played in the top German leagues for 27 years between 1922 and 1949. He completed 16 international matches in the senior national team from 1929 to 1934 and took part in the 1934 World Cup in Italy with the DFB team. Between the two world wars he was considered one of the most colorful personalities in German football and was often mentioned in the same breath as the Spaniard Zamora , the Austrian Hiden and the Italian Combi , the great goalkeepers of those years.

Athletic career

Club career

Red-White Frankfurt

The boy Willibald Kreß's parents' apartment in the Bockenheim district of Frankfurt was right next to the Amicitia football club, one of the early football clubs in Germany at that time. He soon developed into a passionate player; he had a talent for movement, attacking spirit and preferred to play in the position of the center forward in his youth. At the age of 15½ he made his debut in the senior team of VfR 1901 Frankfurt, which was formed on August 26, 1919 from a merger of Amicitia and Germania Bockenheim. In the years after the First World War, VfR was one of the better clubs in the Rhine-Main area and in 1921/22 ranked fourth in the Nordmain district behind Eintracht Frankfurt , FSV Frankfurt and FC Hanau 93 . His talent led to appointments in the Frankfurt city selection, where he stood together with the stars of Eintracht (Hans Bechtold, Walter Dietrich , Willi Pfeiffer , Willy Trumpp) and the FSV ( Robert Pache , Arno Strehlke , Jean-Louis Bretteville ) .

After the merger of VfR in 1901 with FC Helvetia Bockenheim in 1926 to form SC Rot-Weiß , the keeper who was in reserve on Saturdays as a center forward and on Sundays as a goal hinderer in the first of Rot-Weiß was able to attract attention beyond the borders of Frankfurt .

In the seasons 1929/30 and 1930/31 Rot-Weiss reached 2nd place in the Main District League, behind Eintracht Frankfurt, and moved into the final round of the South German Championship.

FC Mulhouse

Difficulty came in 1932 when Rot-Weiss Frankfurt and several of its players were convicted of violating the amateur statute.

There are two versions of the background to this affair: According to one, he and his teammates are said to have gone on strike at Rot-Weiß Frankfurt for a higher expense allowance ; after the other, his club had undertaken to play friendly matches with Kreß and, after he was unable to play because of diphtheria , had to pay the opposing club a penalty of RM 1,000 , which the DFB interpreted - not entirely illogically - to mean that Red -Weiss would normally have received at least RM 1,000 initial bonus and would have illegally passed on part of it to his players.

In the meantime, Kreß, his brother-in-law Anton Engelhardt and Fritz Engel , two other top performers from Hessen, tried to continue their professional career at the Alsatian champions FC Mulhouse in France. There the Austrian Ferdinand Swatosch - who committed himself against the German amateur regulations a few years earlier at Cologne's SpVgg Sülz 07 and was banned - prepared the team for the first season of the professional era in France .

On August 13, 1932, the three were there when the professional team of FC Mulhouse made their debut with a 2-2 win over a selection from Freiburg in Baden . On August 6th there was an 8-0 win against the German second division club FV Lörrach and on August 20th a 5-2 win against AS Strasbourg. On August 27, 1932, Kreß played together with Engel and Engelhardt in a friendly against FC Sochaux , which ended 3: 3. Before the first league game of the season on September 12, the DFB finally refused to allow the German professionals. Willibald Kreß's post in goal was taken by the Hungarian star player Ferenc Plattkó , who had come from FC Barcelona and who was also supposed to replace Ferdl Swatosch as player- coach in November, but who was unable to prevent the Mülhausers from relegating.

At the end of September, the DFB gave its verdict on the matter. The club president of Rot-Weiss Frankfurt Paul Hahn was banned for life and two other officials were blacklisted. Willi Rutz was banned for three years, Fritz Engel for two years. Willibald Kreß and Anton Engelhardt got away with it at the age of one and a half and Karl Strehle and Richard Scholz were only relatively lightly banned with eight months.

The three Germans played again on October 5 in a 1-1 draw in a private game at FC Young Fellows Zurich .

Thanks to the mediation of the national player Richard Hofmann, who also came into conflict with the amateur regulations, Kreß found a new place of work at Dresdner SC . Fritz Engel continued his professional career at Grasshopper Club Zurich before moving on to Brazil, where he was supposed to indirectly exert a lasting influence on local football. Anton Engelhardt's further path remains to be determined. Possibly he found a new place to stay at SV Darmstadt 98 .

Dresdner SC

After his early pardon, he made his debut for his new club on July 20, 1933 with a 4: 1 win in front of 20,000 spectators in a "parlor game", as one used to call friendly football competitions in Dresden against the reigning German champions Fortuna Düsseldorf . He now played for a club that won the championship six times in the Gauliga Sachsen in the next few years (1934, 1939, 1940, 1941, 1943, 1944), made it to the semifinals five times in the finals and crowned them in 1943 and 1944 German championship could bring to Dresden. In addition, the DSC triumphed twice with goalkeeper Kreß in 1940 and 1941 in the Tschammer Cup. In his first round in Dresden, 1933/34, the "beautiful Willibald" sat down - he was so well known beyond the football world for his good looks and elegant style of play - with his teammates Walter Kreisch , Kurt Stössel , Georg Köhler , Rudolf Berthold , Karl Schlösser , Richard Hofmann, Helmut Schön , Friedrich Müller and August Sackenheim narrowly won the championship in the Gauliga Sachsen after an exciting fight against VfB Leipzig tied on points. In the final round of the German championship, Kreß and his teammates had won the first leg on April 22nd against toughest rivals 1. FC Nürnberg with 2-1 goals, but lost the home game against the on May 13th, the last group match day "Club" in front of 46,000 spectators with 0: 1 goals and thus lost the two-point lead. Nürnberg moved into the semifinals instead of Dresden with equal points, via the goal quotient comparison. The achievements of Kreß had convinced the Reich coach Otto Nerz and so Kreß returned to the national team. After a break of almost two years, the ex-Frankfurter celebrated his comeback in the DFB team in his hometown in a 3-1 win against Hungary on January 14, 1934 and was also a member shortly after the final round of the German championship (April / May 1934) Listed for the 1934 World Cup in Italy (May / June 1934). Together with Richard Hofmann and Helmut Schön, Kreß stood out from the excellent team of the Dresdner SC and is still today (2011) the best goalkeeper in the history of the "Poppy Reds" from the Ostragehege. From 1934 to 1944 he played 39 finals for the DSC and was missing in only two games - in 1944, against Germania Königshütte and Borussia Fulda due to the war - in eleven rounds. The "ruler of the penalty area" was also characterized by discipline, willingness to perform, reliability and decades of consistent training for the success of his long playing career.

Helmut Schön, Willibald Kreß's team-mate at DSC and later national coach, describes his goalkeeping qualities as follows:

“ He wasn't someone who stuck on the goal line, but in the truest sense of the word the ruler of the penalty area. He was characterized by an unmistakable instinct for anticipating the development of gate scenes in order to then prevent them in good time through sure and decisive intervention. Willibald saw himself practically as the eleventh field player in his goalkeeping role. "

During the Second World War , Kreß was stationed at the guarding department for V-missiles in Schneidemühl, north of Posen.

FSV Frankfurt

Shortly before the end of the Second World War, he was taken prisoner of war, but returned to his hometown of Frankfurt in July 1945. There the 38-year-old joined FSV Frankfurt , which resumed playing in the newly founded Oberliga Süd in the late year . In the second "Mammut" round of 1947/48 with 20 clubs in the Oberliga Süd, the 41-year-old veteran goalkeeper played 37 of 38 league games and turned it into the games against Swabia Augsburg and Stuttgart on September 28 and October 19, 1947 Kickers each one penalty. He finished seventh with the Bornheimer Hang team, the city's local rivals Eintracht Frankfurt (10th place) and Rot-Weiß (18th place) and Kickers Offenbach (9th place) were relegated to the places. On the offensive Richard Herrmann stood out with 20 goals, on the defensive the experienced goalkeeper directed the teammates Wilhelm Lautz , Otto Dehm , Philipp Nold and Heinrich Dietsch . In total, he completed 93 league games for FSV from 1945 to 1949. His last league appearance was on May 15, 1949, in a 2-0 home win against VfB Stuttgart. The playing career in the performance area of ​​the “gentleman of football, who is extremely valued by the audience and fellow players because of his relaxed, unexcited nature” lasted over the unusual span of 27 years.

Selection bets

After he had earned a reputation beyond the borders of Frankfurt, he received invitations from Reich trainer Otto Nerz and thus met his great role model Heiner Stuhlfauth for the first time . To his career in the national team - Kreß made his debut under Nerz on February 10, 1929 in the DFB selection - the far better role with Red-White in the Main district also contributed. In the rounds of 1929/30 and 1930/31  - the striker Willi Rutz came from Stuttgart as reinforcement on the offensive - they qualified for the final round of the South German championship. As a goalkeeper talent from RW Frankfurt, Kreß was also appointed to the South German selection. On October 28, 1928 in a 5-1 win against southeast Germany, he made his debut in the competition of the Federal Cup . Together with the Eintracht players Franz Schütz , Bruno Goldammer and Fritz Schaller , as well as Josef Brück and Georg Knöpfle from the FSV, he represented the Frankfurt School. In Kreß's goalkeeping game, his excellent positional play - he therefore avoided "touching the ground" as much as possible -, his safe work with his hands and his command of the penalty area were particularly praised.

While still active in Rot-Weiss Frankfurt, Kreß won the national cup with southern Germany in the 1930/31 season. On April 19, 1931, the south prevailed in Dresden against central Germany with 4: 3 goals after extra time. In the national team, at the latest after his world class performance on May 10, 1930 in Berlin in a 3-3 draw against England - three goals from Richard Hofmann - he was number one in goal. During the England game, the goalkeeper was credited with "having been the rook in battle again and again" and "again and again he earned thunderous applause for his way of stretching out towards the leather in a 'wonderful sloping position'". This was also due to the fact that Heiner Stuhlfauth had ended his international career on March 2, 1930 after his 21st international match. Although a different goalkeeper was tested every now and then, the Frankfurt was absolutely undisputed. His Regensburg rival Hans Jakob described Kreß's goalkeeping game in the following words:

“ When I saw Willibald Kreß play for the first time, I knew that I wouldn't have a chance to move up into the national team anytime soon. His elegant game, his positional art, his management of all front players had to inspire. "

His series lasted until his 12th international match on March 6, 1932 in Leipzig against Switzerland. A DFB ban due to forbidden "professional play" led to an almost two-year break in the DFB team. It was only in the run-up to the World Cup, on January 14, 1934, that he found grace again with the association. In his hometown of Frankfurt, of all places, he returned to the selection of coach Nerz for the international match against Hungary. In the last game before qualifying for the World Cup against Luxembourg, the DSC goalkeeper impressed as did the two debutants in attack, Edmund Conen and Rudolf Noack , in a 3-1 win in the 99th international match in DFB history. With Kreß and Hans Jakob, the 18-strong World Cup squad included two goalkeepers, Fritz Buchloh was on call.

In the preliminary round match on May 27 in Florence against Belgium (5: 2) and in the intermediate round match on May 31 in Milan against Sweden (2: 1) Otto Nerz relied on the Dresden goalkeeper. In the semi-final match against Czechoslovakia in Rome on June 3, he showed unusual weaknesses and was partly to blame for two goals against. Striker Oldřich Nejedlý scored all three goals for Czechoslovakia's 3-1 victory. The angry mink replaced Kreß with Jakob four days later in the game for third place and did not give him another chance to return to the DFB selection in the years that followed. After 16 international matches, his national team career was over.

In contrast, the keeper of the Dresdner SC celebrated sporting successes for several years with Saxony in the Reichsbund Cup and with the Dresdner SC in the championship and the cup. The first final success with Saxony he experienced in 1936 with a 9-0 win in the replay of the final on May 24th against the southwest. In the 1940/41 series, when he and his teammates won the final against Bayern with 2-0 goals in Chemnitz on September 7, the second title followed. As successes one must also count the entry with the Saxon district selection in the two lost finals in 1937 (1: 2) against the Lower Rhine and 1940 (1: 3) against Bavaria. Overall, Kreß completed 28 competitive games for Saxony in the Gau selection competitions from 1933 to 1942. In total, he played 42 representative games for Saxony. If you add to his title wins with the DSC in 1943 and 1944 (German championship) and in 1940 and 1941 in the Tschammer Cup, his permanent disregard for the national team after the 1934 World Cup in Italy, from a sporting point of view, is incomprehensible.

Coaching career

After Kreß had already temporarily stepped in as a player-coach for the southern league club during his last years as an active player at FSV, the ex-national player successfully completed second place at the end of his active career in 1949 together with Georg Gawliczek , Kuno Klötzer , Helmut Kronsbein and Martin Wilke Course to become a soccer teacher at the German Sport University Cologne under course leader Sepp Herberger. At the beginning of 1950 he became the first association coach of the Hessian soccer association . Kreß then jumped in at the end of September 1952 - after the unfortunate 1: 3 defeat in the 100th city derby against Eintracht, FSV coach Julius Turnauer had been dismissed as a coach at FSV Frankfurt. The southern upper division FSV, which Kreß looked after until the end of the 1955/56 season , did not get beyond a midfield position in these years. Further stations were Wormatia Worms from 1957 to 1959 in the Oberliga Südwest and Wuppertaler SV from March 1959 to June 1961 in the 2nd League West. In 1961 Kreß moved his center of life to Central Hesse and trained there with the VfB of 1900 , with whom he was promoted to the 1st amateur league in Hesse in 1963 and won the Hesse Cup in 1964 . In the Hessian amateur area he was still active as a trainer at Eintracht Wetzlar and Eintracht Lollar. Up until old age he was a member of the advanced training events of the Association of German Football Teachers .

The last years of his life - he had lost little of his positive attitude towards life due to health problems - he spent in a Gießen retirement home. Willibald Kreß died on January 27, 1989 after a stroke.

Web links

• Willibald Kreß in the database of weltfussball.de
• Willibald Kreß in the database of National-Football-Teams.com (English)
• Willibald Kreß in the database of EU-Football.info (English)

Individual evidence

1. ↑ on this affair see for example Hardy Greens: Legendary football clubs. Hesse. Between FC Alsbach, Eintracht Frankfurt and Tuspo Ziegenhain. AGON Sportverlag, Kassel 2005, ISBN 3-89784-244-0 , p. 252.
2. ^ L'equipe professional du FCM fait match nul , L'Express de Mulhouse, August 14, 1932
3. ^ The judgment in the Kreß case , Badischer Beobachter , September 28, 1932, p. 6
4. ^ Munzinger archive. International Sports Archive 08/1989, February 13, 1989.
5. ^ Karl Seeger: 90 years FSV Frankfurt a. M. 1899 - 1989 , Frankfurt am Main 1989, p. 118.
6. ↑ Lorenz Knieriem, Hardy Grüne : Spiellexikon 1890 - 1963 . In: Encyclopedia of German League Football . tape 8 . AGON, Kassel 2006, ISBN 3-89784-148-7 , p. 211 .
7. ↑ Christoph Bausenwein: The last men . P. 67.
8. ↑ Christoph Bausenwein: The last men . P. 226.
9. ^ Matthias Arnhold: Willibald Kreß - International Appearances . RSSSF.com . June 17, 2020. Accessed June 18, 2020.
10. ↑ Graduates of the 2nd course (dfb.de)
11. ↑ Match report 100th Frankfurt Derby

literature

• Christoph Bausenwein: The last men. On the genre history and soul science of the gatekeeper . Verlag Die Werkstatt, Göttingen 2003, ISBN 3-89533-425-1 .
• BF Hoffmann : The legendary World Cup goalkeepers. A lexicon. Verlag Die Werkstatt, Göttingen 2005, ISBN 3-89533-498-7 , pp. 113–115.
• Jürgen Bitter : Germany's national soccer player: the lexicon . SVB Sportverlag, Berlin 1997, ISBN 3-328-00749-0 , p. 262 f .
• Heinz Tamm: Legends of Football. Famous players and great teams of the 20th century in Germany and around the world . Publishing house Dr. Bussert & Stadeler, Jena / Quedlinburg 2007, ISBN 978-3-932906-68-8 .
• Libero Special German. No. D9 / 1994, p. 22.