Curt Keller

Curt Keller

Curt Keller (born April 28, 1918 in Strasbourg ; † March 23, 1992 ) was a French football player who made his professional debut in 1934 at the age of 15 and was on the field for various first and second division teams in France until 1951. He played an international match for the French national team .

Career

First professional years in Strasbourg and Sochaux (1934–1939)

Keller came from Strasbourg in Alsace , which in 1918, a few months after his birth, became part of French territory again after temporarily belonging to the German Empire . Since 1925 he played for the youth teams of the local football club Racing Strasbourg , which in 1932 was not involved in the establishment of the nationwide first division Division 1 , but one year later was one of the founding members of France's second-highest division Division 2 . Both leagues were subject to professional conditions. The squad for the 1933/34 season initially included his brothers, the later eight-time national player Fritz Keller and Albert Keller , who could not establish himself permanently in professional football. Curt Keller was only 15 years old at the time, but still became part of the team over the course of the season. On January 14, 1934, the youngster , who was preferred as the right winger , was called up in a 2-1 win against FC Metz and made his professional debut at the age of just 15 years, eight months and 17 days. At a time when substitutions and substitutions were not yet possible, Keller then received the chance for further missions and scored four goals in a total of eight games. Strasbourg reached the promotion relegation to the first division, in which the young player was used in all four games and contributed one goal. Ultimately, the team qualified for the top division.

In the 1934/35 season, the now 16-year-old was occasionally called up, where he hit the opposing goal eight times in nine games. The team experienced a very successful first year in the first division and was runner-up after a duel with FC Sochaux for the title. In the following season, Curt Keller became a regular player and ultimately took third place with Strasbourg. The following year, the Alsatians made it into the French Cup final in 1937 . The opponent in the title fight was again FC Sochaux, to which the right-winger would switch after the season. In the final, however, he was not called up; it ended 2-1 in favor of Sochaux.

The 1937/38 season was still very young at the age of 19, wearing the Sochaux jersey. He was a regular in a team that retired early as the defending champion in the Cup, but took the lead in the league and in 1938 became French champions with two points ahead of Olympique Marseille . In the following season he not only lost his regular place, but also stayed with the team from a possible repetition of the success significantly. In 1939, the beginning of World War II led to regular gaming operations being discontinued.

War and first post-war years in Toulouse (1940-1947)

During the war years, an unofficial game operation was maintained, with Keller from 1940 for the southern French club FC Toulouse used. In the group of the championship, which is limited to the south of France, Toulouse was one of the strongest teams and was champion of this group in 1943 with the help of Keller. For the duration of the 1943/44 season there was again a national competition, but club teams were banned and were replaced by so-called Équipes fédérales . From 1944 he played again for FC Toulouse, with whom he experienced the reintroduction of regular game operations after the end of the war in the 1945/46 season.

In the post-war years, Keller was a central figure on the Toulouse FC offensive and made his contribution to promotion from the second to the first division with 23 goals in the 1945/46 season. In the following season he contributed with 21 goals to ensure relegation and thus finished eighth in the league's list of goalscorers.

Last professional years in Lyon, Strasbourg and Béziers (1947–1951)

In 1947 he left the top division again to accept an offer from the second division club Lyon OU . From a possible promotion, he remained with the team then clearly removed. In the autumn of 1948 he returned to Racing Strasbourg, with which he played first class again. Although he scored seven goals in the course of the 1948/49 season, he could not save the team from his hometown from relegation. Only the withdrawal of the Alsatian rival SR Colmar meant that Strasbourg remained in the first division.

Keller went back to the second division in 1949, despite the fact that he had not yet reached the class, by joining AS Béziers . In this he was regularly called up, but unlike in previous years, he rarely appeared as a goalscorer. In 1951, at the age of 33, he ended his professional career after 133 first division games with 56 goals of his own and 115 second division games with 52 goals and additional unofficial league games during the war years.

Further work as a player-coach in amateur football

Immediately after the end of his professional career, he took on a double role in 1951 as a player-coach at the amateur club AF Rodez in the south of France . In 1953 he moved to the same region based US Albi , where he also held the role of player-coach for the duration of the 1953/54 season. From 1956 to 1957 he worked as a coach for a club from Algeria.

National team

After his brother Fritz had made his debut in the jersey of the French national team three years earlier, Curt Keller also made his first appearance for France on October 10, 1937 in a friendly against Switzerland. The 2-1 win against the neighboring country, however, remained his only international match and, like his brother, he was not taken into account for the 1938 World Cup in France .

Individual evidence

1. ↑ ^{a b} Joueur - Curt KELLER , fff.fr
2. ^ ^{A b} Curt Keller , racingstub.com
3. ↑ ^{a b} Curt Keller - Fiche de stats du joueur de football , pari-et-gagne.com
4. ↑ Football: Curt Keller , footballdatabase.eu