Franz Riegler (soccer player, 1922)

Franz Riegler (born February 3, 1922 , † February 15, 1945 in Vienna ) was an Austrian football player who was twice in the German national team during the Second World War . To distinguish himself from his colleague Franz "Bobby" Riegler , who was also active at the same time , he is often referred to as Franz Riegler II .

Club career

Riegler made his debut for FK Austria Wien in October 1939 in the Gauliga Ostmark , the top division of the then Ostmark . At the beginning of his career, the striker was mainly used in the right liaison position and played in a storm row with Josef Stroh and Leopold Neumer . When Wudi Müller joined Austria in December 1940 , Riegler moved to the right wing. During the war years Austria remained a table medium-sized company without any particular success. The tech-savvy striker was able to make a name for himself as a goal setter and was also part of the line-up in a 21-0 win against ASK from Linz, the highest victory to date in the top Austrian league, to which he contributed two goals.

After Riegler was unable to record any stakes between December 1941 and April 1943 - probably due to the war effort - he briefly returned to Austria, but at the beginning of the 1943/44 season switched to LSV Markersdorf an der Pielach , an air force club where a number of people were involved National football players were used. Riegler played here in a storm series with Lukas Aurednik , Karl Durspekt and Adolf Huber . At the end of the season, which ended the Markersdorfer in sixth place in the Gauliga, the club was dissolved and Riegler played his last championship game in April 1944.

There is conflicting information about the death of the young footballer. According to one source, while he was killed in a bombing raid on Vienna, according to another piece of information, he was wounded at the front at Christmas 1944 and later succumbed to these injuries.

National team

After Riegler had already made his first appearances in the Ostmark selection and the Vienna city selection in autumn 1941, he was also appointed to the German national team in December of that year. He came in a 4-0 win against Slovakia on the right wing used. A few weeks later, in January 1942, he was on the pitch in a 2-0 win against Croatia alongside debutant Karl Decker .

credentials

1. ^ Franz Riegler in the Austria Archive
2. ↑ Franz Riegler at Für Deutschland am Ball  ( page no longer available , search in web archives )  Info: The link was automatically marked as defective. Please check the link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.