Fritz Keller (soccer player)

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Frédéric "Fritz" Keller (born August 21, 1913 in Strasbourg ; † June 8, 1985 ) was a French football player .

Keller was born as the son of an Alsatian and a German in Strasbourg, in what was then the realm of Alsace-Lorraine . After the First World War, his family, with a total of eight children, emigrated to Karlsruhe for economic reasons , where his father ran a cigarette factory.

Career

At the age of twelve he joined the Karlsruhe FV in 1925 and went through all youth teams. The fast, two-footed winger was used both right and left winger as well as a center forward and was - despite his 1.74 m - strong header. His debut in the first KFV-Elf was not long in coming: at the age of 16, four years after joining the club, he made a significant contribution to winning the Baden championship in 1929 . Together with Fritz Müller he formed the right wing of the Black-Reds. In 1931 Keller's parents decided to return to France. In April 1932, the right winger ran for the last time in the derby against FC Phönix for KFV (3: 2).

Professional at Racing Strasbourg

Keller (above, 3rd from left) with the Strasbourg team in 1936/37

The club was not involved in the establishment of the nationwide first division Division 1 in 1932 , but was already one of the co-founders of France's second-highest division Division 2 a year later . Both leagues were subject to professional conditions. The then just 20-year-old striker was called up when Strasbourg started the competition on September 3, 1933 in a 5-1 away defeat by US Saint-Servan . The team was able to improve in the course of the season and, thanks to Keller's 20 goals, reached the promotion round to first class, in which they were able to prevail thanks to four more hits from the offensive player. His brother Albert left the club at this time, his brother Curt played at his side until 1937.

On August 25, 1934, Fritz Keller made his debut in the top French league and was able to score two goals in the 5-2 victory over FC Sète . In the following time he was a regular on an offensive, which also included Oscar Heisserer and Oskar Rohr , who were about the same age . The newcomers from Alsace became the surprise team and sat at the top of the table before they were overtaken by FC Sochaux at the beginning of 1935 and ultimately ended the season one point behind Sochaux as runner-up. Keller was the top goalscorer of his team with 21 goals and was sixth in the league's goal scorer statistics. The striker could not repeat the number of goals scored in the following years, but continued to count with Strasbourg among the top teams in Division 1. At the end of the 1935/36 season, the Alsatians finished third and a year later they made it to the national cup final 1937 . Like two years earlier in the championship, FC Sochaux was the rival in the fight for the title and ultimately the Alsatians were defeated 1: 2 with Keller's participation. The final was followed by two mediocre years for Strasbourg in which they were clearly far from possible title wins. In 1939, the Second World War led to the cessation of regular game operations and also ended Keller's time at Racing, in the course of which he had come to 122 first division games with 52 goals and 23 second division games with 20 goals.

Player in annexed Alsace

In 1940 Alsace was effectively annexed by the German Reich. While many teammates, including his brother Curt , left Alsace and - if this was possible at all - continued their careers in other parts of France, Fritz Keller stayed in his home town of Strasbourg. There he joined Red Star Strasbourg in 1939 , from which in 1940 the SS Strasbourg sports community emerged . This was under the leadership of the SS and was considered very loyal to the regime, which was not the case with the local rival Racing, renamed the Lawn Sports Club . The players of the SG SS, however, were not members of the SS and allegedly had not been able to do much against their capture by National Socialism and were possibly exposed to threats from the regime, although the exact background is unclear. Keller immediately became a star player at his new club, whereas the first time he met his former club he was whistled by the audience for the full length of the season. Keller played for the SG SS until 1944.

Player-coach in the post-war period

With the end of the Second World War, Alsace came under French control again in 1945. Keller and his previous club were investigated for collaboration, but the allegations were dropped again. He stayed in Alsace and worked as a player- coach until the 1950s, first in Sarrebourg and then in Saverne .

National team

Keller made his debut on May 10, 1934 in a 5-4 win in a friendly against the Netherlands for the French national team . At that time he was still a second division player, even if he only achieved promotion to the first division with Racing Strasbourg a few days later. He was the first representative of this club to be accepted into the national team. In addition, he was appointed to the squad for the 1934 World Cup and was called up on May 27 in the first game against Austria. At that time the tournament started directly with the knockout round, which is why the 2: 3 defeat against the later fourth-placed from Austria meant the elimination. Subsequently, Keller was further considered in the French selection and played a total of eight international matches with three self-scored goals by March 1937. Shortly after his departure from the national team, his younger brother Curt made his debut for France, but did not get beyond an international match.

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ a b c d Frédéric Keller , racingstub.com
  2. ↑ Championnat de France 1934/1935 , om4ever.com
  3. ↑ Frédéric Keller - Fiche de stats du joueur de football , pari-et-gagne.com
  4. ↑ a b Fritz Keller , national-football-teams.com
  5. ↑ En terrain ennemi ( Memento of October 5, 2011 in the Internet Archive ), mcsinfo.u-strasbg.fr via Internet Archive
  6. ↑ a b Joueur - Fritz KELLER , fff.fr
personal data
SURNAME Keller, Fritz
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Keller, Frédéric
BRIEF DESCRIPTION French soccer player
DATE OF BIRTH August 21, 1913
PLACE OF BIRTH Strasbourg , German Empire
DATE OF DEATH June 8, 1985