Eugène Walaschek

Eugène "Genia" Walaschek (born June 20, 1916 in Moscow , Russian Empire , † March 22, 2007 ) was a Swiss football player .

Genia Walaschek was born in Moscow as the son of a Czech and a Swiss woman. He came to Geneva with his family when he was two years old . He played for Servette Geneva , Urania Genève Sport and Young Boys Bern . In reference to Matthias Sindelar , the Austrian midfield star of his time, Walaschek was called "Sans Papiers". In 1937 he made his debut - initially as a stateless person - in a 3: 4 against Austria in the Swiss national football team . He played for Switzerland in 26 games. In 1938 he was part of the Swiss national team, which won the World Cup and advanced to the quarter-finals. He was one of the team that won the replay against Germany 4-2 after falling 2-0 down. Walaschek contributed the connection goal to make it 2-1. This victory ensured the final breakthrough for football as a mass sport in Switzerland and turned the players into national heroes. He made his last game in the national jersey in 1945 in a 1-0 win against France.

After his active career, two more careers began in Walaschek's life. On the one hand he became an economist in the financial administration of the city of Geneva, on the other hand he was the coach of Étoile La Chaux-de-Fonds . When he died, he was the last surviving representative of the 1938 Swiss World Cup team.

Walaschek evidently had a great fascination with his contemporaries. To this day he is the only Swiss football player to whom a film - "Walaschek's Dream" - is dedicated. Paul Klee's painting “Alpha bet I” also has Walaschek as its theme. In 1991, Einaudi in Turin published a novel by Giovanni Orelli about Walaschek and the picture of Klee, "Il sogno di Walacek", in German in 2008 by Limmat Verlag under the title "Walaceks Traum".

Web links

• Obituary at NZZ online .
• Formerly Swiss football at Swiss Info
• About "Walacek's Dream" by Giovanni Orelli