Gerhard Hanappi

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Gerhard Hanappi
Gerhard Hanappi 1953.jpg
Personnel
birthday February 16, 1929
place of birth Vienna ,  Austria
date of death 23rd August 1980
Place of death Vienna ,  Austria
size 169 cm
position Midfield
attack
Juniors
Years station
1942-1946 SC Wacker Vienna
Men's
Years station Games (goals) 1
1946-1949 SC Wacker Vienna 62 00(2)
1950-1964 SK Rapid Vienna 333 (114)
National team
Years selection Games (goals)
1948-1964 Austria 93 0(12)
1 Only league games are given.

Gerhard Hanappi (born February 16, 1929 in Vienna ; † August 23, 1980 there ) was an Austrian football player and architect .

He was seen as an all-rounder with a fine technique and the ability to grasp game situations quickly, which - as Walter Nausch put it - "can play anywhere". The long-time record Austrian national player was the key player in the team as a left full-back at the 1954 World Cup in Switzerland, in which Austria took 3rd place. Among other things, he was appointed to the world selection in 1953. After his football career, "Gschropp", as Gerhard Hanappi was called due to his height (1.69 m), became an architect and built, among other things, the West Stadium (later Gerhard Hanappi Stadium ), which is now replaced by the Allianz Stadium .

Life and education

Gerhard Hanappi grew up with the sister of his mother, who died young. After attending the HTL Mödling with a high school diploma in 1947, he began studying architecture at the Technical University of Vienna , which he completed in 1957 as a graduate engineer. He then worked for Vienna City Planning and several architecture offices. In 1962 he started his own business.

Athletic career

Key role at Wacker and "the Hanappi case"

Gerhard Hanappi began his career as a footballer with the small Viennese suburban club Wacker . Already at the age of 17 he played regularly in the Meidlinger fighting team and surprisingly celebrated his first championship title with them in 1947. In the same year, Vienna Austria was defeated 4: 3 in the Cup. Hanappi played in the midfield of the Meidlingers in the final, later he was mostly used as a defender. He was soon considered to be the greatest talent in Viennese football, so that some clubs tried to switch to them.

At the age of 19 Hanappi made his debut on November 14, 1948 in a 2-1 victory over Sweden as a defender in the Austrian national team . From then on, he was in 55 consecutive international matches for the national team before being sidelined six years later due to an injury in a game against Yugoslavia . At the age of 21, the Wacker player was the first non-Rapid player to be voted Footballer of the Year.

In 1950 the "Hanappi case", as Wacker referred to his departure, came to a head. He should switch to Rapid , but Wacker did not want to release the "ball artist" at any price. Rapids section head Franz Binder therefore decided without further ado to “kidnap” and “hide” the soccer player. The final move from Meidling to Hütteldorf could only be completed after six months without a club. The Wacker fans swore "eternal revenge" for the green and white, which led to spicy duels between these two clubs in the years that followed. During his time without a club, the national team coach and former wonder team player Walter Nausch took on the all-rounder and continued to use it in the team.

Success with Rapid and at the World Championships

In his first season for SK Rapid Hanappi was able to win his first international title. In the final of the Zentropacup , a new edition of the Mitropa Cup, the team met Wacker after a 5-0 victory in the semifinals over Lazio Rome in a purely Austrian duel. The tough game finally ended 3-2 in favor of the green-whites.

At the national level, Hanappi was mostly able to determine the championship events with his new club - he was able to win a total of seven championship titles and one cup in Hütteldorf. He also made it to the semi-finals with the Rapidlers in the European Cup, which has been held since 1955 . He played for Rapid for a total of 14 years (until the end of his career in 1964), seven years of which (1957-1964) as captain. During this time, Hanappi, who played in almost all positions at Rapid, played 333 championship games and scored 114 goals. In 1999 he was elected by the readers of Rapid magazine with the third most votes in Rapid's eleven of the century.

The 93-time team player celebrated his greatest success in the national dress at the 1954 World Cup in Switzerland after defeating Portugal 9-1 in qualifying . At the World Cup, Hanappi moved into the quarter-finals as a left full-back alongside his club colleague Ernst Happel after a 1-0 win over Scotland and a 5-0 victory over Czechoslovakia , where they met the hosts. Austria won this game 7-5 in the famous heat battle of Lausanne , but was eliminated in the semi-finals against Germany. Austria then won the small final for 3rd place against the reigning world champion Uruguay 3-1.

After the World Cup, the defender was appointed captain of the national team in 1955 and was named Austria's Sportsman of the Year 1955 in mid-January 1956 . At the 1958 World Cup in Sweden, he could not build on the success of 1954; he failed with the Austrian team after Lospech already in the group stage to Brazil , England and the Soviet Union .

Architect career

After finishing his football career in 1965, Hanappi began his architectural career . In the same year he was the first footballer to be honored with the Gold Medal of Merit of the Republic of Austria . As a player, he had already spent breaks reading numerous architecture study books. His “main work” is the planning and construction of the Vienna West Stadium , which opened on May 10, 1977 with a 1-0 win against Wiener Austria and served SK Rapid as a venue until its demolition in October 2014. Hanappi had already gained experience with sports facilities, including planning the ÖMV facility in Stadlau.

Death, afterlife

Honorary grave in the Hietzingen cemetery

Gerhard Hanappi died of lymph gland cancer at the age of 51 and was buried in an honorary grave in the Hietzinger Friedhof (group 63, row 3, number 7). The West Stadium, later named after him, which had been rejected by a large number of Rapid fans during his lifetime because of its sterile atmosphere, was gradually appreciated, much visited and, according to the motto "Rapid is a religion", also referred to as "Sankt Hanappi". In the mid-2010s, the stadium was replaced by a new one, with the forecourt of the new Allianz Stadium being renamed “Gerhard-Hanappi-Platz” in 2015 in his honor.

Awards (excerpt)

See also

literature

  • 2019: Gerhard Hanappi - footballer, architect , edited by Christoph Lechner, Katalin Hanappi u. a., designed by Peter Duniecki, Park Books AG, Zurich 2019, ISBN 978-3-03860-047-3

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Hanappi and Eigel - Sportsman of the Year . In: Arbeiter-Zeitung . Vienna January 18, 1956, p. 8 ( berufer-zeitung.at - the open online archive - digitized).
personal data
SURNAME Hanappi, Gerhard
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Austrian soccer player and architect
DATE OF BIRTH February 16, 1929
PLACE OF BIRTH Vienna
DATE OF DEATH 23rd August 1980
Place of death Vienna