Josef Bican

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Josef Bican
Josef Bican 1940.jpg
Josef Bican 1940
Personnel
birthday September 25, 1913
place of birth Vienna ,  Austria-Hungary
date of death December 12, 2001
Place of death Prague ,  Czech Republic
position Storm

Josef "Pepi" Bican (born September 25, 1913 in Vienna ; † December 12, 2001 in Prague ) was an Austrian and Czechoslovak football player . He represented both Austrian and Czech football between and after the war. Internationally he is considered one of the best strikers of his time and in the Czech Republic today he is still a football legend, whose popularity even survived the years of socialism.

With the Austrian national team, he reached the semi-finals of the World Cup in 1934. From 1939 to 1944 he was Europe's top scorer five times in a row. As a 17-year-old, the Viennese played for Rapid in the first Austrian league and reportedly scored over 5,000 goals in the course of his career, 643 of them in a first and second division. According to data from the Rec.Sport.Soccer Statistics Foundation , an organization that collects football data , with 805 goals in 530 games, he leads the ranking of a total of 28 players who scored 500 or more goals in official games with national teams in all age groups as well have scored in football clubs in all football leagues; unused player data were excluded. For this achievement he received the trophy for the world's best goalscorer of the 20th century from the International Organization of Football Historians in Munich in 1997 .

childhood

Pepi Bican grew up in a small apartment on Quellenstrasse in Favoriten . The district with its many factories and especially brickworks attracted numerous immigrants who hoped to be able to build a living as workers in the Danube metropolis. Today it is estimated that around 300,000 people from Bohemia , Moravia and Hungary settled in Favoriten at the time. The working-class families who moved in remained mostly poor and were slightly disparagingly called Ziegelböhm by the locals . Back then, football was not only a distraction from everyday life, but also one of the few opportunities for advancement in society. This is also the reason why several top division and top players came from Favoriten in the early days of Austrian football. The Sindelar family, for example, lived on the same street as the Bicans, and their then ten-year-old son Matthias , later captain of the wonder team , was once said to be one of the best football players Austria had ever produced in the same breath as Bican.

Bican's childhood was shaped by the ubiquitous poverty of a Bohemian working class family in Vienna at the beginning of the 20th century and by the early death of his father. František "Franci" Bican came from the South Bohemian village of Sedlitz near Prague. Because there was no work for him in the small town, he sought his fortune in Vienna. There he met his future wife Ludmilla, a native Viennese of Bohemian descent. The young family struggled with poverty from the start; In addition to playing football, František hired himself out as a simple worker and his wife as a kitchen helper in order to be able to look after their three sons. When Pepi Bican was two years old, his father was drafted into the Austro-Hungarian army, but returned unharmed from the First World War . Bican's father played for ASV Hertha Wien as early as 1910 as a successful striker in the top division of the time. In a game against SK Rapid, he was badly fouled by an opponent when he hit his knees in the kidneys. Although an operation was necessary, Josef's father refused to have it carried out out of fear and died in 1922 at the age of only 30 from the consequences of this injury.

During this time, Pepi Bican found emotional support from his grandparents in Sedlice, where the family regularly spent their summer vacation for around two months. As a little boy he loved his grandparents, who lived in very poor conditions, and described the village itself, although born in Vienna, as his real home. Even as a popular footballer, he was drawn back several times to his father's birthplace, but a life there was out of the question for him due to the poor conditions. In Vienna, Josef Bican attended the Jan Amos Komensky School, where he was taught in both German and Czech. At home he spoke almost exclusively German with his brothers, although his mother, who was born in Vienna, preferred to use the Czech language.

Youth at Hertha and Farbenlutz

In his spare time, Pepi Bican played soccer like most boys at the time - mostly barefoot, because you couldn't think of your own soccer shoes. Bican later said that it was precisely because of this that he got his sensitivity for the technology that made him so successful in later years, coupled with his speed. In his childhood Bican got to know the family of Matthias Sindelar ; his uncle was one of the best friends of the later star of Vienna Austria, who was ten years older than him. He got on well with the shy, somewhat introverted "Schindi" but not particularly well throughout his life. Even then, Josef Bican's competitive thinking set in too early. After appearances at several small favorite football clubs, the student played in the youth team of the first division club ASV Hertha in 1927 and 1928, where Sindelar also started his career. For every goal he scored, he received a shilling from the club sponsors as an incentive . The blue-and-white soccer field was just a few steps from Bican's house.

At the age of 15 Bican took a job at a company called Farbenlutz in Vienna's 10th district and also played in their company team. More important to him than worrying about a career as a soccer player was the fact that this company paid for his food and that he could earn something as an employee. In addition, older players who had exceeded their performance peak and were no longer eligible for a service in higher leagues played in this team again and again. But the interaction with these established footballers, Bican said later, taught him a lot.

The rise to the Austrian football Olympus

The first years at Rapid Vienna

The Viennese usually played with Farbenlutz on Sunday mornings. Roman Schramseis , himself with Hertha Vienna from 1922 to 1926 and at that time just emerging star defender of SK Rapid, often came to the company team's games and learned Bican's football skills. One day, Pepi Bican himself liked to tell, Schramseis asked him if he wouldn’t like to go to Rapid in the youth and, in response to his own reply that he was not good enough, the answer was that he would be the best . On the advice of Roman Schramseis, the favorite was given permission by the then section head of the Hütteldorfer, Dionys Schönecker , to train in the youth team. Already at the first training session, to which Bican walked from Quellenstrasse to Hütteldorf , he scored six or seven goals and was allowed to switch to the amateurs after just one game for the youth team. In the first match for the amateur team, which was the 18 to 19-year-old young talent of the club, Bican made five hits on the shooting list. After three months, Pepi was 17 years old, on the advice of Schönecker, he was brought into the reserve team, where he formed the storm together with the later Rapid stars Kirbes , Kaburek , Binder and Pesser . His good performances were noticed by Dionys Schönecker with favor, and three months later Austria's largest football talent was allowed for the first time in the first team accrue Hütteldorfer.

He made his debut in the first division on September 6, 1931 against FK Austria Vienna on the Hohe Warte . This premiere was hyped up by the media as the generation struggle between the student (Bican) and the king of football (Sindelar). Josef Bican already scored a flawless hat trick in the first half, crowning his performance with the goal to make it 5-2 just before the end of the game. The game ended after another shortening by Austria 5: 3 for Rapid. His first season in the fighting team concluded Bican with eight championship appearances and ten goals with the Rapid-Elf in third place in the table. He contributed two more goals this season on the way to the semi-finals of the cup competition. With the Austrian record champions, the favorite now formed the famous inner storm of the SK Rapid of the early 30s together with Franz Weselik , his substitute Matthias Kaburek and "Bimbo" Binder. In the following season 1932/33 , the young team reached the runner-up title behind First Vienna FC 1894 , with Pepi having 16 missions and eleven goals a significant part of the success. In the cup competition, the Rapidler surprisingly eliminated after two games despite six hits by bicans.

Debut in the Austrian national team

By Hugo Meisl Josef Bican was founded in 1933 for the first time in the Austrian national team convened. At the age of 20 he made his debut in the dress of Austria on November 29, 1933 in a 2-2 draw against the Scottish national team . He was denied a goal scoring at his premiere, but he was hard to stop with his fast advances by the Scots and prepared both hits for his team through Zischek and Schall . His first and at the same time decisive goal he succeeded in the second international game on December 10, 1933 away against the Netherlands . The game was an open exchange of blows between the two teams, in which the Austrians missed countless opportunities, including a penalty by Franz Binder. In the 48th minute Bican was able to defeat the Dutch goalkeeper Van der Meulen effortlessly after a wonderful presentation by Schall and saved his team with the success. In the third match against the Italian national team in Turin, Josef Bican once again acted as a preparer for the first two goals by Zischek. However, the Swiss referee Mercet, who did not recognize a regular goal by Bicans in the 55th minute, prevented him from scoring his own goal in the 4-2 triumph of the Austrians.

In the game against Switzerland on March 25, 1934, which was played in Geneva, the favorite saved the Austrian team from an embarrassment against the Confederates with the opening goal and especially with his goal for the 3-2 victory in the 76th minute. After Bican was able to score two goals in an international match for the first time, he netted twice in the next game against arch-rivals Hungary and led his team, which had not lost a game for two years, to an undisputed 5-2 triumph.

At that time, the Rapidler was considered indispensable for the Austrian national team and coach Hugo Meisl had planned it for the World Cup in 1934, although Bican had only been with the team for a few months. Bican mostly played as a right or left connector, but increasingly competed with the actual star Matthias Sindelar for the position of the central center forward through his performance . In the only qualifying game for the World Cup, the Austrians beat the eleven from Bulgaria with 6-1 goals. Bican celebrated his sixth appearance for the national team, but remained without a personal goal for the first time in a long time. For this he stood out again as a preparer for the first two goals of Horvath . The best goal of this game came in the 67th minute by Matthias Sindelar, which was preceded by a skilful short passing game by the two thoroughbred strikers Sindelar and Bican away from the center line, in which several Bulgarians were played off by the two exceptional talent and downright relegated to extras. With this success, Austria took part in a soccer world championship for the first time.

In the championship it was enough in the world championship year 1934 for Pepi Bican with Rapid only to second place behind Admira , although the Hütteldorfer, as in previous seasons, again scored by far the most goals in the entire league. Josef Bican scored 29 goals in 22 appearances in the first division and led the green-whites into the cup final with five hits in five matches. SK Rapid lost the final itself against Admira, who was overpowering in those years, with a score of 8-0. In the Mitropapokal , Bican made three appearances this season and also scored one goal, but the Viennese were eliminated in the semi-finals.

World Championship 1934

For the 1934 FIFA World Cup traveled Austria as dark horses, since the red-white-red team all the top teams that participated in the World Cup, had in previous years, defeated - sometimes even very clear. At the world championship itself, things didn't go according to plan for the former wonder team under team boss Hugo Meisl and trainer Franz Hansl.

The first game against France could only be won with difficulty 3-2 after extra time. The Austrians started very aggressively and came up with an abundance of chances in the first quarter of an hour, but all of them were wasted. Even when the French Nicolas was out injured for seven minutes, the Austrian team was unable to break the French team's defensive bar. In the 19th minute of the game, Nicolas, who had just come back into play, ran from the wing to the center and shot from three meters away to the crossbar, from where the ball went into the goal, untenable for Platzer . After a free kick from Schall just hit the bar and a 0: 1 was in the room at break, Pepi Bican played a wonderful pass to Sindelar, who equalized with a powerful shot from 20 meters away. Shortly after the restart, Bican had the lead for the Austrian team on foot, but missed this great opportunity in front of goalie Thépot alone . Toni Schall scored a clear offside goal in extra time, which the Dutch referee Van Morsel recognized despite violent protests from the French. The 97th minute of the game finally brought relief for the Austrians. Sindelar put the ball on ideally for Josef Bican, who shot a massive 3-1 from eight meters away. The subsequent goal of the French team by a penalty from Sesta and converted by Verriest in the 110th minute was no longer relevant.

The second encounter was the classic Hungary against Austria and ended with a 2-1 win for Hugo Meisl's team. The Austrians' opening campaigns already showed their superiority. In the fifth minute, Horvath, who had been taken on for Schall, scored the opening goal after a remarkable combination of Zischek-Sindelar-Bican. Ten minutes later, Pepi Bican, standing alone in front of the Hungarian goalkeeper Szabo, was ideally cleared, but hesitated too long and let the ball be taken off his feet. In the game, which the Hungarians played harder and harder, Bican put the ball on perfectly for Zischek in the second half; this one shot and Austria led 2-0.

With this success, Bican was with the Austrian national team in the World Cup semi-finals, where they met the host's team and lost just 0: 1. Austria started very ambitiously and in the initial phase already missed a great opportunity through Sindelar. In the 18th minute, however, the Italian Orsi broke through on the left wing and crossed to the center. Platzer jumped up and was able to catch the ball, but was fouled by Meazza and Schiavio and pushed over the goal line when falling. Platzer was left lying on the ground in a daze, the Swedish referee Ivan Eklind recognized the goal despite this clear violation of the rules. In the first half, Bicans was bombed on the goal pole, but the favorite did not want to score a goal. The referee's next offense came in the second season when he deliberately headed off a cross going towards Zischek, who was standing alone in front of goalkeeper Combi.

In the game for third place, the slightly different Austrian national team - including Sindelar missing - narrowly and surprisingly lost 3-2 against Germany . After 25 seconds, Lehner scored 1-0 for the neighboring country. Pepi Bican never really got into the game in this important encounter and could not set any accents. The goals of the Austrians were scored by Horvath and Sesta.

Rift with Rapid

His greatest success in Hütteldorf, the championship title with Rapid in the 1934/35 season, Bican could no longer celebrate with the team. Because of lack of discipline, he was removed from the team after three games in which he scored two goals. As he later explained, Bican had never really been able to get used to the combative, tough style of play of the Hütteldorfer and did not feel very comfortable at Rapid either. He was more interested in the fine, technical and elegant, a style of play that was only practiced in Austria at that time by Vienna Austria, but which already had an absolute star in its team in Matthias Sindelar and showed no interest in Bican.

When Slavia Prague became aware of Bican and made him an offer, the Favoritner was on fire, as the Prague people played the same elegant game as the Viennese violets. The Hütteldorfer, for whom Bican no longer wanted to appear, did not want to release him to the Prague, but were careful to keep their star in the team. But Bican had already broken internally with Rapid and refused to continue playing for the club even when he was presented with an extremely well-paid new contract (for the circumstances at the time). Dionys Schönecker then put Josef Bican out of the team, but without giving him clearance for another club. Bican played a total of 49 championship games, 9 cup games and three matches in the Mitropacup for the Hütteldorfer and scored 201 goals, 66 of which he scored in compulsory and the rest in friendly games.

Through his uncle, Bican then made contact with SK Admira Wien, the most successful team in the professional league before the Second World War. The Jedleseer that time had been the star striker Vogl , Stoiber , sound and Hahnemann under contract, but intervened quickly and Bican fished to their success ensemble.

Two-time master with Admira Vienna

The start at Admira has been delayed, however, as Bican has not received any clearance from his former club Rapid and has even been banned for nine months due to breach of contract. For the national team, however, he was still eligible to play, as this suspension issued by the association was limited to club activities. Pepi also remained in contact with Slavia Prague, as he was the declared dream player of the coach Jan Reichert , who immediately after taking office in 1935 threw the fishing rod at Josef Bican and wanted to loose him from Rapid. From the Czechoslovak club, which was still planning to move the star striker to Moldova, the purely professional footballer, who otherwise had no other occupation, received more money in advance than he later earned with the less wealthy botanists .

In 1935/36 Bican was finally allowed to play for the Jedleseer and celebrated his second championship title with Admira, to which he was able to contribute eight goals in the spring championship. In the Mitropacup he was less successful with his new team and was eliminated in the first round with 0: 4 and 3: 2 against the Czechoslovak club SK Prostějov .

After the World Cup, Bican had to wait several months for his next call-up to the national team due to his disagreements at Rapid and the intended club change to Admira. The now Admiraner played his first game after this break in a 0-0 draw against Czechoslovakia on April 14, 1935 in Vienna. Bican then played eight more times for Austria. Worth mentioning are the games against Hungary on October 6, 1935, in which the Floridsdorfer contributed three of the four goals to the 4-4 draw, the away match against Spain, in which Bican scored the third goal of the Austrians in a 5-4 win, and his two goals against Hungary on April 5, 1936. Bican achieved an outstanding performance with the Austrian national team on May 6, 1936 in the hard-fought 2-1 win over England . After only 17 minutes the Austrians were leading 2-0 against an extremely agile and combative English national team. The goals for Austria were scored by Viertl and the upcoming sports club talent Geiter , who missed numerous other good chances in this game in addition to his remarkable goal to make it 2-0. However, the match was mainly shaped by the extremely good teamwork between the two stars Sindelar and Bican. Long before the game, Meisl had considered not calling Sindelar up and transferring the leadership role to Bican. In the end he decided otherwise; The two stars thanked him in this game with their probably best teamwork, garnished with an abundance of remarkable actions and scoring chances, even if ultimately both Bican and Sindelar failed to score.

In the Austrian championship in autumn 1936, Pepi Bican laid the foundation stone for the new title win with Admira with important goals, but fell more and more through escapades and, after Slavia Prague pushed increasingly for a move to the Vltava, again showed emigration tendencies. Shortly afterwards, he unilaterally ended his employment relationship with Admira. Admira then had Bican banned for four years - the highest sentence ever pronounced for an Austrian footballer to date - but reduced it to two years after withholding his passport. Slavia Prague then sent a lawyer to Bican for assistance, and a day later the goalscorer had his passport back in his pocket. Slavia then submitted a lucrative transfer fee to Admira for the favorite and, in addition to the release to the Prague team, also achieved a reduction in the suspension. Josef Bican won two Austrian championships with Admira and scored 18 goals in 26 appearances in the championship.

Farewell to Austria

Josef Bican made his last appearance for Austria on November 8, 1936 in the away game against Switzerland in Zurich. The match ended 3-1 for Austria. Bican missed several chances, but also scored a regular hit which, after consulting the linesman, was not recognized by the referee for some inexplicable reason. Shortly thereafter, Bicans broke with Admira and moved to Czechoslovakia. Pepi Bican no longer played for the Austrian national team or an Austrian club, but after his active career and especially in old age, he kept coming back to his old homeland for short visits. The center forward played a total of 19 times for the Austrian national team and scored 14 goals.

The move to Czechoslovakia

Runner-up and top scorer in 1938

In April 1937 Bican came to Prague. He had to wait for his first assignment due to the suspension issued by Admira. He made his debut for Slavia on August 27, 1937 in the surprising 1-0 away defeat against SK Kladno. Bican fitted himself very quickly into the ensemble of the Czechoslovak champions and scored four times in goal in the outstanding 7-1 on September 2, 1937 in the cup game against city rivals Bohemians . A few days later, on September 5, 1937, he scored all four goals for his team's 4-1 success in his home premiere in the sold-out Slavia Stadium against SK Náchod. A long-cherished dream had come true for Bican with the commitment to the Prague team. The team was the current Czechoslovakian champion at the time and peppered with stars such as Antonín Puč , František Plánička , Vlasta Kopecký and Alexander Bokšay - and Bican was the declared dream player of coach Jan Reichert, who pulled the Viennese away from Rapid when he took office in 1935 wanted to lure Moldova.

In October of the same year Pepi then played for the first time against his former club Admira Vienna, but could not contribute to the friendly 2-2. The later duels against his exclusive club Rapid were more interesting and emotional for Bican, especially because he repeatedly met his former teammate Franz Binder, with whom he got along well off the football pitch. But in 1937 he played again in Austria. In his friendly 4-2 win against Vienna Austria, he scored three goals against the Sindelars team. For his failed premiere in the Celostátní league against Kladno , Bican returned the favor in the second leg with four goals, which he contributed to the 12-0 triumph over the league rivals. Bican missed the championship in his first season at Slavia, in which he made 19 appearances and 22 goals, but narrowly against city rivals Sparta Prague .

Mitropacupieger with Slavia Prague

For the narrowly missed championship title, the Prague team held themselves harmless by winning the Mitropacup in 1938 . The team was only slightly changed and already presented itself in preparation, with the victories over Austria Wien (5: 2) and Preston North End FC (6: 1; two goals from Bican) more compact than in the past season. Especially on the offensive, Bican found congenial partners in Vytlačil, Bradáč, Šimůnek and Horák, with whom he harmonized perfectly. The first round opponent Beogradski ASK was defeated 3-2 in Belgrade by goals from Vytlačil, Bradáč and Horák. In the second leg, Pepi Bican made the final score to 2-1 with a penalty goal after a previous lead by Šimůnek. In the quarter-finals, on July 11, 1938, the Prague team first hosted AS Ambrosiana-Inter (now Inter Milan ). The team of coach Reichert got into a real frenzy and finished off the Italian guests 9-0. The outstanding player in this game was Josef Bican, who entered the shooting list with four goals and was also involved in the creation of another four goals by Horák (2), Bradáč and Vytlačil. Only Vytlačil's 3-0 goal in the 47th minute fell without Pepi's intervention. The red-whites from Prague lost the second leg in Milan with 1: 3, but advanced to the next round with a total score of 10: 3 goals.

Against Genoa in 1893 they surprisingly lost 2: 4 away, but in the second leg on August 1, 1938, with a 4: 0 over the Genoese, the promotion to the Mitropa Cup final was perfect. Once again, all goals of this encounter were due to the outstanding center forward Pepi Bican. In the final, the Slavia faced the Hungarian Ferencvárosi FC on September 4th . Slavia fell behind in the 30th minute through Keményi and could not win the game even after the equalizer by Bican in the 35th minute and subsequent lead by Šimůnek. The Hungarian Kiss ensured the equalizer and Slavia said goodbye to the 45,000 spectators in the stadium with a draw. In the second leg in Budapest , Prague convinced with an excellent performance and beat the Hungarian finalists 2-0. Bican acted as the organizer of the attack game and ensured with an excellent pass to Vytlačil for the leadership of his team, which rounded off the success with the second goal by Šimůnek. Josef Bican remained goalless in this match, but became the tournament's most successful goalscorer with a total of ten goals. Winning the Mitropacup in 1938 represents Pepi Bican's greatest success at club level in terms of value. Coach Jan Reichert left Slavia Prague after this success, his successor as interim player-coach František Plánička, who also played at the World Cup in France that year .

Debut in the Czechoslovak national team

Pepi Bican completed three international matches in 1938 for the selection of his new home country. After his last game for Austria, the Viennese, who had meanwhile become a Czechoslovak citizen, had to wait two years for his debut in the Czechoslovak national team and therefore could not participate in the World Cup , which was held in France from June 4 to 19, 1938 . take part. That he would have been a valuable reinforcement for his team, he showed in his first game on August 7, 1938 in Stockholm, when he contributed three goals to the 6-2 win over Sweden , as well as in the match against the national team of Romania , in which he in April 1939 even scored four hits to make it 6-2. Thus, the 1934 World Cup with Austria remained the only one in the career of the exceptional Bican, who had the bad luck of being at the height of his career at a time when the regular World Cups of 1942 and 1946 did not take place due to the Second World War and its consequences could.

As a player in the Protectorate of Bohemia and Moravia

After the occupation of Czechoslovakia by German troops on March 15, 1939, the championship of the Celostátní liga was interrupted, but in the summer of the same year it was brought to an end alongside the already started Českomoravská liga with the remaining Czech clubs. Bican reached second place in the table with Slavia Prague and thus captured the last title of a Czechoslovak runner-up for the time being. The Viennese scored 29 goals this season, becoming Czechoslovak top scorer for the second time in a row. After the Slovak clubs played their own championship after the independence of Slovakia, the championship football concentrated on the regions of Bohemia and Moravia, which were administered as a protectorate by the German Reich after the separation of the Sudeten German area and other parts of the country that fell to Poland and Hungary . While the "German" and Sudeten German clubs were integrated into the Reich German sport, the Czech football clubs played in the newly introduced Českomoravská league until 1945 for the title of Czech champion of the Protectorate of Bohemia-Moravia . The professionalism introduced in Czechoslovakia as early as 1925 was abolished by the Germans because it was viewed as " Jewish ". Josef Bican then worked as a civil servant in a steel factory, but continued to play football until the last championship round in the Protectorate in 1945.

Intermezzo in the selection of the protectorate

After March 15, 1939, the now German " Protectorate of Bohemia and Moravia " played three more selection or international matches against the national team of Yugoslavia , an "Austrian" selection of the then Ostmark (5: 5) and finally in November 1939 against the national team of the German Empire .

The game against the team of the German Reich was played in Breslau and ended in a 4-4 draw. Josef Bican was the focal point of his team in this game and contributed three goals to this result, which was considered a success. The Germans then offered him the opportunity to play in the national team of the Third Reich , but Bican vehemently refused, despite fear of reprisals. This was all the more a courageous decision, as he stood by his Czechity as well as his convictions at a time when, due to the difficult interaction between Czechs and Germans and as a native Austrian, he was not undisputed in the team of the Reich Protectorate and sometimes even Was exposed to hostility from his own teammates - despite his excellent performance. At the beginning of 1940, the situation in Czech sports worsened all the more when all travel to and from the “Protectorate” was banned by the occupiers. This also hit Slavia Prague hard with Pepi Bican, as due to this restriction, games abroad were as little possible as guest appearances by foreign teams in the Protectorate.

Master honors with Slavia Prague

Slavia Prague always had a very good and well-rehearsed team during the time of the Protectorate and competed in the championships up to 1944 mainly with local rivals Sparta Prague. The team of the red and whites became champions four times in these five years and dominated the national competition under coach Emil Seifert . Josef Bican often scored more than half of all his club's goals in many games, with the high scores so typical of the time, in which Slavia Prague often scored up to eight or ten goals, mainly due to the strength of the Viennese. Only in the last game year, 1943/44, Pepi Bican had to be content with the runner-up title behind Sparta Prague. During this time, Pepi Bican was the top scorer of the Protectorate of Bohemia and Moravia five times in a row and was also the most successful goalscorer in a top division in Europe in all seasons. On May 1, 1939 Pepi Bican completed a friendly game with his Slavia in Hütteldorf against his former team Rapid Vienna. The high-class match was extremely dramatic and ended with a 7-4 win for the Viennese, who already took the lead in the 2nd minute through Bimbo Binder. After Pepi Bican made the deserved equalizer eight minutes later with a remarkable goal, it was again Binder who took care of the leadership of his Viennese team. The very strong Slavia then increasingly oriented themselves forward and with three goals from Horák, Pepi Bican and Vytlačil between the 30th and 33rd minute put the Czechs 4-2. After Rapid hit the connection through Binder, the Prague team withdrew too early. Rapid pushed forward vehemently in the second half and scored four more goals for a 7-4 triumph against the uncertain goalkeeper Bureš through Pesser, Binder, Schorsch and Holec.

Less than a month later, a second match took place in Prague. The Czech team, who again had their standard goalkeeper Bokšay at their disposal in this match, returned the favor with a 5-2 win over the Hütteldorfer. In front of 20,000 spectators, Horák, Vycek, Bican, Kopecký and Vytlačil were successful for the Slavia; Schorsch and Binder scored for Rapid. On June 25, 1939 Slavia Prague entered the first round of the Mitropacup as defending champion and surprisingly lost the first game in Belgrade against Beogradski ASK with 0: 3. In the second leg Josef Bican put his team in the lead with two goals, but only managed to lead the Slavia Prague team to a 2-1 win, which meant that the Prague team were eliminated from the competition in the first round. Due to the travel ban introduced in 1940, this match was the last international game played by a Czech team until the end of the Second World War . In the championship, Bican won the title with the Prague team for the first time this season and scored a sensational 50 goals in twenty appearances for his team, making him the top scorer for the third time in a row. A downer for Bican, however, was the elimination of his team in the quarter-finals of the cup competition ( Český pohár ) against SK Prostějov, which they lost 3-1 away and only narrowly defeated 3-2 in the second leg.

Also in the 1940/41 game year, the title in the Českomoravská liga went back to Slavia Prague. The most outstanding results were delivered by Pepi Bican and his team with an 11-1 win over SK Plzeň and a 12-1 win over SK Baťa Zlín . Josef Bican was used in 22 games and was instrumental in this renewed title win with 38 goals. The favorite was also able to win the Czech Cup for the first time, and after losing 3-2 in the first match against Sparta Prague in his own stadium, he also scored a goal in the 6-3 win in the second leg.

In 1942 Josef Bican was able to successfully defend the championship title with Slavia again and continued to ensure high results in the championship with his team. Pepi Bican, who received Ota Hemele, who had come from Radlický AFK, a brilliant strike partner, but also a strong competitor for his position, scored 45 goals this season and was crowned top scorer again. As in the previous year, Bican was able to hold the Czech Cup in his hands this time as well, to which he also contributed in the finals against Bohemians (5: 2 and 5: 5). In the championship he remained successful again in the 1942/43 season with the title win, to which he contributed 57 goals, but he could not reach the final in the cup competition in the next two years with his team. A friendly game between Slavia and SK Klášterec is also worth remembering, in which Josef Bican contributed nine goals to the 28-0 final score. The last championship game in the League of Bohemia and Moravia took place on October 22, 1944. Slavia was defeated by city rivals Sparta with 0-2.

In the summer of 1945 Bican played in the again executed, but later declared unofficial cup final against the surprise team from Rakovník . While he only scored 1-1 with Slavia on August 26th in Rakovnik, in which he scored the goal himself, he and his team won the cup three days later in the second leg after a 5-2 win in front of 45,000 spectators in their own stadium. Success over the sensational team. Bican, who also scored twice in the semifinals against Sparta Prague, was again on the scorers list in this game.

Post-war career in the 2nd Czechoslovak Republic

After the war, football was also reorganized in the resurrected Czechoslovakia. The championship was held in two groups of ten teams each. The first championship game after the war Slavia Prague won 5-1 against Sparta Povážská Bystrica, but at the end of the season Sparta Prague was able to secure the title from the red and whites. After the war, the now Czechoslovakian received attractive offers from top European clubs. Bican agreed in principle with Juventus Turin about a change, but decided against a transfer to Turin due to a possible takeover of power by the communists in Italy .

When Czechoslovakia played their first international match after the war against France on April 7, 1946, the now 33-year-old Pepi Bican was back on the national team. The favorite remained, as in the two subsequent games against Switzerland (3: 2) and Yugoslavia (2: 4), in the 0: 3 defeat against the Équipe Tricolore goalless. On October 27, 1946, Bican completed his only official international match against the Austrian national team. With him as team captain, the Czechoslovak team won just 4: 3 in front of 51,000 spectators in Prague. Bican failed to score against his former compatriots, he missed his best chance in the 39th minute with a free kick that slid just over the goal bar, but played a good game and was able to get his fellow strikers Cejp and Zachar into promising positions. who could also use them. He scored his last four international goals in the two subsequent encounters in 1947 against Poland and Yugoslavia .

In the championship he finally won the Czechoslovak championship with his Slavia after four titles in the Protectorate , in which he had a considerable share with 43 goals in 22 games.

Communists take power and change clubs

The 1947/48 season was limited to the autumn season due to the conversion of the championship system to the calendar year. With 20 goals in 13 missions, Pepi again led his team to first place. However, no championship title was awarded by the association for this transition period. In the regular game year 1948 Bican was crowned top scorer for the third time in a row. This time, however, the city rivals Sparta found themselves at the top of the table.

The political takeover of power by the Communist Party (KSČ) that year also brought about radical changes for Josef Bican. After he firmly refused repeated requests to join the party and refused to be persuaded by the club's leadership, which had been brought into line with the party, both his and his wife's private assets were confiscated. Bican, who degenerated into an impoverished man "overnight", hoped to escape the pressure of the communists in the capital by changing location and club and moved to the second division Sokol Vítkovické železárny in the city of Ostrau, which was only formed in 1945 through the merger .

The year 1949 brought the end of his career in the Czechoslovak national team for Bican - his farewell game was the 1: 3 defeat on September 4 against the national team from Bulgaria - and the promotion to the first division with Vítkovice. There he was crowned the top scorer in 1950 with 22 goals as a player for the now ZSJ Vítkovické železárny . The next year he moved to Spartak Hradec Králové after twelve games . In the north Bohemian city the pressure of the communists on him increased again. Bican again refused to join the party and was forced to leave both the club and the city of Hradec Králové in May 1952 .

Return to Slavia and change to coaching

Coach Emil Reichert campaigned successfully for Bicans to be brought back in the club, and so Pepi moved back to Prague and was able to go on a goal hunt for "his beloved Slavia", meanwhile renamed DSO Dynamo Prague , from autumn .

After Reichert's departure, Bican was finally coach of the team in July 1953 . At the beginning he operated in a double role as player-coach, but as his new role continued, he used himself less and less. But if he did so, he usually scored important goals for his team. He celebrated his debut as a coach on July 1, 1953 in the 3-1 away win of Slavia over Sparta, to which he contributed two goals (one from a penalty). As a player he made a total of 21 appearances and 15 goals in the first division in 1954 and 1955. Nothing is known about the championship stakes in 1956 due to the incomplete documentation from this time. Bican himself stated that he played his last championship game in 1956 against Liberec and scored four goals. The last match in which Josef Bican was demonstrably in action was a friendly against the Stuttgarter Kickers (3-2 for Slavia) at the end of 1956 in Stuttgart .

As a coach he achieved a record of 22 wins, 10 draws and 23 defeats in a total of 55 games in the first Czechoslovakian league from 1953 to 1956. He is also considered to be the discoverer and supporter of the talents of Hildebrandt and Lala, who were able to develop into top players during his coaching era at Slavia. Bican left Slavia in the winter of 1956. His last two games, which he headed as coach, were the 2-0 defeat in Johannesburg against the Transvaal Johannesburg and a 2-1 defeat against Portuguesa Sao as part of a South Africa tour Paulo. In the following years Josef Bican coached the teams Slovan Liberec, Spartak Brno, Baník Příbram, Spartak Hradec Králové and SONP Kladno.

In the spring of 1968, Bican received basic permission from the communists to accept a coaching post abroad. The Viennese asked the Belgian club KSK Tongeren , which was on a tour through Czechoslovakia at the time, and was actually hired by the Belgian fourth division team as a coach. The Czechoslovakian led the club in the 1969/70 season to the championship title in the fourth division and promotion to the third tier. In the "Afdeling A", too, he immediately won the championship title with Tongeren. In the II. Division he finally led the Belgians to ninth place in the table. Then Pepi Bican returned to Prague. He was also active at Slavia for some time and took care of the offspring, among other things. As a coach of a combat team, he no longer appeared.

death

Tomb of Bican in Prague


Josef “Pepi” Bican spent the last months of his life in a Prague hospital due to a heart disease. The former Austro-Czech soccer star died there on December 12, 2001, two weeks before Christmas, which he hoped to see, at the age of 88 of a heart attack . He was buried in the Vyšehrad cemetery near the Vyšehrad fortress .

Stations

As a player

1Vítkovické železárny means Witkowitz iron works . The association was called Sokol Vítkovické železárny in 1948/49 and ZSJ Vítkovické železárny from 1949 to 1953.
2Bican played again for Slavia Prague from 1953 to 1956. The club went through numerous name changes during the communist era and was called DSO Dynamo Praha from 1951–1954 and TJ Dynamo Praha from 1954–1965.

As a trainer

Honors, titles and achievements

title

3After the invasion of the German troops, the championship of Czechoslovakia was canceled. The Slovak clubs then played their own championship, while the Czech clubs played in the Českomoravská liga until 1945 for the title of " Czech champions of the Protectorate of Bohemia-Moravia ".
4th This competition, dubbed the “Freedom Cup”, was only played in 1944 by clubs from the already liberated areas.

successes

  • 1 × participation in the World Cup : 1934 (semifinals; 4th place with Austria)
  • 2 × Austrian runner-up: 1932, 1934 (Rapid)
  • 2 × Czechoslovak runner-up: 1938, 1948 (Slavia)
  • 2 × Czech runners-up ( 3 ) : 1939, 1944 (Slavia)
  • 1 × Austrian Cup finalist : 1934 (Rapid)
  • 1 × Mitropacup top scorer: 1938 (Slavia; 10 goals)
  • 1 × Austrian top scorer : 1934 (28 goals / Rapid)
  • 5 × Czechoslovak top scorer: 1938, 1946, 1947, 1948 (Slavia Prague), 1950 (Vitkovice)
  • 6 × top scorer Bohemia-Moravia: 1939, 1940, 1941, 1942, 1943, 1944 (Slavia)
  • 5 × best European goalscorer: 1940, 1941, 1942, 1943, 1944
  • Allegedly about 5000 goals, of which 643 championship goals (1st and 2nd league) and 800 other competitive goals (cup goals, Mitropacup)
  • 34 international matches and 29 goals for three national teams from 1933 to 1949
19 international matches and 14 goals for Austria from 1933 to 1936
14 international matches and 12 goals for Czechoslovakia from 1938 to 1949
1 international and 3 goals for Bohemia-Moravia in 1939

Honors

In 1997, Pepi Bican received the trophy for the world's best goalscorer of the 20th century from the International Federation of Football History & Statistics (IFFHS) in Munich, alongside the Brazilian Pelé and the Hamburg native Uwe Seeler . He was suggested by Bimbo Binder, his former teammate in the Austrian national team and Rapid Vienna.

His performance, combined with his continued loyalty to the traditional Prague club, brought victory over Josef Masopust in a reader survey for the most popular Czech footballer of the 20th century . He also took second place behind Masopust in a survey on the “Czech Footballer of the Century”, in which 34 football personalities, including current top division coaches and selected specialist journalists, cast their votes. He received the John Madden plaque from his club Slavia Prague in recognition of his services.

  • World's Best Goal Scorers of this Century 1997 (IFFHS)
  • Most popular Czech footballer of the 20th century (fan rating)
  • 2nd place Czech footballer of the century

On September 28, 1999, the asteroid (10634) Pepibican was named after him - after his active career, Josef Bican became interested in astronomy.

Anecdotes and miscellaneous

  • An anecdote from his early days at Hertha Vienna tells that his mother, who rarely came to the games, ran onto the field and hit an opponent who had just committed a foul on her son Pepi with her umbrella.
  • Bican was also famous for his jokes. During his era at Rapid, when he was in a good mood, he is said to have sent his hat and coat ahead in a taxi and even drove afterwards in a second taxi.
  • Also of interest is the trophy Bican received from the IFFHS for being named the best goalscorer of the century. The words "World's Best Goal Scorers of this Century" are engraved, next line "Josef Bican", next line "Austr al ia / Cechoslovakia".
  • A planetoid (atomic number 10634) discovered in 1998 moves 510,491,760 million kilometers from Earth and 366,505,587 million kilometers from the Sun in the asteroid belt between Jupiter and Mars. This planetoid was "baptized" with the name Pepibican .

Personalities about Josef Bican

“I believe that his goalscoring qualities were the most important thing in every stage of football development, no matter what system was played. In football there are goals to be scored and he fully fulfilled this task. "
  • Zdeněk Nehoda commented on Josef Bican at an exhibition about the greats of Czech and Czechoslovak football (Bican, Masopust, Nedved ):
“Of course I met Mr. Bican during his lifetime. Josef Bican always announced, which pleased me very much, that he recognized me as a goalscorer. I have always seen this appreciation from him as a great honor for me, because Bican was a really extraordinary goal-getter who did not accept every footballer at his side. But we both became friends later too, I saw him play in recordings, but unfortunately not on the pitch with my own eyes. "
  • Radovan Jelinek , Czech sports historian, on Pepi Bican:
“Bican had the huge misfortune that he was at the height of his career at that time, but because of the war the regular World Cup was not held in 1942 or 1946. For example, if that had been held in 1942, it would certainly have become much more popular worldwide, not to say that it could have been as famous as Pelé. "

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Vladimir Kolos: Prolific Scorers Data: Best Goalscorers All-Time (Official Matches) . Rec.Sport.Soccer Statistics Foundation . January 21, 2016. Retrieved March 22, 2016.
  2. ^ Wiener Zeitung : Der Stürmerkönig (By Beppo Beyerl) ( Memento from September 30, 2007 in the Internet Archive )
  3. ↑ Description page of the asteroid at the IAU (English)

literature

  • Karl Heinz Schwind: Stories from a football century. Ueberreuter-Verlag, Vienna 1994, ISBN 3-8000-3512-X .
  • Stefan Zwicker: Josef "Pepi" Bican (1913-2001) - a center forward and one of the most offside traps in history. In: Dittmar Dahlmann, Anke Hilbrenner, Britta Lenz (eds.): The ball is round everywhere. History and present of football in Eastern and Southeastern Europe. Klartext, Essen 2006 pp. 119–140.

Web links

personal data
SURNAME Bican, Joseph
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Bican, Pepi (nickname)
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Austrian and Czechoslovak soccer player
DATE OF BIRTH September 25, 1913
PLACE OF BIRTH Vienna , Austria-Hungary
DATE OF DEATH December 12, 2001
Place of death Prague , Czech Republic