Karl Decker (soccer player)

Bust of Karl Decker in front of the Hohe-Warte Stadium

Karl Decker (born September 5, 1921 in Vienna ; † September 27, 2005 in Vienna ) was an Austrian soccer player and soccer coach . From 1958 to 1964 he was the head coach of the Austrian national team.

Life

Decker's playing career began in 1934 at Ottakringer SC, via Schwarz-Weiß and SC Weisse Elf Wien he came to Vienna in autumn 1937 , for which he made his debut at the age of 16. Between 1938 and 1952, he also celebrated his greatest successes as a player with Vienna. He was three times champion with the Döblingern and scored two goals on October 31, 1943 in the historic 3-2 triumph of Vienna in the German Tschammer Cup over Hamburg. In 609 games for Vienna, the powerful right connector scored a total of 605 goals and was Austria's top scorer in 1944 and 1950 . After his time at Vienna, he played one more season at SK Sturm Graz before he went on goal hunting as a legionnaire in France for FC Sochaux . In 1956/57 he moved to Switzerland where he was player-coach at the first division relegated FC Grenchen . He succeeded in the immediate resurgence, where he scored eight goals in 25 games. In the National League A he only appeared once again as a player: on April 13, 1958, he ended his playing career with a 0-0 win against FC Lugano at the age of 36 in front of 2,000 spectators at the home stadium in Brühl . At the end of the season, the team was in an excellent fifth place.

In 1942 he played eight times for Germany's national team and scored eight goals. Between 1945 and 1952 he made 25 international matches for the Austrian national soccer team and scored 19 goals.

From 1958 to 1964, Karl Decker was the ÖFB team boss , one of the most successful in the history of Austrian football. His team (including Stotz, Koller, Hanappi , Hof , Senekowitsch , Nemec and Buzek) had a series of successes in 1960/61 (victories against Scotland (4: 1), the USSR (3: 1 and 1: 0), Spain ( 3: 0 in front of the still valid record crowd of 90,726 spectators in the Prater Stadium ), Italy (2: 1), England (3: 1), Hungary (2: 1 and 2: 1) memories of the wonderful team are awakened in this phase only one game was lost against Hungary (2-0). Since the ÖFB decided not to participate in the 1962 World Cup in Chile for lack of money , the team fell apart after six consecutive games without a win For 36 international matches, Decker ended this activity on February 24, 1964 before the end of his contract or on February 28, finally retired from the service of the ÖFB.

He then became a coach at the Wiener Sport-Club , the Vienna and interim from September to December 1968 for the sick Rudolf Vytlačil at the Rapid , which he supervised during the legendary promotion in the championship round of 16 against Real Madrid .

From 1969 he was President of the Association of Austrian Football Teachers (BÖFL) for many years .

He received an honorary grave in the Vienna Central Cemetery (group 40, number 85). In 2011 the Karl-Decker-Weg in Vienna- Döbling (19th district) was named after him.

Stations as an active player

Karl Decker's grave

• 1934 Ottakringer SC
• SC Black and White Vienna
• 1937 White Elf
• from 1937 14 playing seasons for First Vienna FC
• SK Sturm Graz
• FC Sochaux
• 1956–58: FC Grenchen (player-coach)

Coaching stations

• 1956–58: FC Grenchen (player-coach)
• 1958–64: Austrian national team
• Viennese sports club
• First Vienna FC
• 1968 SK Rapid Vienna

successes

As a player:

• Three times Austrian champion with First Vienna FC
• Tschammer Cup winners with First Vienna FC 1943
• Top scorer in 1944 (33 goals) and 1950 (23)

As a trainer:

• Several unexpected victories against traditional opponents and "big teams".

Awards (excerpt)

• 1980: Gold Medal of Merit of the Republic of Austria
• 1996: Silver Medal of Honor for Services to the Republic of Austria

ÖFB international matches under team boss Karl Decker

Legend

• H = home game
• A = away game
• * = Play on a neutral place
• - = no official international match
• green background color = victory of Austria
• yellow background color = tie
• red background color = defeat

Games	Victories	draw	Defeats	Gates	TD
36	16	3	17th	60:67	−7

No.	date	Result	opponent		venue	occasion	comment
287	11/19/1958	2: 2	Germany	A.	Berlin ( GER )
288	05/20/1959	1-0	Norway	A.	Oslo ( NOR )	Euro 1960 round of 16
289	05/24/1959	2-0	Belgium	A.	Brussels ( BEL )
290	06/14/1959	4: 2	Belgium	H	Vienna
291	09/23/1959	5: 2	Norway	H	Vienna	Euro 1960 round of 16
292	11/22/1959	3: 6	Spain	A.	Valencia ( ESP )		100th defeat
293	12/13/1959	2: 5	France	A.	Paris ( FRA )	EM 1960 quarter-finals
294	03/27/1960	2: 4	France	H	Vienna	EM 1960 quarter-finals	Austria is eliminated with a total of 4: 9
295	05/01/1960	0: 4	Czechoslovakia	A.	Prague ( TCH )
296	May 29, 1960	4: 1	Scotland	H	Vienna
297	06/22/1960	2: 1	Norway	A.	Oslo ( NOR )
298	09/04/1960	3: 1	Soviet Union	H	Vienna
299	10/30/1960	3-0	Spain	H	Vienna		With 91,000 spectators in the Prater Stadium, a record setting for a home game
300	11/20/1960	0: 2	Hungary	A.	Budapest ( HUN )
301	December 10, 1960	2: 1	Italy	A.	Naples ( ITA )
302	05/27/1961	3: 1	England	H	Vienna
303	06/11/1961	2: 1	Hungary	A.	Budapest ( HUN )
304	09/10/1961	1-0	Soviet Union	A.	Moscow ( URS )
305	10/08/1961	2: 1	Hungary	H	Vienna
306	11/19/1961	1: 2	Yugoslavia	A.	Zagreb ( YUG )
307	05/01/1962	0: 1	United Arab Republic	A.	Cairo ( EGY )		First international match outside of Europe
308	04/04/1962	1: 3	England	A.	London ( ENG )
309	04/08/1962	3: 2	Ireland	A.	Dublin ( IRL )
310	05/06/1962	2-0	Bulgaria	H	Vienna
311	06/24/1962	1: 2	Hungary	H	Vienna
312	09/16/1962	0: 6	Czechoslovakia	H	Vienna		93rd and last international game by Gerhard Hanappi , record national player until 1998
-	10/17/1962	1: 1	Israel	A.	Tel Aviv ( ISR )		First international match against Israel, first game on Asian soil, no official international match
313	10/28/1962	0: 2	Hungary	A.	Budapest ( HUN )
314	11/11/1962	1: 2	Italy	H	Vienna
315	11/25/1962	1: 1	Bulgaria	A.	Sofia ( BUL )
316	04/24/1963	3: 1	Czechoslovakia	H	Vienna
317	05/08/1963	1: 4	Scotland	A.	Glasgow ( SCO )		Aborted in the 83rd minute due to excessive pace
318	06/09/1963	0: 1	Italy	H	Vienna
319	09/25/1963	0-0	Ireland	H	Vienna	EM 1964 round of 16
320	10/13/1963	2: 3	Ireland	A.	Dublin ( IRL )	EM 1964 round of 16	Austria retires with a total score of 2: 3
321	October 27, 1963	1: 2	Hungary	A.	Budapest ( HUN )
322	December 14, 1963	0: 1	Italy	A.	Turin ( ITA )

Web links

Commons : Karl Decker  - collection of pictures, videos and audio files

• Karl Decker's A internationals and goals

Individual evidence

1. ↑ DFB player archive
2. ↑ Federal Captain Decker resigns . In: Arbeiter-Zeitung . Vienna February 25, 1964, p. 1 ( berufer-zeitung.at - the open online archive - digitized).
3. ↑ Decker is finally out . In: Arbeiter-Zeitung . Vienna February 29, 1964, p. 12 ( berufer-zeitung.at - the open online archive - digitized).
4. ↑ Zentralfriedhof, Ehrengräber, Group 40, No. 85 ( Memento from January 11, 2010 in the Internet Archive ) image
5. ↑ Column 1: «in brief», first article . In: Arbeiter-Zeitung . Vienna June 13, 1980, p. 9 ( berufer-zeitung.at - the open online archive - digitized).