Karl Elsener (soccer player)

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Karl "Charly" Elsener (* 13. August 1934 in Bulach , † 27. July 2010 in Zurich ) was a Swiss football goalkeeper , who in 1956 with the Grasshopper Club Zurich the championship in the National League A won and 34 games in the Swiss national football team in the From 1958 to 1966.

Career

Association, 1944–1970

Karl «Charly» Elsener learned to play football with the juniors of FC Wallisellen. In the 1951/52 season, still as a junior, he guarded the gate of the then 3rd division club. In the 1953/54 season he moved to the National League B for FC Winterthur . A year later he switched to the Grasshoppers in the National League A, where he celebrated his first successes. The runner-up in 1954 preceded the double win in 1956. This was followed by the two runner-up titles in 1957 and 1958. In 1958 and 1963 he played the cup finals against Young Boys Bern and FC Basel , but lost both finals. He took part in the 1962 World Cup as a player for Grasshopper Club Zurich and in the 1966 World Cup as a player for Lausanne-Sport .

National team, 1958–1966

On April 16, 1958, Karl Elsener made his debut in the national team at the age of 23 at the game in Paris against France. The game ended 0-0 and his debut as a goalkeeper was a success. The qualifying games for the 1962 World Cup in Chile were the first highlight . In 1961 the decisive encounters against Sweden took place. Due to the 3-2 in the second leg on October 29, 1961 in Bern, the Confederates defied a playoff against the World Cup finalists from 1958 . The game was played on November 12, 1961 in Berlin. Since the host's reservations about the Scandinavians in Germany still outweighed the negative publicity of the semifinal game of the 1958 World Cup against defending champion Germany, Switzerland had a "home game". The Berliners were the 12th man of the Swiss in the 2-1 victory against the favored Swedes. Without the top strikers Kurt Hamrin and Lennart Skoglund , although still with the defenders Orvar Bergmark and Bengt Gustavsson, the players with the three crowns on their chests were no longer able to perform at the World Cup days of 1958. The backing of the Swiss team was the sovereign goalkeeper Karl Elsener.

In the three group matches at the 1962 World Cup against Chile, Germany and Italy, the goalkeeper convinced spectators and professionals alike. He was the outstanding goalie of coach Karl Rappan's team . Heribert Meisel , an Austrian journalist with an international reputation, even included Karl Elsener in his “world team” in his book about the 1962 World Cup tournament published by Südwest Verlag in Munich. Also in the qualifying games for the 1966 World Cup against Northern Ireland, Albania and Holland, the quality of Elsener's goalkeeping game was one of the decisive factors for the success of coach Alfredo Foni's team . When he helped his German opponent Wolfgang Overath with a cramp at the finals during the game, Elsener received a fur coat as a thank you for the fairness from the German BILD newspaper and a Karlsruhe furrier . On July 15, 1966 in the group game against Spain in Sheffield, Switzerland lost with 1: 2 goals, he ended his international career after 34 appearances in the national team. Once again, he made it difficult for opposing strikers - Francisco Gento , Amancio , Luis del Sol and Luis Suárez - to score a goal with responsive parades.

End of career

In 1968 Karl Elsener ended his career in top football. After holding positions at Grasshoppers, La Chaux-de-Fonds, Winterthur, Grenchen, Lausanne-Sports and FC Luzern, at the age of 42 he was still playing in the second division at Zurich's district club Höngg. The trained heating draftsman struggled with health problems in recent years, but still ran a small wine trade in his home in Schwamendingen . And he never missed the monthly regular in the Wiesental restaurant in Winkel ZH with companions like Hansruedi Fuhrer, Peter Wäspe, Bruno Gabrieli, Rafael Pusterla or Ernst Meyer.

Elsener died on July 27, 2010 of pneumonia in Zurich. More than 200 people took part in the abdication in Schwamendingen.

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Obituary in the Tages-Anzeiger from July 31, 2010
  2. ^ FC Wallisellen . Website of FC Wallisellen
  3. ^ Beat Jung: Karl "Charly" Elsener (* 13.8.1934) . In: Beat Jung (Ed.): The Nati. The history of the Swiss national football team. Verlag Die Werkstatt, Göttingen 2006, ISBN 3-89533-532-0 , p. 353 (lexicon entry).
  4. ↑ "The football association didn't even send a memorial card for my Charly" in the Tages-Anzeiger on August 6, 2010
personal data
SURNAME Elsener, Karl
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Elsener, Charly
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Swiss football player
DATE OF BIRTH August 13, 1934
PLACE OF BIRTH Bulach
DATE OF DEATH July 27, 2010
Place of death Zurich