Karl Krause (soccer player)

Karl Krause (born August 8, 1922 ) is a former German soccer player. As a player at FC Schalke 04 , he won the West German championship in the 1950/51 season in what was then the first-class West German football league .

career

The player, who can be used as an outside runner and defender in the World Cup system practiced at the time, grew up at Erler SV 08 in the northeast of Gelsenkirchen . During World War II he was taken prisoner by the British and was transferred to POW Camp 50 (now Byrchall High School) in Ashton-in-Makerfield, between St. Helens and Wigan. He played there with footballers such as the later Bremerhaven-based Günther Lühr and the Bremen-based Bert Trautmann , who later became a legend as the future goalkeeper of Manchester City . After returning from captivity, he rejoined his homeland club in Alder. He played with the green-whites in the district league and took the offer from Schalke 04 for the 1950/51 round and moved to the Oberliga West.

Under coach Fritz Szepan , the newcomer from Erle made his debut on the first game day, August 27, 1950, in a 4-0 home win against Alemannia Aachen in the league. As the right wing runner, he formed the runner row of the "Knappen" eleven together with Paul Matzkowski and Willi Dargaschewski . Schalke won the championship one point ahead of Preußen Münster and Krause had played 26 league games. With Borussia Dortmund and 1. FC Köln, two other teams had been seriously fighting for the championship. In addition to the championship success of the “Kreisel Sons”, the “100,000 Mark Storm” from Münster with the players Felix Gerritzen, Alfred Preißler, Rudolf Schulz, Siegfried Rachuba and Jupp Lammers made a name for themselves in this round.

In the final round of the German soccer championship , Schalke finished second in the group matches behind the "Walter-Elf" of 1. FC Kaiserslautern. The “Royal Blues” won the home game against the Lauterer 3-2 goals. Karl Krause now played left defender and together with Walter Klimmek formed the pair in front of goalkeeper Heinz Kersting . Krause played all six finals.

In his second league year, 1951/52, Schalke reached the runner-up and Krause had played in 13 league games. With the home game on February 8, 1953 against Prussia Dellbrück, his career ended after a total of 40 league appearances for Schalke 04.

It is known from Bert Trautmann that his former POW-Camp colleague made contact in 1952 in order to bring the ManCity goalkeeper to the “Schalker Market”. Ultimately, the change failed because of the then horrific transfer fee of 25,000 pounds.

literature

• Harald Landefeld, Achim Nöllenheidt (ed.): "Helmut, tell me about the gate ...". New stories and portraits from the Oberliga West 1947–1963. Klartext-Verlag, Essen 1993. ISBN 3-88474-043-1 .
• Hardy Grüne , Lorenz Knieriem: Encyclopedia of German League Football. Volume 8: Player Lexicon 1890–1963. AGON Sportverlag, Kassel 2006, ISBN 3-89784-148-7 .
• Hardy Grüne, Christian Karn: The big book of the German football clubs . AGON Sportverlag, Kassel 2009, ISBN 978-3-89784-362-2 .