Louis Maurer (football coach)

Louis Maurer (born February 21, 1904 , † May 1, 1988 ) was a Swiss football player and coach. As a club coach he won the championship with FC Zurich in 1963 and 1966 , and the Swiss Cup in 1950, 1966 and 1968. He was in charge of the national team from October 17, 1970 to November 10, 1971.

Club coach

Maurer has already gained experience as a player in southern France and North Africa. The sports teacher, who is a certified trainer in both Switzerland and France, has been to Belgium (Tournai), Luxembourg (Union Luxembourg), France (Olympique Marseille) and Switzerland (Blue Stars Zurich, Lausanne-Sports, FC Friborg [1950-57 : 1952 champion in National League B before FC Grenchen and promotion to NLA], FC Zurich, FC Lugano). He won the Cup for the first time in 1950 with Lausanne (1946-1950) when he prevailed in the replay on May 18 with 4-0 goals against Cantonal Neuchatel with his team with the top performers Roger Bocquet and Hans-Peter Friedländer . Previously, he had reached the runner-up and the cup final with Lausanne in 1946/47 . During his very successful time at FC Zurich from 1962 to 1966, he also won two championship titles in 1963 and 1966, and won the second cup as a double in 1966. On April 11, 1966 he won the final with 2-0 goals against Servette Geneva with the offensive forces Jakob Kuhn , Fritz Künzli and Klaus Stürmer . With FC Lugano (1966-1970) he celebrated winning the cup for the third time in 1968. Maurer, with his cornerstones Mario Prosperi and Otto Luttrop , decided the final against FC Winterthur on April 15 with 2-1 goals. In the National League A he had finished third with Lugano in 1967 and 1968.

Internationally, the move into the semi-finals of the 1963/64 European Cup with FC Zurich stands out. In the first round, the FCZ prevailed against the Irish champions Dundalk FC, in the second round there was a play-off against Galatasaray Istanbul on December 11, 1963 in Rome. That ended 2-2 after extra time and coach Maurer's team moved on after a coin toss. In the quarter-finals, the Maurer team with the classic cleaner Rene Brodmann and the three offensive forces Bruno Brizzi, Jakob Kuhn and ex-Hamburg Klaus Stürmer prevailed against PSV Eindhoven. In the semifinals, Zurich then had to deal with the “royal” from Real Madrid . On April 22nd, 1964, the team of coach Miguel Muñoz prevailed with 2-1 goals in the Letzigrund stadium against a considerable host of resistance. In the second leg there was no stopping the Madrilenians. José Emilio Santamaría , Lucien Muller , Ignacio Zoco , Amancio , Alfredo Di Stéfano , Ferenc Puskás and Francisco Gento made it into the final with a clear 6-0 victory.

At the age of over 70, the Vaudois headed the AC Bellinzona youth department.

National team

As the successor to interim coach René Hüssy - Hüssy was temporarily in the two internationals on April 22 and May 3, 1970 against Spain (0: 1) and France (2: 1) - Louis Maurer of the SFV became a full-time employee in the fall of 1970 National coach committed. The 1972 European Championship qualification against Greece, Malta and England was imminent. Before the first qualifying game against the Greeks in Athens on December 16, the experienced coach had two friendlies against Italy and Hungary to find his formation for the qualifying games. On October 17th, the “Nati” in Bern received their rivals from the southern neighboring state, Italy. Led by Enrico Albertosi , Giacinto Facchetti , Sandro Mazzola and Luigi Riva , national coach Maurer made a 1-1 draw for Switzerland against the squadra azzurra at the debut . On November 15, the second international match against Hungary in Basel was lost with 0-1 goals. Maurer consistently relied on the midfield trio around Jakob Kuhn , Karl Odermatt and Rolf Blättler . In all ten games of his national coaching era, he trusted this axis. From the four games against Greece and Malta he got the maximum yield of 8-0 points and so the two final games against the football world champions of 1966, England, on October 13 and November 10, 1971, were of decisive importance. The first leg took place in front of 56,000 spectators in Basel's St. Jakob Stadium. The game started with a shock for the "Nati". In the first minute, Geoff Hurst put Sir Alf Ramsey's team in the lead with a converted free kick. But Louis Maurer's squad set the pace and Daniel Jeandupeux equalized to 1-1 in the 10th minute of the game. Martin Chivers' immediate 2-1 lead in the 12th minute of the game did not bother the Swiss. Center forward Fritz Künzli managed to equalize 2-2 in the 45th minute. The "Sport" wrote in its match report:

“ What Kuhn and Odermatt, supported by a spirited, at times downright magistrate Chapuisat (Libero Pierre-Albert Chapuisat ) showed (...) - that was impressive, but it was too much! Kuhn was, no wonder, after what he had done before, after an hour almost 'finished' and so were many others (October 14, 1971) "

In the Swiss defense, the mistakes accumulated in the last 15 minutes, the 2: 3 for England in the 77th minute came from an own goal. The second leg took place on November 10th in front of 97,000 spectators at Wembley Stadium in London. It became one of the best international matches in the history of the "Nati". It ended with a 1-1 draw after goals from Mike Summerbee and Karl Odermatt, which meant that Switzerland failed in qualifying for the European Championship, but after the final whistle the Swiss threw their arms up and celebrated the draw like a victory. Within four weeks, stated the “Sport”, “the Swiss twice gave the English a lesson in some fundamental issues of football - such as technique on the ball, neat and precise pass, and teamwork (November 17, 1971)”. Maurer's team had a stirring exchange of blows with England and, after an unfortunate 3-2 defeat in Basel and a convincingly played 1-1 at Wembley, they lost out. The team and coach were attested "that the Swiss national team would have stood at the gate to world football for the last time for a long time".

Even before the game at Wembley, Louis Maurer had indicated his intention to resign. Despite a plebiscite for Maurer to continue - 34,365 signatures were received from five newspapers within a single week - the coach got out of his contract with the SFV two months later. His era also shows statistically positive values: 10 games, 5 wins, 2 draws, 3 defeats, goal difference 19:11.

literature

• Beat Jung (Ed.): The Nati. The history of the Swiss national football team. Verlag Die Werkstatt, Göttingen 2006, ISBN 3-89533-532-0 .
• Wolfgang Bortlik: “Hopp Schwiiz!” Football in Switzerland or the art of honorable defeat. Kiepenheuer & Witsch, Cologne 2008, ISBN 978-3-462-03995-5
• Swiss Football League (Ed.): 75 Years of the Swiss Football League - National-Liga SFV, 2009, ISBN 978-3-9523556-0-2

Web links

• Louis Maurer in the database of weltfussball.de
• Statistics FC Zurich

Individual evidence

1. ↑ Beat Jung (Ed.): Die Nati, page 164
2. ↑ Beat Jung (Ed.): Die Nati, page 164
3. ↑ Beat Jung (Ed.): Die Nati, page 166