Paul Kraft

Paul Kraft (born September 13, 1914 in Stuttgart ; † October 4, 2008 ) was a German football player .

career

The right runner, who did his doctorate outside of football , was already playing in the youth of VfB Stuttgart at the age of 13 . In 1933 he was part of the Swabian first team for the first time. Kraft won several Württemberg championships with VfB. In 1935 he became a substitute for the Stuttgart German runner-up . When his club finished third in the championship finals two years later with the new coach Leonhard Seiderer , Kraft was a regular. In the final round of the German championship, he completed all eight games for the red-whites. Also in 1938 he was champion in the Gauliga Württemberg with VfB . Fortuna Düsseldorf and BC Hartha prevailed against the Swabians in the finals. Kraft was also able to win the World Cup with the German student national team in 1937 by beating Hungary 2-0 in Paris. During this time, national coach Sepp Herberger nominated him several times for the German senior team , without Kraft making an international match.

After the Second World War, Paul Kraft immediately returned to the VfB line-up. He got himself with coach Fritz Teufel and at the side of the outstanding goalscorer Robert Schlienz - in 30 league games the man from Zuffenhausen scored 42 goals - in the round 1945/46 the first championship in the football league south . Kraft had completed 26 rounds. In the second league season, 1946/47, he was again a member of the VfB team with 26 appearances. When Georg Wurzer, a new coach, came to Cannstatt for the 1947/48 round, Kraft completed alongside his teammates Otto Schmid , Erwin Läpple , Richard Steimle , Robert Schlienz, Johann Herberger , Herbert Binkert , Erich Langjahr , Otto Bökle , Paul Maier , Alfred Juert and Erich Retter made another 20 league games and finished fifth with VfB. It was the round when the "blues" from Degerloch led the Oberliga Süd on the offensive with 113: 58 goals and were able to outstrip VfB with third place. In 1947 he was also a coach at Sportvg Feuerbach .

In his last season in 1950, Kraft won the first German championship in the club's history with VfB Stuttgart. He played a total of 65 games in the Oberliga Süd from 1945 to 1950 and scored one goal.

Kraft studied mechanical engineering during his time as an active footballer and received his doctorate in 1948 with a thesis on tires.

literature

• 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, With the ring on his chest, The history of VfB Stuttgart, Verlag Die Werkstatt, 2007, ISBN 978-3-89533-593-8

Web links

• Paul Kraft at hefleswetzkick.de