Robert Ballaman

Robert Ballaman (born June 21, 1926 in Reconvilier ; † September 5, 2011 ) was a Swiss football player who played on the position of a central attacker (both feet). He won the NLA championship three times with his clubs FC Biel (1947) and Grasshopper Zurich (1952, 1956) , was a member of the cup winning teams in 1952 and 1956, and from 1948 to 1961 he played 50 games in the national team and scored including 18 goals.

career

Club player

Ballaman began his career at FC Reconvilier and moved to FC Biel in 1946 . In his first season in Biel, he was able to celebrate winning the title in 1946/47 . In 1948 it was enough for the runner-up and in 1949/50 he finished third in the goalscorer list with 18 goals behind Jacques Fatton (32) and Ledio Zanetti (20). For round 1950/51 he moved to the Grasshopper Club Zurich , where he won the championship in the NLB with 116: 21 goals and 50 points in 26 league games and thus managed the return to the NLA. In 1951/52 he prevailed in the league with GC with one point ahead of city rivals FC Zurich and became Swiss champions in 1952. With 22 goals, he finished second in the list of goalscorers behind Josef Hügi with 24 goals. He spent the longest part of his active career with the "Hoppers" and achieved his greatest successes there. During this time, the Grasshoppers had an extremely effective storm with the attack line Bickel- Hagen- Vonlanthen -Ballaman- Vuko , which repeatedly set record goal rates in the Swiss National League. So in 1955/56 the double success was achieved. GC prevailed in the championship with eight points ahead of FC La Chaux-de-Fonds and the blue-whites won the cup with a 1-0 win over third-placed BSC Young Boys Bern . Club mates Vuko (33 goals) and Ballaman as well as Charles Antenen (FC La Chaux) with 19 goals each headed the list of goalscorers . In 1954, 1957 and 1958 the attacker had to be content with the runner-up.

Ballaman was characterized by his acceleration, the speed and joy of running and his enormous, two-footed shooting power. In addition, his actions were spontaneous and unpredictable and therefore difficult to control by his opponents.

In the 1963/64 season - on April 26, 1962, he suffered a double broken ankle in a training match prior to the 1962 World Cup with the "Nati" and then had to take a one-year break - Robert Ballaman let his career at FC Winterthur end. Overall, he was three-time Swiss champion, two-time Swiss cup winner and scored 271 goals, 194 of them in the championship games of the National League A.

National player, 1948 to 1961

Ballaman played 50 international matches for the Swiss national football team between 1948 and 1961 and scored 18 goals. On June 20, 1948, in the friendly against Spain in Zurich, he made his debut in the "Nati". In the 3-3 draw, he scored one goal. A year later, on June 26, 1949, he stormed the 5-2 victory in the World Cup qualifier against Luxembourg on the right wing and scored another goal. But he was not part of the squad for the 1950 World Cup in Brazil. Between 1954 and 1961 he was also the captain of the national team. At the 1954 World Cup in his own country, he scored four goals in four games. Ballaman scored two of them in the first half of the quarter-finals between Switzerland and Austria ( heat battle of Lausanne ). Despite the 3-0 lead in the meantime , the Swiss national team coached by Karl Rappan lost the World Cup game with the highest number of goals to date with 5-7. He had previously scored one goal in the group stage in the two games against Italy (June 17: 2-1 win / June 23: 4-1 win in the play-off for 2nd place). Immediately before the World Cup, coach Rappan gathered his squad for a training camp in the sports center in Magglingen and got the players in the mood for the tournament both mentally and physically. At Jung, Ballaman is quoted as saying the following about this training camp from 1966:

“ I still dream of those 14 days in Magglingen when 23 athletes welded together into one unit. We were awakened to music, walked through the woods for an hour, had our morning meal, followed by a light workout and 60 minutes of rest. After lunch: two hours of compulsory bed rest, afterwards a Mätschli (sometimes against our neighbors, the Brazilians), then shower, theory or discussion, in the evening we joked or watched a film (World Cup 1950, Hungarian Games). "

In 1957 he played four World Cup qualifiers against Spain and Scotland. With just one point, Switzerland came in last behind World Cup participants Scotland (6: 2 points) and Spain (5: 3 points) and did not go to Sweden in 1958. Also in the successful World Cup qualification for the 1962 World Cup in Chile, the veteran was in three games for the "Nati": on November 20, 1960 in Brussels in the 4-2 win against Belgium, on May 20, 1961 in Lausanne in the 2-1 second leg against Belgium and on May 28, 1961 in Stockholm against the reigning runner-up Sweden in the 4-0 defeat. Ballaman contributed both goals to the 2-1 win against Belgium in Lausanne. The game in Stockholm on May 28th was the last international match in his career in the "Nati". On April 26, 1962, he suffered a double broken ankle and had to take a year off. It was not possible for him to take part in the 1962 World Cup in Chile.

Together with Roger Vonlanthen , also a Frenchman, Ballaman developed a new, wide-ranging style of attack in the national team. The storm determined the rhythm of the game in their time. With two or three simple, in-depth moves, they played an efficient counterstyle and became a symbol for active football.

Club stations

• 1946–1950: FC Biel
• 1950–1963: Grasshoppers Zurich
• 1963–1964: FC Winterthur

successes

• 1947: Swiss champion with Biel
• 1952: Swiss champions and cup winners with the Grasshoppers Zurich
• 1956: Swiss champions and cup winners with the Grasshoppers Zurich

• 50 times national player, 18 times goalscorer
• Captain of the Swiss national team from 1954 to 1961
• World Cup quarter-finalist 1954

Others

In his 13 years with the Grasshoppers, Ballaman was one of the audience's favorites with his humble, uncomplicated manner (he rode his bike to every training session and every game) and because he was always enthusiastic.

Ballaman acquired his two feet thanks to Hardy Walter, his coach at FC Biel. He persistently used the right footer on the left wing and for a long time forbade him to use the stronger right foot during training. Ballaman became the first Swiss footballer to control the ball equally well with both feet.

After the end of his career, Ballaman ran a restaurant in Zurich.

literature

• Beat Jung (ed.): The Nati. The history of the Swiss national football team , Die Werkstatt publishing house, Göttingen 2006, ISBN 3-89533-532-0 .
• Swiss Football League (ed.): 75 years of SFL - National League SFV , 2009, ISBN 978-3-9523556-0-2 .

Web links

• Image by Robert Ballaman on the blick.ch website
• Entry at portal-der-erinnerung.de

Individual evidence

1. ↑ On the death of Robert Ballaman
2. ↑ Beat Jung (ed.): Die Nati, p. 115