Rudolf Kraft (soccer player)

Rudolf Kraft , nickname "Hutzel" (born April 14, 1939 ) is a former German soccer player who played 108 games with 31 goals in the Oberliga Südwest and Süd from 1957 to 1962 .

career

Oberliga, 1957 to 1962

The striker Rudolf Kraft, who came to TuRa Ludwigshafen from VfR Friesenheim in Mannheim, was appointed to the German national soccer team of amateurs on May 19, 1957 at the age of 18 in 1956/57 in the promotion round of the gymnastics and lawn sports club to the Oberliga Südwest . At the international match against England in Offenburg, the Palatinate and Heinz Hornig formed the left wing of the DFB team. On August 18, the offensive talent made his debut at the home game against TuS Neuendorf in the Oberliga Südwest. The junior scored both goals for TuRa's 2-1 win. At the side of top scorer Friedel Trapp , who scored 28 goals in 30 games, Kraft played in the first year of the Oberliga, 22 games with twelve goals. In the first half of the season, on October 12, 1957, his second appearance in the DFB team of amateurs followed when the second leg was won 3-2 goals against England in Ilford. On the far right, he added Peter Grosser , Klaus Matischak and Günter Herrmann to the inside trio .

For the round 1958/59, the Southwest record champions 1. FC Kaiserslautern brought the young attacker to Betzenberg. At the side of world champions Horst Eckel , Werner Liebrich and Ottmar Walter , Kraft made 23 games with seven goals in the first year; the "Red Devils" took third place in the southwest league. Since Kaiserslautern was not satisfied with fifth place in 1959/60, Kraft accepted the offer from the southern upper division SV Waldhof Mannheim and returned to his hometown. In the first year, 1960/61, the class could be held with the 13th place, Kraft had completed 27 games with four goals. In 1962 he experienced with his teammates Wolfgang Höfig , Rolf Lederer and Klaus Sinn, however, as bottom of the table, the relegation to the II. Division . Kraft moved to Frankfurt on the Bornheimer Hang for the 1962/63 round and signed with FSV Frankfurt . At FSV he was able to celebrate the championship in front of ESV Ingolstadt and SV Waldhof in the 2nd League South and thus the inclusion in the new season of the Regionalliga Süd .

Regionalliga, 1963 to 1971

In the first year of the Regionalliga, the FSV finished 16th and the man from Mannheim had played 37 games with six goals. He got a contract offer from Worms and moved in the summer of 1964 to Wormatia Worms , third in the table in the Südwest-Regionalliga 1963/64. Together with goalkeeper Slavko Stojanovic , midfielder Lothar Buchmann and strike partner Wolfgang Wittemaier , “Hutzel” Kraft won the runner-up in 1965 and thus moved into the promotion round to the Bundesliga . The west champions Borussia Mönchengladbach made the rise, Reutlingen, Kiel and Worms landed on the places. A special experience was the final game of the promotion round on June 26, 1965 in the sold-out Bökelberg Stadium in Mönchengladbach, when Worms wrested a 1-1 draw from Borussia and Kraft was in action as a center forward. Rudolf Kraft ran for Wormatia up to round 1969/70. He came from 1964 to 1970 to 133 regional league games with 64 goals for Wormatia Worms and moved to the 1970/71 round to Südwest Ludwigshafen .

The last regional league game completed Kraft on May 9, 1971 in a 4-1 home win against FC Homburg in the right defender position and ended his senior career at the age of 32.

literature

• Werner Skrentny (Ed.): The fear of the devil in front of the pea mountain. The history of the Oberliga Südwest 1946–1963. Klartext-Verlag, Essen 1996, ISBN 3-88474-394-5 .
• Werner Skrentny (Ed.): When Morlock still met the moonlight. The history of the Oberliga Süd 1945–1963. Klartext, Essen 1993, ISBN 3-88474-055-5 .
• Hardy Greens : Encyclopedia of German League Football. Volume 2: Bundesliga & Co. 1963 to today. 1st division, 2nd division, GDR Oberliga. Numbers, pictures, stories. AGON Sportverlag, Kassel 1997, ISBN 3-89609-113-1 .