Walter Wild (soccer player)

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Walter Wild (1899)

Walter Wild (born October 13, 1872 in Hottingen , today Zurich ; † after 1949), also known in Spain as Gualteri Wild , was a Swiss football player and the first president of FC Barcelona from 1899 to 1900 .

At the end of the 19th century, Wild, like the like-minded Swiss Joan Gamper , came to Barcelona to play football. However, as foreigners, neither of them found a club, as the few existing clubs mostly only accepted Catalan players. As a result, Gamper placed an advertisement in the Los Deportes newspaper inviting everyone interested in football to the Solé gymnasium to found a club .

Wild was one of the 12 people who held a meeting on November 29, 1899 in the Solé gymnasium to mark the establishment of FC Barcelona. Since Wild, who was considered a wealthy and versatile businessman, was the oldest in attendance, the others named him the first president of the association. The first captain of the team became founder Hans Gamper. But Wild was first and foremost a footballer who played ten FC Barcelona games, including the very first game. In addition, Wild had no problem offering his apartment on Carrer Princesa as a venue for club conferences. One of the most important achievements among game was that he gave Barça his first own home at the Hotel Casanovas .

In his 513-day term as president, which began on December 13, 1899, Wild was re-elected three times. On April 25, 1901, Wild gave up his presidency because he had to return to Great Britain . On the same day, Wild was made an honorary member of the club.

In the years that followed, he followed the development of the club, in which he played a key role, very little and, as a guest at the 50th anniversary, was all the more surprised at how much the club, which now has around 25,000 members, had grown.

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ fifa.com: Barcelona: More than a club
  2. ↑ Dietrich Schulze-Marmeling : Barça or: The art of beautiful play . Verlag Die Werkstatt, Göttingen 2010, ISBN 3-89533-720-X , p. 15-16 .
personal data
SURNAME Wild, Walter
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Wild, Gualteri (Spanish)
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Swiss football player, first president of FC Barcelona
DATE OF BIRTH October 13, 1872
PLACE OF BIRTH Hottingen , today Zurich
DATE OF DEATH 20th century