Walter Zeman

Walter Zeman (born May 1, 1927 in Vienna ; † August 8, 1991 ibid) was an Austrian football player in the position of goalkeeper . Along with Rudi Hiden, he is considered to be one of the best soccer goalies in the history of Austrian soccer. His jumping ability and skills as a goalie also earned him the nicknames tigers and panthers . Particular strengths were his excellent responsiveness, his catch safety, his positional play and the ability to lead and organize the defense.

Career

Early years and successes

Walter Zeman began his career at the small favorite football club SV Wienerberger . Even at a young age he was an excellent athlete who was able to optimally implement his jumping technique as a goalkeeper. Walter Zeman moved from the "Ziegelböhm" in 1942 to the Favoritner first division club FC Vienna . There he drew attention to himself with numerous parades, so that in 1945, at the age of 18, he joined the top club SK Rapid Vienna as the new regular goalie . In the same year he was allowed to keep the goal at the first home game of the Austrian national football team, which was re-established after the end of the war . At that time Austria was able to defeat France 4-1.

With the Hütteldorfer Walter Zeman was mostly able to dominate the championship and also celebrate international successes. Overall, he was eight times champion with the green-whites, made it to the semi-finals in the European Cup and won the Centropa Cup in 1951 , a new edition of the Mitropacup . Walter Zeman was a very popular player in Hütteldorf who was very important to the fans. His differences with Ernst Happel on the field were often the spice of a game. In total, he made 235 league games for Rapid by 1961. In the 1961/62 season he played ten more times for the Salzburg AK 1914 in the Austrian State League . After the descent of Salzburg, he ended his professional career.

However, he played his most famous games for the national team in the early 1950s. He became famous as the Panther of Glasgow on December 13, 1950, when he was able to hold Austria's 1-0 away win against Scotland to the last second - shortly afterwards he was voted Austria's first footballer of the year . Furthermore, Walter Zeman made the Golden Elf around Ferenc Puskás desperate with his brilliant parades. After a game in Budapest on April 26, 1953, Sándor Kocsis said : "Zeman is a sorcerer, he has robbed us of victory, he deserves a place in the world team".

In the same year, the Budapest Tiger was actually called up to the world selection, which played against England in October 1953 at Wembley Stadium in London on the occasion of the 90th anniversary of the English Football Association and achieved a 4: 4 there.

Bitter end of 1954

The 1954 World Cup in Switzerland should have turned out to be a highlight of Walter Zeman's football career. With the national team he knocked out Portugal with a 9-1 victory in qualifying, but then couldn't play at the World Cup due to a knee injury. Kurt Schmied from Vienna joined the team for him, and he held up brilliantly. Austria made it to the semi-finals, but Kurt Schmied suffered a sunstroke during the game in the famous heat battle of Lausanne and was therefore no longer able to play in the semi-finals. In the game against Germany, the ailing Walter Zeman went into goal, who had a pitch-black day - Austria lost 6-1. After this game, allegations of bribery were raised against him. Walter Zeman was so annoyed about this that he ended his national team career with immediate effect and got off the train before the reception in Vienna .

After the 1954 World Cup, the goalkeeper was only active for Rapid Vienna , with whom he was able to add some championship wins to his collection of titles. It was only towards the end of his career on May 29, 1960 that Walter Zeman was able to be persuaded to play for the Austrian national team one last time. The opponent was Scotland - Austria won 4-1. After playing his last game for the Hütteldorfer in 1962 as an active player, Walter Zeman ended his career at Salzburg AK in 1914 . After completing his active career, the Tiger took over a coaching position with the Rapid youngsters and in 1968 was assistant coach under Rudolf Vytlačil of the fighting team that reached the quarter-finals of the European Cup that season and threw Real Madrid out of the competition.

On August 8, 1991, he died early after a serious illness. His grave is in the Baumgartner Friedhof in Vienna (group K1, number 500).

In April 2010, Walter-Zeman-Gasse in Vienna- Donaustadt (22nd district) was named after him.

Stations as a player

• SV Wienerberger (before 1942)
• FC Vienna (1942–1945)
• SK Rapid Vienna (1945–1961)
• Salzburg AK 1914 (1961–1962)

Stations as a trainer

• Youth of SK Rapid Vienna (1963-1970)
• KDAG Vienna (1970–1973)

successes

• 1 × FIFA World Cup 1953
• 1 × Austria's athlete of the year : 1950
• 3 × Austria's footballer of the year : 1951, 1952, 1953
• 1 × Centropa Cup : 1951
• 8 × Austrian champion : 1946, 1948, 1951, 1952, 1954, 1956, 1957, 1960
• 1 × Austrian Cup winner : 1946

• Participation in the soccer world championship 1954 : 3rd place
• 41 international matches for the Austrian national soccer team from 1945 to 1960

See also

• Austria at the 1954 World Cup in Switzerland

Web links

• Walter Zeman. On: RapidArchiv.at.
• Player statistics Zeman. On: Bundesliga.at.

Individual evidence

1. ^ Walter Zeman, "Champions League 1956/1957. In: weltfussball.de .
2. ↑ Walter ZEMAN. In: rapidarchiv.at .
3. ↑ New street names (naming a traffic area). ( Memento from March 27, 2010 in the Internet Archive ) Retrieved January 30, 2015.
4. ↑ Road situation graph. Accessed January 30, 2015.

predecessor	Office	successor
Gerhard Hanappi	Austria's footballer of the year after the sports radio footballer vote by fans in 1951, 1952, 1953	Gerhard Hanappi