Leopold Drucker (22 February 1903 in

Vienna Vienna ( ; ; ) is the capital city, capital, List of largest cities in Austria, most populous city, and one of Federal states of Austria, nine federal states of Austria. It is Austria's primate city, with just over two million inhabitants. ...

Austria-Hungary Austria-Hungary, also referred to as the Austro-Hungarian Empire, the Dual Monarchy or the Habsburg Monarchy, was a multi-national constitutional monarchy in Central Europe#Before World War I, Central Europe between 1867 and 1918. A military ...

– 25 February 1988 in

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) was an Austrian international

footballer A football player or footballer is a sportsperson who plays one of the different types of football. The main types of football are association football, American football, Canadian football, Australian rules football, Gaelic football, rugby lea ...

and coach.

Biography

He made his debut for the youth team of

Hakoah Vienna SC Hakoah Vienna (; ' means "the strength" in Hebrew) is a Jewish sports club in Vienna, Austria. Prior to World War II, it produced several Olympic athletes and was notable for fielding an entirely Jewish association football team with players ...

(Hebrew for ''the Force'', a Jewish multisports club in Vienna) and moved to the first team, then playing in the Austrian second division. His first match in the first division came in December 1920 with the Hakoah first team, who had just been promoted. He marked his appearance with a goal. However, he continued to play sporadically for the first team, more often used as a reserve. Therefore, he decided to move clubs, and left for FAC,

Floridsdorfer AC The Floridsdorfer Athletics Sports Club or simply Floridsdorfer AC or FAC is a professional football club based in Floridsdorf, the 21st district of Vienna Vienna ( ; ; ) is the capital city, capital, List of largest cities in Austria ...

who had just been relegated to the second division. The objective was for the team to be immediately re-promoted to the first division, and the following season, Floridsdorfer returned to the elite. Drucker was one of the key players for the team, playing almost every game in the victorious 1925–1926 season in the first division. During this season, he played twice for the Vienna city team, against Kraków in September 1925 and Bratislava in March 1926. He rejoined

the following season. In 1926, during a very successful club tour to the United States, he received an offer to play in the ASL, the American Soccer League. He signed for the Brooklyn Wanderers in New York. He played two seasons at the club. In 1928, there was a split with the creation of a rival league in the ESL. Drucker left to play for the newly created New York Hakoah (also known as the Hakoah All-Stars) where he rejoined his former teammates from Hakoah Vienna. With the club, he won the US Open Cup. Drucker played 136 matches in the ASL. In 1931, Leopold Drucker moved back to his home club, Hakoah Vienna. In July 1932, he won his first cap for the Austria national team in a 4-3 win against Sweden in

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. While the newspapers reported on an excellent performance by Drucker, this was his only international cap, possibly due to the political situation at the time. Drucker was the only Hakoah player to play for the ''

Wunderteam ''Wunderteam'' (; ''Wonder Team'') was the name given to the Austria national football team of the 1930s. Led by manager Hugo Meisl, the team had an unbeaten streak of 14 games between April 1931 and December 1932. The style of the team focused on ...

'', the name given to the brilliant Austria national team of the 1920s–1930s. In 1933, he left Hakoah for the 3rd time, and after a brief spell at FAC - rejoined his former coach at Hakoah, and former Austrian international, Vinzenz Dittrich, at

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. He also played with his former teammate Jószef Eisenhoffer. During the 1933–34 season, Drucker played 16 matches in the French Championship and played in the final of the Coupe de France, losing 2–1 to

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. At the end of the season, he left for Malta, which he knew through a tournament with FAC. In the following years, Drucker was a player and coach for

Floriana FC Floriana Football Club is a Maltese professional football club in the town of Floriana that currently plays in the Maltese Premier League. Considered one of the most supported and successful clubs in Maltese football, Floriana has won 26 national ...

, St. George's FC and Melita FC, leading the latter to the 1938–39

Maltese FA Trophy The FA Trophy, currently known as the Meridianbet FA Trophy for sponsorship reasons, is an annual football (soccer), football cup competition that takes place in Malta. The cup was founded in 1933; following a match between England national footba ...

, the greatest honour in the club's history to date. After the outbreak of the Second World War, he moved to Palestine, where he played and coached in Jerusalem. After the war, he moved to New York, where in 1947, he worked for Athletic Club Hakoah.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Drucker, Leopold Footballers from Vienna American Soccer League (1921–1933) players Austrian men's footballers Austrian expatriate men's footballers Expatriate men's soccer players in the United States Austrian expatriate sportspeople in the United States Brooklyn Wanderers (1922–1931) players New York Hakoah players Olympique de Marseille players 1903 births People from Austria-Hungary 1988 deaths Men's association football players not categorized by position Austrian expatriate sportspeople in France Expatriate sportspeople in Mandatory Palestine Jewish footballers Jewish Austrian sportspeople Expatriate men's footballers in Malta Austrian expatriate sportspeople in Malta Melita F.C. players Floriana F.C. players Floridsdorfer AC players Hakoah Vienna footballers St. George's F.C. players Austrian football managers Austrian expatriate football managers Expatriate football managers in Malta Association football coaches Player-coaches Austrian emigrants to the United States 20th-century Austrian sportsmen