Hans Schäfer (19 October 1927 – 7 November 2017) was a German

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, rugb ...

who played as an

outside left Forwards (also known as attackers) are outfield positions in an association football team who play the furthest up the pitch and are therefore most responsible for scoring goals as well as assisting them. As with any attacking player, the role ...

Career

Schäfer was born in

Zollstock Zollstock is a district () of Cologne in the borough () of Rodenkirchen. Situated west of the river Rhine, Zollstock was first mentioned in 1877 and experienced increased development from the 1880s onwards. Since 1901, the district has housed the ...

Cologne Cologne ( ; german: Köln ; ksh, Kölle ) is the largest city of the German western state of North Rhine-Westphalia (NRW) and the fourth-most populous city of Germany with 1.1 million inhabitants in the city proper and 3.6 millio ...

. He played for

1. FC Köln 1. Fußball-Club Köln 01/07 e. V., commonly known as simply FC Köln () or FC Cologne in English, is a German professional football club based in Cologne in North Rhine-Westphalia. It was formed in 1948 as a merger of the clubs ''Kölner Ball ...

between 1948 and 1965, and for the West Germany national team, earning 39

caps Caps are flat headgear. Caps or CAPS may also refer to: Science and technology Computing * CESG Assisted Products Service, provided by the U.K. Government Communications Headquarters * Composite Application Platform Suite, by Java Caps, a Ja ...

and scoring 15 goals. He played in three World Cups, in

1954 Events January * January 1 – The Soviet Union ceases to demand war reparations from West Germany. * January 3 – The Italian broadcaster RAI officially begins transmitting. * January 7 – Georgetown-IBM experiment: The fir ...

1958 Events January * January 1 – The European Economic Community (EEC) comes into being. * January 3 – The West Indies Federation is formed. * January 4 ** Edmund Hillary's Commonwealth Trans-Antarctic Expedition completes the third ...

, and

1962 Events January * January 1 – Western Samoa becomes independent from New Zealand. * January 3 – Pope John XXIII excommunicates Fidel Castro for preaching communism. * January 8 – Harmelen train disaster: 93 die in the wor ...

, earning a winner's medal in 1954 and scoring a total of seven goals from all of West Germany's total 15 matches played in the three editions. Between 1957 and 1962, Schäfer captained Germany 16 times. Schäfer's position was that of an

. In the latter stages of his career, he became an

inside left Forwards (also known as attackers) are outfield positions in an association football team who play the furthest up the pitch and are therefore most responsible for scoring goals as well as assisting them. As with any attacking player, the role ...

forward. He debuted for

Germany Germany,, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It is the second most populous country in Europe after Russia, and the most populous member state of the European Union. Germany is situated betwee ...

on 9 November 1952, in the international friendly against

Switzerland ). Swiss law does not designate a ''capital'' as such, but the federal parliament and government are installed in Bern, while other federal institutions, such as the federal courts, are in other cities (Bellinzona, Lausanne, Luzern, Neuchâtel ...

, scoring a goal. During the

1954 FIFA World Cup The 1954 FIFA World Cup was the fifth edition of the FIFA World Cup, the quadrennial international football tournament for senior men's national teams of the nations affiliated to FIFA. It was held in Switzerland from 16 June to 4 July. Switzer ...

, Schäfer scored four goals. Schäfer won the

German football championship German(s) may refer to: * Germany (of or related to) **Germania (historical use) * Germans, citizens of Germany, people of German ancestry, or native speakers of the German language ** For citizens of Germany, see also German nationality law **Ge ...

with

in 1962 and 1964 and was voted

German Footballer of the Year The title Footballer of the Year (German: ''Fußballer des Jahres'') has been awarded in Germany since 1960. Eligible are German players as well as non-German players playing in Germany. In 1996, the title Women's Footballer of the Year (German ...

in 1963, at the age of 35. He played in the first two seasons of the newly founded

Bundesliga The Bundesliga (; ), sometimes referred to as the Fußball-Bundesliga () or 1. Bundesliga (), is a professional association football league in Germany. At the top of the German football league system, the Bundesliga is Germany's primary footb ...

39 matches (20 goals) before retiring from professional football. Schäfer died on 7 November 2017 at age 90.

References

External links

* !colspan="3" style="background:#C1D8FF;", World Cup-winners status , - , style="width:25%; text-align:center;", Preceded by

Alcides Ghiggia Alcides Edgardo Ghiggia Pereyra (; 22 December 1926 – 16 July 2015) was a Uruguayan-Italian football player, who played as a right winger. He achieved lasting fame for his decisive role in the final match of the 1950 World Cup, and at the ...

, style="width:50%; text-align:center;", Oldest Living Player
16 July 2015 – 7 November 2017 , style="width:25; text-align:center;", Succeeded by

Mário Zagallo Mário Jorge Lobo Zagallo (; born 9 August 1931) is a Brazilian former professional football player, coordinator and manager, who played as a forward. Zagallo holds the record for World Cup titles in general with four titles in total. He was ...

1927 births 2017 deaths Footballers from Cologne German footballers Germany international footballers People from the Rhine Province 1. FC Köln players Bundesliga players 1954 FIFA World Cup players 1958 FIFA World Cup players 1962 FIFA World Cup players FIFA World Cup-winning players Association football forwards West German footballers {{germany-footy-forward-1920s-stub