Paul Janes (11 March 1912 – 12 June 1987) was a German football player. He earned 71 caps and scored seven goals for the Germany national team from 1932 to 1942, and played in two World Cups:

1934 Events January–February * January 1 – The International Telecommunication Union, a specialist agency of the League of Nations, is established. * January 15 – The 8.0 1934 Nepal–Bihar earthquake, Nepal–Bihar earthquake strik ...

and

1938 Events January * January 1 ** The Constitution of Estonia#Third Constitution (de facto 1938–1940, de jure 1938–1992), new constitution of Estonia enters into force, which many consider to be the ending of the Era of Silence and the a ...

. Janes was a member of the Breslau Eleven that beat Denmark 8–0 in Breslau in 1937 and went on to win ten out 11 games played during that year. The

DFB DFB may refer to: * Deerfield Beach, Florida, a city * Decafluorobutane, a fluorocarbon gas * Dem Franchize Boyz, former hip hop group, Atlanta, Georgia * Dfb, Köppen climate classification for Humid continental climate * Distributed-feedback ...

lists him in the top 20 best German footballers of all time.

Career

One of the best full backs of his era, Paul Janes established a record for most German caps which was not broken until 1970. Janes started out as a right half back, but during the

World Cup he debuted as right back and stayed at that position for some four seasons before moving back into a sweeper role. He was injured during the 1936 Olympics and thus was spared of the embarrassing defeat of Germany by Norway. During the latter half of the 1930s, Germany possessed one of the strongest full back pairings in European football with Paul Janes on the right and

Reinhold Münzenberg Reinhold Münzenberg (25 January 1909 in Walheim – 25 June 1986 in Aachen) was a German football player, in the defender position. Biography Münzenberg spent most of his career with Alemannia Aachen (1927–1951) but also had spells with ...

on the left side. Vittorio Pozzo, the coach of World Champions Italy, nominated Janes for a 1937 continental selection, but Janes could not participate due to an injury. One of Janes’ best assets was his powerful yet accurate shooting ability, which gave him the nickname "World Champion of Precision". His trademark were hard shots from all possible angles, his seven goals for Germany all came from either freekicks (four) or penalties (three). He was also a very calm player who kept his cool even in nerve-racking situations.

Sepp Herberger Josef "Sepp" Herberger (28 March 1897 – 28 April 1977) was a German football player and manager. He is most famous for being the manager of the West German national team that won the 1954 FIFA World Cup final, a match later dubbed ''The Mirac ...

said about Janes’ characteristics: "He rarely was caught off-guard on the pitch, as he had the ability to anticipate what the opponent was planning and he interpreted defensive play always as the first step in building up the next attack."Bitter, Jürgen. ''Deutschlands Fußball Nationalspieler'', Sportverlag, 1997, p. 219. Despite his calmness and overall cleverness, Janes was renowned for an extravaganza that he had imported from South America: He was the first German footballer to specialize in the acrobatic

bicycle kick In association football, a bicycle kick, also known as an overhead kick, scissors kick, is an acrobatic strike where a player kicks an airborne ball rearward in midair. It is achieved by throwing the body backward up into the air and, before d ...

. During World War II, Janes served in the

Kriegsmarine The (, ) was the navy of Germany from 1935 to 1945. It superseded the Imperial German Navy of the German Empire (1871–1918) and the inter-war (1919–1935) of the Weimar Republic. The was one of three official branches, along with the a ...

and was able to continue playing, including spells as a wartime guest player with Wilhelmshaven 05 and ''Fortuna Glückstadt'' - both from towns with Kriegsmarine ports - as well as

Hamburger SV Hamburger Sport-Verein e.V. (), commonly known as Hamburger SV () or Hamburg (), is a German sports club based in Hamburg, with its largest branch being its football section. Though the current HSV was founded in June 1919 from a merger of three ...

where he played his last league match in November 1944. He captained Germany 31 times. Despite his age of 38, Janes almost would have had a comeback for Germany in the first international game after World War II in 1950, but he broke his foot shortly before and thus had to finish his career for good. Janes was known to be a silent man who did not divulge in too much talking. In 1934, he was asked about what it was like playing in the World Cup in Italy, his response was: "Warm". His home team was

Fortuna Düsseldorf Düsseldorfer Turn- und Sportverein Fortuna 1895 e.V., commonly known as Fortuna Düsseldorf (), is a German football club in Düsseldorf, North Rhine-Westphalia, which competes in the 2. Bundesliga. Founded in 1895, Fortuna entered the league ...

, where he worked as trainer after the war. He also coached

Eintracht Trier SV Eintracht Trier 05 is a German association football club based in Trier, Rhineland-Palatinate. It was formed on 11 March 1948 out of the merger of Westmark 05 Trier and Eintracht Trier 06, on the 43rd anniversary of the establishment of pred ...

. During his playing career ''Düsseldorf'' dominated the (topflight) district division through the late 1920s and 1930s, winning the

Western German football championship The Western German football championship (German: ''Westdeutsche Fußball Meisterschaft'') was the highest association football competition in Western Germany, in the Prussian Province of Westphalia, the Rhine Province, the northern parts of the p ...

in 1931, 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 **Ger ...

in 1933 and a German Vice-Championship in 1936. The club also appeared in the final of the Tschammerpokal, predecessor of today's

German Cup The DFB-Pokal ( is a German knockout football cup competition held annually by the German Football Association (DFB). Sixty-four teams participate in the competition, including all clubs from the Bundesliga and the 2. Bundesliga. It is considered ...

, in 1937. The

Paul-Janes-Stadion The Paul-Janes-Stadion in Düsseldorf-Flingern is one of the home grounds of Fortuna Düsseldorf (1930–1972, early 2002-2005). It is located at 87 Flinger Broich, to the east of the city centre in the Nord Flingern district. The stadium was bu ...

Düsseldorf-Flingern Flingern is a quarter of Düsseldorf, part of Borough 2. Located northeast of Düsseldorf (proper), it is divided into two ''Stadtteile'' today: Flingern-Nord and Flingern-Süd. While Flingern-Nord has a younger population and is more attractiv ...

is one of the grounds of

(1930–1972 and 2002–2005), named after their famous player. In his 1978 book "Fussball",

Helmut Schön Helmut Schön (15 September 1915 – 23 February 1996) was a German football player and manager. He is best remembered for his exceptional career as manager of the West German national team in four consecutive World Cup tournaments, including ...

characterised Janes as follows: "A man who could fight but also able to play technically brilliant. He was gifted with a simply phenomenal spin kick; he scored countless goals with freekicks from 30 or 40 meters with his glass-hard shot."

References

External links

International careerLeverkusen who's who
{{DEFAULTSORT:Janes, Paul 1912 births 1987 deaths Sportspeople from Leverkusen German footballers 1934 FIFA World Cup players 1938 FIFA World Cup players Germany international footballers Eintracht Frankfurt players Fortuna Düsseldorf players German football managers Fortuna Düsseldorf managers Association football fullbacks Association football sweepers Footballers from North Rhine-Westphalia Kriegsmarine personnel of World War II