Paul Widerkehr (12 September 1880 – unknown) was a Swiss

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 ...

who played as a

midfielder In the sport of association football, a midfielder takes an Glossary of association football terms#O, outfield position primarily in the middle of the pitch. Midfielders may play an exclusively defensive role, breaking up attacks, and are in t ...

for

Barcelona Barcelona ( ; ; ) is a city on the northeastern coast of Spain. It is the capital and largest city of the autonomous community of Catalonia, as well as the second-most populous municipality of Spain. With a population of 1.6 million within c ...

in the 1901–02 season, helping the club win its first-ever trophy, the

1901–02 Copa Macaya The 1901–02 Copa Macaya was the 2nd staging of the Copa Macaya. This tournament is best known for being the very first trophy won by the Spanish club FC Barcelona. The competition was held on the road between 22 December 1901 and ended on 12 Marc ...

Biography

Born in

Zurich Zurich (; ) is the list of cities in Switzerland, largest city in Switzerland and the capital of the canton of Zurich. It is in north-central Switzerland, at the northwestern tip of Lake Zurich. , the municipality had 448,664 inhabitants. The ...

on 12 September 1880, Widerkehr began his career at his hometown club

FC Zürich Fussballclub Zürich, commonly abbreviated to FC Zürich or simply FCZ, is a professional football club based in Zurich, Switzerland. The club was founded in 1896 and has won the Swiss Super League thirteen times and the Swiss Cup ten times. ...

, where he played alongside his friends

Joan Gamper Hans Max Gamper-Haessig (; 22 November 1877 – 30 July 1930), commonly known as Joan Gamper (), was a Swiss-born football executive and versatile athlete. He founded football clubs in Switzerland and Spain, most notably Barcelona and Zürich. ...

and

George Meyer George Meyer (born 1956) is an United States, American producer and writer. Meyer is best known for his work on ''The Simpsons'', where he served as a scriptwriter and gag writer (for which he is credited as a producer) and led the show's commu ...

, with whom he later played at Barcelona. He was registered at the Swiss consulate in Barcelona in 1901. In the 1901–02 season, Widerkehr played six official matches for Barça, all in the 1901–02 Copa Macaya, scoring six goals, all of which came in a 12–0 win over

Català FC Català Futbol Club, and later Català Sport Club, was a football team based in Barcelona, Spain, which existed from 1899 until its dissolution in the late 1920s. It was one of the most important entities in the amateur beginnings of football in C ...

on 16 February 1902, making him the tournament's third-highest scorer behind teammates Gamper (19) and Udo Steinberg (17). He was thus a member of the Barça team that won the 1901–02 Copa Macaya, the club's first-ever trophy. Despite some encouraging first steps at Barça, he was forced to retire early due to health problems. Along with Gamper and Meyer, he was part of the club's first sports committee, which was in charge of forming Barça, thus making him one of the first

managers Management (or managing) is the administration of organizations, whether businesses, nonprofit organizations, or a government bodies through business administration, nonprofit management, or the political science sub-field of public administr ...

of Barcelona. Outside of football, he was a merchant.

Honours

''FC Barcelona'' *

Copa Macaya The Hispania Athletic Club Tournament–Alfonso Macaya Cup, popularly known as the Copa Macaya, was a Association football, football competition contested by clubs from Catalonia which ran from 1900 until 1903, disappearing at the same time of its ...

: ** Champions: 1901–02

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Widerkehr, Paul 1880 births FC Barcelona players FC Zürich players Footballers from the canton of Zürich Swiss expatriate men's footballers Expatriate men's footballers in Spain Swiss expatriate sportspeople in Spain Swiss men's footballers Men's association football midfielders Year of death missing