Richard Hofmann (8 February 1906 – 5 May 1983) was a German

football Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kicking a ball to score a goal. Unqualified, the word ''football'' normally means the form of football that is the most popular where the word is used. Sports commonly c ...

player. He played in 25 internationals for Germany as a

centre forward 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 ...

, scoring 24 goals, including the first ever international hat-trick against England by a player from outside the Home Nations.

Life and career

He was born in Meerane, Saxony and began his career with the Meerane 07 club in 1922. In 1927 he was signed by English coach Jimmy Hogan for Dresdner SC, becoming known to fans as "König" ("King") Richard. Why "King Richard" missed the FIFA World Cup
/ref> He was known for his thunderous shots with either foot. He started his international career in 1927, scoring a hat-trick against Switzerland. At the 1928 Olympic Games in Amsterdam he was sent off in a match against Uruguay, and was suspended from internationals for a year. In 1930, Hofmann lost his right ear in a car accident. This impaired his balance and had a serious impact on his career, later playing with protection over his ear. However, on 10 May 1930, playing for the German national team against England in Berlin, he scored a hat-trick in a 3–3 draw. He also scored hat-tricks for the national team against Sweden (1929), Denmark (1931) and Finland (1932). In all, he played 25 times for the national team, scoring 24 goals.German Soccer Personalities: Richard Hofmann
/ref> He captained the German team in four matches, and earned his last cap against France in 1933. Later that year he was suspended from the national team for a "violation of his amateur status", after signing an advertising deal for a cigarette company. However, he continued to play with the Dresdner SC team until 1947, when he joined BSG Hainsberg and later

Lok Stendal 1. FC Lok Stendal is a German association football club that plays in Stendal, Saxony-Anhalt. History Founded in 1909, ''FC Viktoria Stendal'' was dissolved in the aftermath of World War II and re-established in Soviet occupation zone of Ger ...

as a coach. Hofmann died in 1983 in Freital, Saxony, then in East Germany. The main football stadium in Meerane is named Richard-Hofmann-Stadium in his honour.Meerane town website
/ref>

Honours

Dresdner SC * German Championship:

1943 Events Below, the events of World War II have the "WWII" prefix. January * January 1 – WWII: The Soviet Union announces that 22 German divisions have been encircled at Stalingrad, with 175,000 killed and 137,650 captured. * January 4 – ...

1944 Events Below, the events of World War II have the "WWII" prefix. January * January 2 – WWII: ** Free French General Jean de Lattre de Tassigny is appointed to command French Army B, part of the Sixth United States Army Group in Nor ...

* German Cup:

1940 A calendar from 1940 according to the Gregorian calendar, factoring in the dates of Easter and related holidays, cannot be used again until the year 5280. Events Below, the events of World War II have the "WWII" prefix. January *January ...

1941 Events Below, the events of World War II have the "WWII" prefix. January * January–August – 10,072 men, women and children with mental and physical disabilities are asphyxiated with carbon monoxide in a gas chamber, at Hadamar Eu ...

* Mitteldeutsche Meisterschaft: 1929, 1930, 1931, 1933 * Gauliga Sachsen: 1933–34, 1938–39, 1939–40, 1940–41, 1942–43, 1943–44

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Hofmann, Richard 1906 births 1983 deaths People from Meerane People from the Kingdom of Saxony Footballers at the 1928 Summer Olympics German footballers Germany international footballers Olympic footballers of Germany Dresdner SC players Association football forwards Footballers from Saxony