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Matthias Sindelar

Personal information
Full name	Matthias Sindelar
Date of birth	(1903-02-10)10 February 1903
Place of birth	Kozlov, Moravia, Austria-Hungary
Date of death	23 January 1939(1939-01-23) (aged 35)
Place of death	Vienna, Germany
Height	1.75 m (5 ft 9 in)
Playing position	Centre-forward
Youth career
1918–1922	Hertha Vienna
Senior career*
Years	Team	Apps†	(Gls)†
1921–1924	Hertha Vienna	23	(4)
1924–1939	Austria Wien	312	(240)
National team
1926–1937	Austria	43	(26)
Honours Men's football Representing  Austria Central European International Cup Silver 1927–30 Central European International Cup Central European International Cup Gold 1931–32 Central European International Cup Central European International Cup Silver 1933–35 Central European International Cup
Senior club appearances and goals counted for the domestic league only. † Appearances (Goals).

Matthias Sindelar (German: [maˈtiːas ˈʃɪndəlaːɐ̯], Czech: Matěj Šindelář; 10 February 1903 – 23 January 1939) was an Austrian professional footballer. Regarded as one of the greatest Austrian players of all time, Sindelar notably played for Austria Vienna and the Austria national football team.

He played as a centre-forward for the celebrated Austrian national side of the early 1930s that became known as the Wunderteam, which he captained at the 1934 World Cup. Known as "The Mozart of football" or Der Papierene ("The Paper Man") for his slight build, he was renowned as one of the finest pre-war footballers, known for his fantastic dribbling ability and creativity. He was voted the best Austrian footballer of the 20th Century in a 1999 poll by the International Federation of Football History and Statistics (IFFHS) and was named Austria's sportsman of the century a year before.

With the Wunderteam, Sindelar was one of the key elements of their developing formation and style of play as it evolved into a 2-3-5. According to specialists like Paul Dietschy, this formation provided "such fluidity to the Austrian system", leading it it's earning the nickname of "the Viennese whirlpool". Although the Wunderteam regularly lacked efficiency, Sindelar's individual technical skill and vision often compensated for these issues.

Early years

Of Czech descent, Sindelar was born Matěj Šindelář (Czech: [ˈmacɛj ˈʃɪndɛlaːr̝̊]) in Kozlov, Moravia, then part of the Austro-Hungarian Empire, the son of Jan Šindelář, a blacksmith, and his wife Marie (née Švengrová). Despite occasional claims that Sindelar was of Jewish origin, the family was Catholic. These claims most likely arise from his main club, Austria Vienna's connection to Vienna's Jewish populatiom.

They moved to Vienna in 1905 and settled in the predominantly working-class district of Favoriten, which had a large Czech-speaking community. Young Matěj, whose name would be Germanized as Matthias, began playing football in the streets with the other children of the neighbourhood, many of whom were immigrants from Bohemia and Moravia. Notably, he grew up alongside his future Austrian teammate Josef Bican.

According to many sources, upon the death of his father Sindelar took up a job as either an apprentice mechanic or a locksmith; during this time, he also had many other odd-jobs, such as selling sporting goods to the people of Vienna.

Club career

Sindelar began his footballing career with Hertha Vienna, whom he joined in 1918. This opportunity arose when, at the age of fifteen, he was spotted by a sciut, who signed him up for Hertha's youth teams. Already considered to be "an excellent dribbler and finisher" as a teenager, Sindelar had quickly progressed into the first team by the early 1920s.

Playing in the blue and white jersey of Hertha, Sindelar quickly learned to compensate for his rather frail, infantile physique through the development of his high-level technique, allowing him "to dodge and dribble at will his opponents, and to squeeze with disconcerting ease (through gaps in (sic)) the opposing defenses ”. It is these characteristics which make him obtain the nickname of “der Papierene” ("the Paper man").

Sindelar quickly earnt his keep at Hertha Vienna, scoring his first goals in the national championship in particular thanks to his quick feet, and becoming a vital cog in their team. Both his and the club's fortunes took a turn for the worse, however, as Sindelar suffered a serious knee injury in May 1923, making him indefinitely unavailable. Concurrently, Hertha also went through a great economic crisis and Sindelar, as well as some of his teammates, were made redundant. In his time at Hertha Vienna, Sindelar scored 4 goals in 23 matches.

Austria Vienna

Now a free agent but still injured, Sindelar consulted the club doctor of SV Amateure who suggested that he should undergo meniscus surgery. At the time, such an operation was operation considered quite risky as it could mark the end of his career. Feeling that such a risk was necessary to take Sindelar had the surgery and, once successfully healed, signed for SV Amateure in 1924, who were at the time Austrian league and cup champions. In 1926, SV Amateure would become professional and take on their current name of FK Austria Vienna.

His time at Austria Vienna coincided with one of the club's most successful spells pre-War. He helped the team win the Austrian Cup five times across an eleven year spell - in 1925, 1926, 1933, 1935 and 1936. He also won an 1. League title in 1926, and the Mitropa Cup twice, in 1933 and 1936 respectively. Much like his time at Hertha Vienna, Sindelar was a center forward and utilised his technically ability, talent on the ball, and eye for goal to overcome his physical disadvantages. He was also seen as a great leader in the pitch. Gifted with 'ankle-breaking' agility his ability to beat the defender one-on-one was often described as 'exceptional'. In this sense, he is often compared in terms of modern-day footballers to counterparts such as Lionel Messi.

Overall, in 703 matches for Austria Vienna he scored 600 goals and In 2001 was named in their Team of the Century.

Sindelar was arguably one of Europe's best and, in scope, most influential footballers of his generation, recognized for his ball control, passing and dribbling, and especially his creativity. There are anecdotal claims that some fans went attended Sindelar's games not only to see him play, but to get a better understanding of how football 'should' be played.

In 1938 he appeared as himself in the Austrian film Roxy and the Wonderteam.

International career

Austria national team

From 1926 to 1937, Sindelar was capped 43 times for his country, scoring 26 goals. He scored four goals in his first three international matches, including one in his debut match, a 2–1 victory over Czechoslovakia on 28 September 1926. Sindelar became an essential part of the Austrian Wunderteam that was coached by Hugo Meisl, until the two later had a falling out.

1927-30 Central European International Cup

while Austria had not quite earned the monicher of Wunderteam yet, a young Sindelar helped them to their first major international tournament performance, being a part of the squad that made Runners-up in the Central European International Cup.

1931-32 Central European International Cup

The Wunderteam started by winning the Central European International Cup: 1931–32, Sindelar scoring 4 goals to help Austria win its first and so far only international Trophy.

1933-35 Central European International Cup

This time around The Wunderteam finished as Runners-up. Sindelar scoring 3 goals to make him Austria's all-time top goalscorer at the Central European International Cup.

1934 World Cup

Sindelar and Austria made the whole their stage at the 1934 World Cup, where they truly earned their nickname of the "Wunderteam". The high point came with their win over Hungary in the quarterfinals, when Sindelar was matched up against centre-half György Sárosi, who would go on to claim a runners-up medal at the following World Cup in France. In a bruising encounter, one Hungarian was sent-off, and Johann Horvath, the Austrian midfielder, was injured and missed the semi-final against Italy. Austria was then defeated by the host nation, with Sindelar affected by the harsh marking of Luis Monti.

Austria v Germany 1938

On 3 April 1938, the Austrian team played Germany in the Prater Stadium in Vienna. This match was significant as, just a few weeks earlier Nazi Germany had annexed Austria (known as the Anschluss), and had absorbed the national team into that of Nazi Germany, ignoring their qualification for that summer's World Cup. Thus, this would be Austria's last international match until after the Second World War. This was and is seen by many as a great tragedy for Austrian football as they feel that Austria were one of the favourites to lift that year's World Cup trophy.

The match, dubbed the "Anschlussspiel" in German (lit. Anschluss game), was planned as a celebration by the Nazi regime of the Anschluss and Austria's "coming home to the Reich". At Sindelar's behest, the Austrian team played in red-white-red strips which mimicked the Austrian flag's colours instead of their traditional white and black strips. Austria squandered many easy goalscoring opportunities during the match in a way that looked deliberate. However, in the last 20 minutes, Sindelar and teammate Karl Sesta both scored as the game finished 2–0. Sindelar is claimed to have celebrated extravagantly in front of senior Nazi dignitaries.

International caps and goals

The following is a list of Sindelar's international appearances and goals with the Austria national football team.

Cap #	Date	Location	Type of match	Result	Opponent	Minutes played	Goals	Notes
1	28 Sep 1926	Prague	Friendly	2–1	Czechoslovakia	90	1
2	10 Oct 1926	Vienna	Friendly	7–1	Switzerland	90	2
3	7 Nov 1926	Vienna	Friendly	3–1	Sweden	90	1
4	20 Mar 1927	Vienna	Friendly	1–2	Czechoslovakia	90	0
5	10 Apr 1927	Vienna	Friendly	6–0	Hungary	48	0
6	6 May 1928	Vienna	Friendly	3–0	Yugoslavia	90	0
7	28 Oct 1928	Vienna	Central European International Cup	2–0	Switzerland	90	0
8	23 Mar 1930	Prague	Friendly	2–2	Czechoslovakia	90	0
9	16 May 1931	Vienna	Friendly	5–0	Scotland	90	1
10	24 May 1931	Berlin	Friendly	6–0	Germany	90	0
11	14 Sep 1931	Vienna	Friendly	5-0	Germany	90	3
12	4 Oct 1931	Budapest	Central European International Cup	2–2	Hungary	90	0
13	29 Nov 1931	Basel	Central European International Cup	8–1	Switzerland	90	1
14	20 Mar 1932	Vienna	Central European International Cup	2–1	Italy	90	2
15	24 Apr 1932	Vienna	Friendly	8–2	Hungary	90	3
16	22 May 1932	Prague	Central European International Cup	1–1	Czechoslovakia	90	1
17	17 Jul 1932	Stockholm	Friendly	4–3	Sweden	90	1
18	2 Oct 1932	Budapest	Friendly	3–2	Hungary	90	0
19	23 Oct 1932	Vienna	Central European International Cup	3–1	Switzerland	90	0
20	7 Dec 1932	London	Friendly	3–4	England	90	1
21	12 Feb 1933	Paris	Friendly	4–0	France	90	1
22.	9 April 1933	Vienna	Friendly	1–2	Czechoslovakia	90	0
23	30 Apr 1933	Budapest	Friendly	1–1	Hungary	90	0
24	11 Jun 1933	Vienna	Friendly	4–1	Belgium	90	1
25	17 Sep 1933	Prague	Friendly	3–3	Czechoslovakia	90	2
26	1 Oct 1933	Vienna	Friendly	2–2	Hungary	90	0
27	29 Nov 1933	Glasgow	Friendly	2–2	Scotland	90	0
28	10 Dec 1933	Amsterdam	Friendly	1–0	Netherlands	90	0
29	15 Apr 1934	Vienna	Friendly	5–2	Hungary	90	0
30	25 Apr 1934	Vienna	World Cup qualification	6–1	Bulgaria	90	1
31	27 May 1934	Turin	1934 FIFA World Cup	3–2	France	120	1
32	31 May 1934	Bologna	1934 FIFA World Cup	2–1	Hungary	90	0
33	3 Jun 1934	Milan	1934 FIFA World Cup	0–1	Italy	90	0
34	23 Sep 1934	Vienna	Central European International Cup	2–2	Czechoslovakia	90	0
35	7 Oct, 1934	Budapest	Central European International Cup	1–3	Hungary	90	0
36	24 Mar 1935	Vienna	Central European International Cup	0–2	Italy	90	0
37	6 May 1936	Vienna	Friendly	2–1	England	90	0
38	17 May 1936	Rome	Friendly	2–2	Italy	90	0
39	27 Sep 1936	Budapest	Central European International Cup	3–5	Hungary	90	2
40	21 Mar 1937	Vienna	Central European International Cup	2–0	Italy	73	0
41	9 May 1937	Vienna	Friendly	1–1	Scotland	90	0
42	23 May 1937	Budapest	Friendly	2–2	Hungary	90	0
43	19 Sep 1937	Vienna	Central European International Cup	4–3	Switzerland	90	1
Totals						3841	26
==	3 Apr 1938	Vienna	Friendly	2–0	Germany	90	1

Team record

In the 43 matches that Sindelar played, Austria had a total record of 25 victories, 11 draws, and just 7 losses, with Sindelar scoring 26 times.

Death and myth

Refusing to leave his home country, Sindelar refused to play for the new German national team citing old age (by this point he was 35 years old) and injury as his excuse.

Sindelar's grave at Vienna's Zentralfriedhof

On 23 January 1939 both Sindelar and his girlfriend Camilla Castagnola were found dead at the apartment they shared in Vienna; the official verdict cited carbon monoxide poisoning as the cause.

Honours

Sindelar was ranked as Austria's best footballer of the twentieth century by the IFFHS, also ranking as the world's 22nd best. His career titles include:

Club

Austria Wien

• 1. Liga
  • Winner: 1926
  • Runner Up: (2) 1925, 1937
• Austrian Cup
  • Winner: (5) 1925, 1926, 1933, 1935, 1936
• Mitropa Cup
  • Winner: (2) 1933, 1936

International

Austria

• FIFA World Cup
  • Semi-finals: 1934
• Central European International Cup
  • Winner: 1931–32
  • Runner-up: (2) 1927–30, 1933–35

Individual

• FIFA World Cup Silver Ball: 1934

See also

In Spanish: Matthias Sindelar para niños