Matthias Sindelar

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Matthias Sindelar (February 10, 1903 - January 23, 1939) was an Austrian footballer and a member of the Austria national team during the 1934 World Cup. He was voted the best Austrian footballer of the 20th Century in a poll by the IFFHS,^[1] and was named Austria's sportsman of the century.^[2]

Sindelar, born in Kozlau, in the Austro-Hungarian empire, came from a poor family and began playing football in the streets of Vienna, where he earned the nickname Der Papierene (Man of Paper) for his extraordinary ability to slip through defences and avoid robust tackles.^{[citation needed]} At the age of 15, Sindelar signed for Hertha Vienna before breaking into the first team at FK Austria Vienna, guiding them to three Austrian Cups in his first three seasons there.

[edit] National team

Sindelar became an essential part of the Austrian 'Wunderteam' that was coached by Hugo Meisl. He scored the winner in his debut match for the side in a 2-1 victory over Czechoslovakia in 1926. He then scored two goals in the team's 7-1 win over Switzerland. In all, Sindelar was capped 44 times for his country, scoring 27 goals.

Sindelar was especially prominent at the 1934 FIFA World Cup when Austria reached the semi-finals of the tournament only to be defeated, controversially, to the host nation. The high point being their defeat of Hungary when Sindelar was matched up against Gyorgy Sarosi, another fine centre-half (Sarosi would go on to claim a runners-up medal at the following World Cup in France) in a bruising encounter: one Hungarian being sent-off, one penalty awarded and Johann Horvath, the Austrian midfielder, was injured and missed the semi-final against Italy.

Always refusing to leave his home country, Sindelar refused to play for Germany when the Austrian state was annexed by the Nazis in 1938, citing old age or injury as his excuse.

[edit] Death

On January 23, 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.

The Austrian writer Friedrich Torberg later dedicated the poem "Auf den Tod eines Fußballers" ("On the death of a footballer") to Sindelar. The poem suggested that he had committed suicide as a result of the German Anschluss of Austria in 1938. However, his death is now thought to have been accidental, caused by a defective chimney.^[3]