Karl Mai

This article is about the German footballer. For the German writer, see Karl May.
Karl Mai
Personal information
Date of birth27 July 1928
Place of birthFürth, Germany
Date of death15 March 1993 (aged 64)
Playing positionMidfielder
Senior career*
YearsTeamApps(Gls)
1942–1958SpVgg Fürth182(17)
1958–1961Bayern Munich13(1)
1961FC Young Fellows Zürich
1962–1963FC Dornbirn
National team
1953–1959West Germany21(1)
Teams managed
1963ESV Ingolstadt
* Senior club appearances and goals counted for the domestic league only.
† Appearances (Goals).

Karl (Charly) Mai (27 July 1928 – 15 March 1993) was a German footballer. He was born in Fürth.

He was part of the West German team that won the 1954 FIFA World Cup. In total he earned 21 caps and scored one goal for West Germany.[1] During his club career he played for SpVgg Fürth and Bayern Munich.[2]

Sepp Herberger compared Mai's playing style to that of 1930s player Andreas Kupfer but also appreciated his solidity and straightness. In the 1954 World Cup Final Mai faced Sandor Kocsis who had scored no less than 11 goals up to that game, yet he failed to score in the final as Mai performed a rigid marking job on Kocsis. Mai was an outspoken player who also did not shy away from stating his opinion towards Herberger.[3]

After his professional career he became a coach in the 1960s and then a school trainer. In the early 1990s, his right lung was removed. He died in 1993.[3]

References

  1. "Karl Mai" (in German). fussballdaten.de. Retrieved 28 November 2012.
  2. "Karl Mai" (in German). weltfussball.de. Retrieved 23 January 2010.
  3. 3.0 3.1 Bitter, Jürgen (1997). Deutschlands Fußball Nationalspieler (in German). Sportverlag. p. 296.