Matthias Sindelar


Matthias Sindelar was an Austrian footballer who played for Austria Vienna and the Austrian national football team
He played as a centre-forward for the celebrated Austria national team of the early 1930s known as the Wunderteam, which he captained at the 1934 World Cup. Known as "The Mozart of football" or 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 and was named Austria's sportsman of the century a year before.

Early years

Of Czech descent, Sindelar was born Matěj Šindelář in Kozlov, Moravia, then part of the Austro-Hungarian Empire, the son of Jan Šindelář, a blacksmith, and his wife Marie. Despite occasional claims that Sindelar was of Jewish origin, the family was Catholic. They moved to Vienna in 1905 and settled in the district of Favoriten, which had a large Czech-speaking community. Young Matěj/Matthias began playing football in the streets of Vienna.

Club career (1918–1939)

At the age of 15, the Sindelar joined Hertha Vienna, playing there until 1924, when he was brought to FK Austria Vienna, whose name at the time was Wiener Amateur-SV, up to 1926. He helped the team win the Austrian Cup in 1925, 1926, 1933, 1935 and 1936, a league title in 1926, and the Mitropa Cup in 1933 and 1936.
In 2001, Sindelar was chosen in Austria's 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. Anecdote has it that some Viennese football fans went to 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, after a falling-out caused by his individualism. David Goldblatt described the events:
He made his international debut in 1926 and played well before falling out of favour with the disciplinarian Meisl. Four years in the international wilderness followed until Meisl was cornered by a gathering of the city's leading football commentators as he sat in the Ring Café in 1931. Everyone was arguing for Sindelar's recall and Meisl changed his mind. Sindelar played. Scotland were beaten and the Wunderteam - already disciplined, organized, hardworking and professional - acquired their playmaker and inspiration, that vital spark of unpredictability.

1934 World Cup

Sindelar and Austria were especially prominent at the 1934 World Cup. The high point was their defeat of Hungary in 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 then suffered a controversial defeat to 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 its last match as an independent Austrian team, as some weeks earlier, Germany had annexed Austria and the Nazis ordered the dissolution of the Austrian team into a common team with Germany, even though it had qualified for the 1938 FIFA World Cup.
The match was dubbed as a game for celebrating the Anschluss and Austria's "coming home to the Reich". The Austrians played on the wish of Sindelar in red-white-red kits instead of their traditional white and black. Austria missed out many sitters 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 reported 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 #DateLocationType of
match		ResultOpponentMinutes
played		GoalsNotes
128 Sep 1926PragueFriendly2–1901
210 Oct 1926ViennaFriendly7–1902
37 Nov 1926ViennaFriendly3–1901
420 Mar 1927ViennaFriendly1–2900
510 Apr 1927ViennaFriendly6–0480
66 May 1928ViennaFriendly3–0900
728 Oct 1928ViennaDr. Gerö Cup2–0900
823 Mar 1930PragueFriendly2–2900
916 May 1931ViennaFriendly5–0901
1024 May 1931BerlinFriendly6–0900
1114 Sep 1931ViennaFriendly5-0903
124 Oct 1931BudapestDr. Gerö Cup2–2900
1329 Nov 1931BaselDr. Gerö Cup8–1901
1420 Mar 1932ViennaDr. Gerö Cup2–1902
1524 Apr 1932ViennaFriendly8–2903
1622 May 1932PragueDr. Gerö Cup1–1901
1717 Jul 1932StockholmFriendly4–3901
182 Oct 1932BudapestFriendly3–2900
1923 Oct 1932ViennaDr.GeröCup3–1900
207 Dec 1932LondonFriendly3–4901
2112 Feb 1933ParisFriendly4–0901
22.9 April 1933ViennaFriendly1–2900
2330 Apr 1933BudapestFriendly1–1900
2411 Jun 1933ViennaFriendly4–1901
2517 Sep 1933PragueFriendly3–3902
261 Oct 1933ViennaFriendly2–2900
2729 Nov 1933GlasgowFriendly2–2900
2810 Dec 1933AmsterdamFriendly1–0900
2915 Apr 1934ViennaFriendly5–2900
3025 Apr 1934ViennaWorld Cup qualification6–1901
3127 May 1934TurinWorld Cup3–21201
3231 May 1934BolognaWorld Cup2–1900
333 Jun 1934MilanWorld Cup0–1900
3423 Sep 1934ViennaDr. Gerö Cup2–2900
357 Oct, 1934BudapestDr.Gerö Cup1–3900
3624 Mar 1935ViennaDr. Gerö Cup0–2900
376 May 1936ViennaFriendly2–1900
3817 May 1936RomeFriendly2–2900
3927 Sep 1936BudapestDr. Gerö Cup3–5902
4021 Mar 1937ViennaDr. Gerö Cup2–0730
419 May 1937ViennaFriendly1–1900
4223 May 1937BudapestFriendly2–2900
4319 Sep 1937ViennaDr. Gerö Cup4–3901
Totals384126
3 Apr 1938ViennaFriendly2–0901

Team record

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

Death and myth

Always refusing to leave his home country, Sindelar refused to play for Germany after Austria was annexed by Nazi Germany in 1938, citing old age or injury as his excuse.

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. Different theories speculated that his death was an accident, suicide or murder.
Austrian writer Friedrich Torberg later dedicated the poem "Auf den Tod eines Fußballspielers" to Sindelar. The poem suggested that he had committed suicide as a result of the German Anschluss of Austria in 1938. On the other hand, it has been thought and reported that his death was accidental, caused by a defective chimney. A neighbour had reported a defective chimney in the block a few days before Sindelar's death. However, in a 2000s documentary screened on the BBC, Egon Ulbrich, a lifelong friend of Sindelar, stated that a local official was bribed to record his death as an accident, which ensured that he would receive a state funeral. "According to the Nazi rules, a person who had been murdered or who has committed suicide cannot be given a grave of honour. So we had to do something to ensure that the criminal element involved in his death was removed''," he stated. It has also been suggested that Sindelar was killed for his opposition for the Anschluss. The Nazi secret police force, the notorious Gestapo, had a file on him and had kept his café under surveillance.

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: