Fritz Walter

Early club career

Born on 31 October 1920, Walter was exposed to football early with his parents, Ludwig (1894–1976) and Dorothea Walter (née Kieburg; 1896–1978), working at the 1. FC Kaiserslautern club restaurant. By 1928 he had joined the Kaiserslautern youth academy, and he made his first team debut at 17, continuing an association with the club that would be his only professional club. International pro teams had repeatedly offered him hefty sums, but with support from his wife always declined in order to stay at home, to play for his home town, the national team and "Chef" (German for "Boss") Herberger.

International debut

Walter debuted with the Germany national team in 1940 under Sepp Herberger, and scored a hat-trick against Romania.

War

Walter was drafted into the armed forces in 1942. However, the end of the war found 24-year-old Walter in a Prisoner of War camp in Maramures in which he played with Hungarian and Slovak guards. When the Soviets arrived they generally took all German prisoners back to Gulags in the Soviet Union. One of the Hungarian prison guards had seen Walter playing for Germany, and told them that Fritz was not German but from the Saar Protectorate. Walter would later call the match in question as the most important of his life as it spared him and his brother from a gulag sentence.

Return to Germany

Upon his return in 1945, Walter, who by now suffered from malaria, again played for Kaiserslautern, leading…

Club

Source:

International

Scores and results list Germany's goal tally first, score column indicates score after each Walter goal.

Knight Commander's Cross of the Order of Merit of the Federal Republic of Germany

Walter's wife of five decades was Italia Walter (née Bortoluzzi; 1921–2001), a woman from Belluno, Italy. It was popular knowledge in Germany that Walter played better the worse the weather was, which led to the term "Fritz-Walter-Wetter" (Fritz Walter weather) to describe rainy weather conditions. He had contracted malaria during the war, making it hard for him to play in hot weather; soggy, heavy ground also gave him an advantage due to his superior technique. The 1954 World Cup final was played in such conditions. On 6 October 1956, Walter scored a spectacular goal in Leipzig in front of 100,000 East Germans during a friendly against Wismut Aue, when he hit the ball back-heel while diving forward.

Club

1. FC Kaiserslautern

German football championship: 1950–51, 1952–53

International

West Germany

FIFA World Cup: 1954

Individual

FIFA World Cup Bronze Ball: 1954 FIFA World Cup All-Star Team: 1954 FIFA Order of Merit: 1995 UEFA German Golden Player: 2003 UEFA Jubilee Poll (2004): #68 Member of Germany's Sports Hall of Fame

VfB Stuttgart

Bundesliga: 1991–92 DFL-Supercup: 1992 UEFA Cup runner-up: 1988–89 Germany U23

Olympic bronze medal: 1988 Individual

Bundesliga top scorer: 1991–92