Emil Walter

Early career

Born in the Baden-Württemberg city of Pforzheim on 7 April 1900, Walter began playing football with his Oberrealschule team, celebrating his first major victory with them against the local gymnasium. In 1916, the 16-year-old Walter made his senior debut with his hometown club Germania Brötzingen, with whom he achieved promotion to the Kreisliga in 1920. At the time, it was not possible to live exclusively from football, so he also worked as a foreign trade clerk at the Bijouterie-Fabrik Pforzheim, which led him to learn several foreign languages. In the early 1920s, the German economy was struggling to recover after the First World War, so he decided to take advantage of his contacts in Spain to join the Ferreteria Costa Ferran in 1922, a metal company based in Figueres, Catalonia, and whose new boss was also chairman of UE Figueres, with whom Walter was already playing just two weeks after his arrival in Spain. In an interview to Mundo Deportivo in 1950, he stated that he "came to Spain with purely commercial activities", but soon began playing for Figueres, where he won a Girona championship.

FC Barcelona

His precise passing, horse lungs, and exceptional shooting power impressed Barcelona's coach Jack Greenwell in a friendly match against them in 1922, so Greenwell invited him to a trial that Walter passed, but was then unable to sign him because he still had to do his job at the metal company in Figueres. It was not until 1924 that Walter…

As a Barça player, Walter was eligible to play for the Catalan national team, making his debut at the inauguration of the Montjuïc Stadium, on 20 May 1929, against Bolton Wanderers.

After returning to Germany, Walter coached his former club, Germania Brötzingen, until 1935, when he took over RSV 09 Hückeswagen, leading them to the championship in the 2nd district league, thus achieving promotion to the next level. After a brief stint in the Bergisches Land region and Gaggenau, he returned to his hometown, Pforzheim, in 1941. During the World War II, he was with the German troops on the Pyrenees border when he suddenly defected and grabbed his officer's motorcycle to travel to the Montjuïc Stadium to reunite with his good friend Picard. The turmoil caused by the War brought hardship to the Walter family, so some of his former Barça teammates and friends organized a relief fund for him in 1947, which was supported with a special stamp (without postal value) that was issued in 1948. At Barça's invitation, Walter and his wife traveled to Catalonia in March 1950, being greeted by a large crowd at the train station on 15 March, and taking the kick-off for a tribute match between Barça and Espanyol at Les Corts on 26 March 1950, which 40,000 people attended.

Barcelona

La Liga: 1929 Copa del Rey: 1925, 1926, 1928 Campionat de Catalunya (6): 1924–25, 1926–27, 1927–28, 1929–30, 1930–31, 1931–32