Ernst Kuzorra

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Ernst Kuzorra
Kuzorra87.jpg
Kuzorra in 1987
Personal information
Date of birth (1905-10-16)16 October 1905
Place of birth Gelsenkirchen, Germany
Date of death 1 January 1990(1990-01-01) (aged 84)
Position(s) Forward
Youth career
1920–1923 Schalke 04
Senior career*
Years Team Apps (Gls)
1923–1950 Schalke 04 277 (289)
National team
1927–1938 Germany 12 (7)
Teams managed
1935–1936 Borussia Dortmund
1946–1947 Schalke 04
* Senior club appearances and goals counted for the domestic league only

Ernst Kuzorra (16 October 1905 – 1 January 1990) was a German footballer of the pre-war era. During his entire career, he played for Schalke 04, whom he led to six national championships and one national cup. He is commonly regarded as the greatest Schalke player of all time alongside Fritz Szepan. A highly athletic, technical and prolific forward, Kuzorra is also commonly regarded as one of the greatest German forwards.

Life[]

Ernst Kuzorra was born as the son of Karl Kuzorra from East Prussia and his wife Bertha in the industrial town of Gelsenkirchen where his father worked as a coal miner. Ernst joined the club in 1920 at the age of 14, allegedly playing his first match in his confirmation shoes after being asked to join the team while watching from the sidelines. Three years later, he advanced to the first team, where he soon became one of the starting players. During the years 1930–31, he and thirteen teammates were banned for a relatively minor infraction of the strict amateur statutes, having received ten instead of the allowed five Reichsmark as compensation for playing in an away game.

In the following years, Kuzorra along with his brother-in-law Fritz Szepan led Schalke to become the dominant team in German soccer, winning six national championships from 1934 to 1942. He was one of the main axes of what became known as the Schalker Kreisel, a system that used quick, short passes to confuse and overwhelm the opponent.

Even though he may have been the best German player on his position at the time, he only had 12 appearances for the national team,[1] a fact that is widely attributed to bad relations with national coach Otto Nerz. Nevertheless, because of his success and his athletic prowess, national socialist propaganda soon took an interest in him. Great efforts were made to show that Kuzorra, despite his Slavic sounding name and mixed origin, was in fact of purely Germanic stock. The success of these efforts was limited, however, as Kuzorra remained politically uninterested and due to his taciturn character a poor instrument for public campaigns.

After the war, Kuzorra remained playing for a few years, mainly for material reasons - at the time, soccer players were often reimbursed in otherwise scarce foodstuff. In 1950 he retired, and from then on earned his livelihood as proprietor of a tobacco and lottery store. Over time, he became a living legend, especially among the supporters of Schalke 04. In 1985, he finally received the honorary citizenship of his home town, Gelsenkirchen. Ernst Kuzorra died on New Year's Day in 1990 at the age of 84.

Career statistics[]

Club[]

Appearances and goals by club, season and competition[2][3]
Club Season League German
Champ'ship		 Cup[a] Other[b] Total
Division Apps Goals Apps Goals Apps Goals Apps Goals Apps Goals
Schalke 04 1924–26 Emscher-Kreisliga 9 16 — — — 9 16
1926–27 Gauliga Ruhr 14 21 1 0 — 8 11 23 32
1927–28 Gauliga Ruhr 10 16 1 0 — 9 11 20 27
1928–29 Gauliga Ruhr 7 11 2 1 — 9 8 18 20
1929–30 Gauliga Ruhr 16 34 2 1 — 6 5 24 40
1930–31 Gauliga Ruhr 0 0 — — — 0 0
1931–32 Gauliga Ruhr 11 18 3 2 — 5 9 19 29
1932–33 Gauliga Ruhr 15 19 4 2 — 5 4 24 25
1933–34 Gauliga Westfalen 16 18 4 3 — — 20 21
1934–35 Gauliga Westfalen 16 5 6 6 — — 22 11
1935–36 Gauliga Westfalen 15 18 8 8 6 9 — 29 35
1936–37 Gauliga Westfalen 14 15 7 5 7 4 — 28 24
1937–38 Gauliga Westfalen 17 21 9 5 6 0 — 32 26
1938–39 Gauliga Westfalen 16 9 7 4 1 2 — 24 15
1939–40 Gauliga Westfalen 11 8 7 7 2 2 — 20 17
1940–41 Gauliga Westfalen 16 13 8 2 3 0 — 27 15
1941–42 Gauliga Westfalen 12 12 5 2 6 4 — 23 18
1942–43 Gauliga Westfalen 15 12 3 0 4 3 4 4 26 19
1943–44 Gauliga Westfalen 12 11 2 0 4 2 4 4 22 17
1944–45 Gauliga Westfalen 4 5 — — — 4 5
1945–46 Landesliga Westfalen 6 2 — — — 6 2
1946–47 Landesliga Westfalen 7 4 — — 5 0 12 4
1947–48 Oberliga West 14 1 — — — 14 1
1948–49 Oberliga West 4 0 — — — 4 0
Career total 277 289 79 48 39 26 55 56 450 419
  1. ^ Tschammer-Pokal (forerunner of today's DFB-Pokal)
  2. ^ Includes Ruhr / Western German championship (1926–1933), Westphalian Cup (1943–1944), Westphalian / British zone championship (1947)

International[]

Appearances and goals by national team and year[1]
National team Year Apps Goals
Germany 1927 1 0
1928 2 1
1929 0 0
1930 2 3
1931 2 1
1932 3 0
1933 0 0
1934 0 0
1935 0 0
1936 1 2
1937 0 0
1938 1 0
Total 12 7

Honours[]

Schalke 04

References[]

  1. ^ Jump up to: a b Arnhold, Matthias (22 September 2016). "Ernst Kuzorra - Goals in International Matches". RSSSF. Retrieved 26 September 2016.
  2. ^ FC Schalke 04 (2015). Königsblau: Die Geschichte des FC Schalke 04. Die Werkstatt. ISBN 978-3-7307-0204-8.
  3. ^ "Ernst Kuzorra » Club matches". worldfootball.net.

External links[]

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