- Karl Kurz
Karl Kurz (born
November 21 1898 - diedNovember 26 1933 inBasel ,Switzerland ) was anAustria n football player and manager.Playing career
Club
Kurz played mostly as a winger but by the end of his career he had been deployed as a central midfielder on occasions. Slight in stature, his preferences lay in the ball control, the game overview and the positional play.
He began playing football as a pupil at
Klosterneuburg drill ground and eventually played for theVienna school boys' team and the youth team atFirst Vienna FC where he played alongsideVictor Hierländer andKarl Jiszda . In 1915, he began playing for Floridsdorfer Amateurs but after just three games he joined theAustrian Army and inMay 1916 he was sent into battle duringWorld War One . He returned from the war wounded in 1917 and began playing withFK Austria Wien after his recovery, and helped them finish league runners up in 1920.In 1921, he moved to Ridge Vienna FC where he finished league runner up twice more. He then signed for 1 more season with Simmeringer SC and retired in
March 1927 to work as a coach inLatvia . However, he returned to Vienna inOctober of that year to play amateur football but had to retire in Winter 1928 due to an illness that would later turn out to beleukaemia .International
Kurz's first international appearance for Austria came in
November 1919 against Hungary. From 1921 until 1926 he played as Austria's right winger in every fixture. His last game for Austria was against Italy inNovember 1928. He earned 32 caps for Austria and 15 for the Vienna Select XI.Coaching career
After a short spell as a coach in
Latvia in 1927, Kurz's next coaching roll was as assistant manager toRobert Lang atFK Austria Wien in 1929. In 1930, he became manager ofFC Grenchen inSwitzerland and thenFC Basel in 1931. At Basel, he won the 1933Schweizer Cup with two fellow Austrians,Ferdinand Wesely andOtto Haftl , in the team.Death
He died on
November 26 1933 inBasel when hisleukaemia worsened. He was 35 years old.External links
* [http://www.austria-archiv.at/spieler.php?Spieler_ID=363 Austrian Football Archive]
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