Hermann Friese

Hermann Friese (Hamburg, 30 May 1882 or 22 May 1880 - São Paulo October 1945) was a German-Brazilian athlete, association football player and referee. He is considered alongside Charles Miller, Hans Nobiling and Oscar Cox one of the most important pioneers of football in Brazil and is recognized as the first exceptional footballer there.

In 1903 aged 21, he migrated from Germany to Brazil where he joined Sport Club Germânia, the club of the German community of São Paulo, founded in 1899 by Hans Nobiling. Like Nobiling Friese played in Hamburg for SC Germania 1887 - one of the precursors of today's Hamburger SV - which gave name and colours to the Brazilian club.

Friese was top scorer of the State Championship of São Paulo, the Campeonato Paulista of 1905 with 14 goals and won the championship mit Germânia in 1906 and 1915. In 1903 the newspaper O Estado de S. Paulo called him "the most sensational player of all time" (o jogador mais sensacional de todos os tempos).

Friese was also coach of the team where around 1909 Arthur Friedenreich obtained his first experiences. "Fried," these days considered of one of the greatest players of all time, was son of a German businessman that migrated from Hamburg and a black Brazilian woman. By intervention of Friese, statutes of the club prohibiting the membership of coloured people were removed.

Friese also was a football referee - then not uncommon for a player - and officiated the deciding matches of the State Championships of 1903, 1904, 1910 and 1920. He also was referee of the Troféu Interestadual of 1910, where Botafogo FC of Rio de Janeiro defeated AA das Palmeiras with 7-2 in the Velódromo of São Paulo.

On 22 October 1916 he officiated the State Championship between Santos FC and CA Ypiranga, which also was the opening match for the stadium of Santos, the Vila Belmiro. Santos won the match 2-1. Altogether Friese arbitrated 53 or more State Championship matches.

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