Matthias Sindelar
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| Personal information | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Full name | Matthias Sindelar | ||
| Date of birth | 10 February 1903 | ||
| Place of birth | Kozlov, Austria-Hungary | ||
| Date of death | 23 January 1939 (aged 35) | ||
| Place of death | Vienna, Nazi Germany | ||
| Height | 1.75 m (5 ft 9 in) | ||
| Playing position | Centre-forward | ||
| Youth career | |||
| 1918–1924 | ASV Hertha Vienna | ||
| Senior career* | |||
| Years | Team | Apps | (Gls) |
| 1924–1939 | FK Austria Vienna | ||
| National team | |||
| 1926–1937 | Austria | 43 | (26) |
| * Senior club appearances and goals counted for the domestic league only. |
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Matthias Sindelar (10 February 1903 – 23 January 1939) was an Austrian footballer.
He played as a centre-forward for the celebrated Austria national team of the early 1930s known as the Wunderteam, which he captained at the 1934 World Cup.
Known as "The Mozart of football" or – 'The Paper Man' for his slight build, he was renowned as one of the finest pre-war footballers, known for his fantastic dribbling ability and creativity.
He was voted the best Austrian footballer of the 20th Century in a 1999 poll by the International Federation of Football History and Statistics (IFFHS) and was named Austria's sportsman of the century a year before.
Of Czech descent, Sindelar was born Matěj Šindelář in Kozlov, Moravia, then part of the Austro-Hungarian Empire, the son of Jan Šindelář, a blacksmith, and his wife Marie (née Švengrová). Despite occasional claims that Sindelar was of Jewish origin, the family was Catholic. They moved to Vienna in 1905 and settled in the district of Favoriten, which had a large Czech-speaking community. Young Matěj/Matthias began playing football in the streets of Vienna.
At the age of 15, the Sindelar joined Hertha Vienna, playing there until 1924, when he was brought to FK Austria Vienna, whose name at the time was Wiener Amateur-SV, up to 1926. He helped the team win the Austrian Cup in 1925, 1926, 1933, 1935 and 1936, a league title in 1926, and the Mitropa Cup in 1933 and 1936.
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