Sevi

A very heroic photograph.
Severino Minelli  represented Switzerland 80 times (1930-43).

He played for Servette and Grasshopper Club Zürich. When he left home to join Servette as a 19 year old it entailed a 350km cycle ride.
Minelli was the 'verrou' (bolt) in Karl Rappan's system, playing as a sweeper up behind the other defenders. 

Poldi Kielholz

Footballers who wore spectacles. It's been a pet subject of mine for many years. Nearsighted footballers in the pre war years didn't have the option of contact lenses or corrective surgery. If you've ever played with glasses on (and remember these were heavy glass lenses) you'll appreciate what a challenge it is.

It didn't seem to hamper Leopold 'Poldi' Kielholz. He played at the highest level in Switzerland and France for 18 years and appeared at 2 World Cups. In the pre Challenge National era  Kielholz played for BSC Old Boys Basel (1927-28), Black Stars Basel (1928-30) and FC Basel (1930-32). He joined Servette in 1932.

In 1933 the Challenge National kicked off, and Kielholz was top scorer with 40 goals. This haul has never been bettered. In all he played 188 league games, scoring 101 goals.

In 1935 Kielholz became player coach at FC Bern, a role he also undertook at Stade Reims . In 1937 he returned to Switzerland where he played for St. Gallen and later Young Fellows Zurich.

 Kielholz represented Switzerland 17 times, scoring 12 goals.

Teddy Duckworth- Switzerland 1924

The 1924 Olympics in Paris marked a high point in the history of Swiss Football. 
In 19 years of international football the Swiss had played 53 matches, recording 15 wins, 9 draws and 29 defeats.
At the tournament they began by smashing Lithuania 9-0. Paul Sturzenegger (FC Zurich) scored 4 and  Max 'Xam' Abegglen (Grasshopper) 3.
In the next round they drew 1-1 with Czechoslovakia, winning the replay 1-0.
The following match saw Sturzenegger and Abegglen score as Vittorio Pozzo's Italy were beaten 2-1.
Abegglen added another 2 goals to his tally as Switzerland beat Sweden 2-1. This game took place on the 5th June, which was also the expiry date for the Swiss party's rail tickets! They considered withdrawing in order to avoid incurring additional costs but a newspaper appeal raised the funds needed to prolong their stay in Paris.  This victory over the Swedes, the surprise package of the games, set up a final against Uruguay.
The Swiss were easily beaten 3-0 in front of a crowd of 60,000. Abegglen finished top scorer with 6 goals (second only to Petrone, on 8) and Sturzenegger scored 5. Xam Abegglen scored 34 goals in 68 appearances for Switzerland , a record that was unequaled until 2001.

The Swiss national team was run by a three man committee known as  the Technical Commission. Each area of the country was represented by a coach. The Swiss favoured this arrangement up until the 1934 World Cup. In this case the trio was Jimmy Hogan (England-Young Boys), Dori Kürschner (Hungary- Grasshopper) and Teddy Duckworth (England- Servette). Hogan, of course, was one of the most influential figures in the development of continental football. Kürschner  had enjoyed success in Hungary, Germany and with Grasshopper- but it was his influence on Brazilian coaching and tactics that later made his name. The triumvirate was headed by Teddy Duckworth.
Duckworth was the man who actually took the team to Paris, and it was he who was awarded a silver medal. 
Duckworth (whose first names were Thomas Crook- Teddy being a nickname) was born in Blackpool, Lancashire. He made his debut for Blackpool FC in 1902. He played at outside right.
He played 9 games in the 1902-03 season before moving to West Ham United of the Southern League. He then joined First Division Blackburn Rovers. His only 1st team appearance in 2 seasons at Rovers came on 1st October 1904, a 1-0 defeat at home to The Wednesday. Duckworth  rejoined Blackpool in 1905-06, making a further 21 appearances for the club.
Duckworth's coaching career appears to have begun in 1919 when he joined Servette. Under his leadership 
Servette won Swiss Série A in 1922,1925, 1926 and 1930. They won the Swiss Cup in 1928.
Duckworth led the Switzerland selection to the Olympics in 1928, but they went out in the first round, beaten 4-0 by Germany. 

China in Europe 1936

China v Great Britain 1936

The China squad for the 1936 Olympics in Berlin consisted of ethnic Chinese players from Hong Kong, Shanghai, Singapore, and Java. Following a couple of trial matches the squad was named in April, and then, following 7 warm -up games in Hong Kong, Shanghai and Nanking, undertook an arduous 27 match tour of Indo China, the Dutch East Indies, Singapore, Burma and India before travelling to Europe.
Their record in these preparation games, played between May 8th and July 8th was:
Played: 34
Won: 28
Drawn: 4
Lost: 2
For: 141
Against: 41

The 1936 Olympic football tournament was a straight knock-out.  China were drawn against Great Britain in the first round. Great Britain won 2-0 through second half goals by John Dodds (Queen's Park) and Lester Finch (Barnet).
So after months of preparation and thousands of kilometers of travelling China's Olympics lasted 90 minutes.

The following week China played the first match of a three week tour of Europe.
The details of the first match on August 13th are unclear- they played a South-West Germany representative team in Frankfurt and lost (some sources give the score as 8-1 and others 8-3)*.
The Chinese then travelled to Vienna where they lost 4-2 to Rapid on August 15th and were thrashed 11-0 by Admira the following day.
On August 20th they defeated Servette 3-2 in Geneva.
Next stop was France and a 2-2 draw with Red Star Olympique in Paris on August 22nd followed by a 6-0 beating at the hands of Le Havre on the 23rd.
Ajax were the next team to entertain the China team, the Dutch winning 5-3 on August 27th.
The tourists then crossed the channel and met two English amateur sides. Their detour to England ended winless- On August 31st Islington Corinthians FC beat them 3-2 and Casuals 5-2 on September 1st.

The record of the European part of the tour (excluding the Olympic match) was:
Played: 9
Won: 1
Drawn: 1
Lost: 7
For: 15 or 17*
Against: 46

The star of the China squad was Lee Wai Tong. He received offers of contracts whilst in Europe, but, approaching his 31st birthday, he had resolved to retire from the game after the tour.

Coupe des Nations 1930

Újpest 

Europe didn't embrace the first World Cup with any great enthusiasm. Four European teams entered (Belgium, France, Romania and Yugoslavia), but certainly not the continent's strongest.
Meanwhile, Servette, a Geneva based Swiss club and reigning national champions, had a new stadium to unveil- Stade des Charmilles.

Servette FC 

A summer tournament for the leading continental club sides was arranged- England and Scotland were not included as they were not affiliated to FIFA at the time. Portugal's Benfica rejected the invitation, and the FA's of Norway and Greece objected to being overlooked.
Fifteen matches in eight days- a real feast of football. Taking part were:


First Vienna FC (Austria)
Cercle Brugge (Belgium)
SK Slavia Prague (Czechoslovakia)
Sète (France)
SpVgg Fürth (Germany)
Újpest FC (Hungary)
AGC Bologna (Italy)
Go Ahead (Netherlands)
Real Unión Irún (Spain)
Servette FC (Switzerland)

The final, a rematch of the 1929 Mitropa Final, was watched by 22,000. Újpest beat Slavia 3-0 through a János Köves hat trick. the game was refereed by S F Rous- the leading ref of the day.
Újpest scored 16 goals and conceded only 1 in 4 games.