Elf Freunde müsst ihr sein, wenn ihr Siege wollt erringen...

The textbook of coaching that was the cornerstone of the development of football-thought in pre war Germany was Fußball. Theorie, Technik, Taktik by Richard Girulatis.
The book was the source of Sepp Herbergers oft quoted dictum Elf Freunde müsst ihr sein, wenn ihr Siege wollt erringen...(you must be 11 friends to win your victories)*

In the 1920s two dominant rival forces from the south arose in German football- 1. FC Nürnberg and SpVgg.Fürth. Rivalry between the two clubs (the cities are just 8 km apart) was intense. There is a story of a player who had to leave SpVgg after he married a Nuremberg girl. 

	Deutsche Meisterschaft	Süddeutsche Meisterschaft	Kreisliga Bayern
1920	1. FCN	1. FCN	1. FCN
1921	1. FCN	1. FCN	1. FCN
1922			SpVgg	Bezirksliga Bayern
1923		SpVgg	SpVgg
1924	1. FCN	1. FCN		1. FCN
1925	1. FCN			1. FCN
1926	SpVgg
1927	1. FCN	1. FCN		1. FCN
1928				SpVgg
1929	SpVgg	1. FCN		1. FCN

The strength of the neighbours gave rise to a situation whereby a German team selected to face the Netherlands in Amsterdam on 21.04.1924 was made up entirely of Nürnberg and Fürth players.
Elf Freunde? No way!
The 2 rival factions that made up the national team traveled to Amsterdam in separate railway carriages, eating and sleeping as 2 distinct parties. 
On the field things were no better. When  Karl Auer got Germany's goal in the 14th minute the 1. FC players did not celebrate or congratulate him.

GK	Heiner Stuhlfauth	1. FC Nürnberg
RB	Josef Müller	SpVgg.Fürth
LB	Anton Kugler	1. FC Nürnberg
RH	Hans Hagen	SpVgg.Fürth
CH	Hans Kalb	1. FC Nürnberg
LH	Hans Schmidt	1. FC Nürnberg
OR	Karl Auer	SpVgg.Fürth
IR	Andreas Franz	SpVgg.Fürth
CF	Lony Seiderer	SpVgg.Fürth
IL	Heinrich Träg	1. FC Nürnberg
OL	Willy Ascherl	SpVgg.Fürth

* Claims that the statement appeared on the original Viktoria trophy appear to be inaccurate. 

Dori Kürschner

The Hungarian Izidor Kürschner-Szűcs, usually known as Dori Kürschner (or Dori Kruschner in Brazil) was one of the coaches who contributed to the evolution of the modern game in quite a subtle way. Even though he died in 1941, his greatest contribution to football probably came after 1937. As coach of Flamengo he changed the way Brazilians thought about tactics and formations, setting the stage for later triumphs.Kürschner played for MTK Budapest from 1904–1913. This was a succesful period for the club, who were coached by Jimmy Hogan from 1914. 
MTK won the Hungarian League in 1904 and 1907–08, and the cup 3 seasons in a row (1910-12). 
A left half or centre half, Kürschner made his international debut for Hungary in 1907. He won 5 caps over the next 4 years, never being a regular . Kürschner commenced his coaching career in 1918 with MTK. 

1918 MTK  (Hungary)
  Kürschner replaced Hogan as coach at MTK, who were Hungarian champions that season.

1919-21 Stuttgart Kickers  (Germany)
During Kürschner's tenure at Kickers  they won their regional league (Kreisliga Württemberg).

1921 1 FC Nuremberg (Germany)
  Once Kickers were eliminated from the national Championships Kürschner was engaged by Nuremberg and  oversaw their successful defence of the title.

 1921 FC Bayern  (Germany)
Bayern hired Kürschner as the replacement for Billy Townley. 

1922 1 FC Nuremberg (Germany)
When Bayern failed to progress in the national championships  Nuremberg invited him back and he was coach in the Eternal Final. 

1922-23 Eintracht Frankfurt (Germany)

1923-24 FC Nordstern Basel (Switzerland)
Kürschner was Nordstern's first ever full time coach, and he took them into the first division. 

1924 Switzerland (National team)
Switzerland were coached by a Technical Commission made up of 3 members, each representing one of the regions of Switzerland (east, central and west). This was a remarkable triumvirate in which Kürschner served alongside the Englishmen Teddy Duckworth and Jimmy Hogan. Switzerland won the silver medal at the 1924 Olympics.

1924 Schwarz-Weiss Essen (Germany)
Again, he was the first full time coach.

1925-34 Grasshopper (Switzerland)
Under Kürschner Grasshopper came to be highly regarded, with 3 national championships and 4 cup wins. 

1934-35 Young Boys Berne (Switzerland)

1937-38 CR Flamengo (Brazil)
Brazilian football was still tactically naive. 2-3-5 still reigned. Kürschner introduced the WM formation along with European training and preparation methods. 

1939-40 Botafogo (Brazil)

German National Champions 1920-33

1920 1. FC Nuremberg 
The regional leagues produced 7 qualifiers, joined by defending champions SpVgg Furth, to contest the national championship. The final was a local derby in which 1. FC Nuremberg defeated Furth 2-0 at Frankfurt. Acrowd of 35,.000 saw Luitpold  Popp put Nuremberg ahead in the 12th minute. Hungarian international  Péter Szabó added a second in the 73rd minute. 

1921 1. FC Nuremberg 
Nuremberg defended their title, defeating Berliner FC Vorwärts 1890 in the final at Dusseldorf.  Luitpold  Popp scored 3 and fellow German international Heiner Träg got 2 in a 5-0 victory. The legendary Hungarian Dori Kürschner was now in charge of Nuremberg.

1922  Hamburger SV*
 Nuremberg's attempt to secure a third successive championship was thwarted in what was one of the most remarkable encounters in football history. 
1. FC Nuremberg met Hamburger SV in the final at Berlin's Deutsches Stadion on 18th June 1922. The scores were level at 2-2 on 90 minutes. Following a conventional period of extra time an attempt was made to play to a result, but  referee Dr. Peco Bauwens was forced to abandon the game after 180 minutes due to darkness.
The 2 sides met again in Liepzig on August 6th. Nuremberg were reduced to 10 men when Dr. Bauwens sent off Willy Böß in the 18th minute. Nuremberg were further weakened when Anton Kugler was forced to retire with an injury with 15 minutes remaining.  Hamburg were unable to capitalize, and with the scores level at 1-1 the game again, ominously , moved into extra time. Heiner Träg was ordered off in the 100th minute and 5 minutes later Luitpold Popp, incapacitated by asthma, left the field.  With Nuremberg reduced to 7 players the referee ended the game, mistakenly believing the laws of the game demanded it. 
There was some controversy over the award of the championship. The DFB awarded the title to Hamburg by default, but they declined to accept it. 

1923 Hamburger SV
Hamburg returned and secured the title in a more conventional manner, beating SC Union Oberschöneweide at Deutsches Stadion watched by 64,000.

1924 1. FC Nuremberg .
Nuremburg and Hamburg resumed their rivalry in the 1924 final. Georg Hochgesang and Wolfgang Strobel scored in Nuremberg's 2-0 victory at Deutsches Stadion.

1925 1. FC Nuremberg 
The national championship had now expanded to include 16 teams. 
Ludwig Wieder scored an extra time winner as FSV Frankfurt were beaten 1-0 in the brand new Waldstadion (Frankfurt ).

1926 SpVgg Fürth
The Waldstadion was again the venue as SpVgg Fürth beat Hertha BSC 4-1.  Former Blackburn Rovers star William Townley was manger of Fürth.

1927 1. FC Nuremberg  
A  fifth title for Nuremberg, 50,000 were at Deutsches Stadion to see them beat Hertha BSC 2-0.  Fred Spiksley was back as manager, having previously been at the club at the outbreak of the 1914-18 war. Trag was dismissed in the 75th minute for Nuremberg.

1928 Hamburger SV
It was not a case of third time lucky for Hertha BSC. They lost their third final in a row, beaten 5-2 by Hamburg at Altona. The finals were played in high summer, having been delayed by the absence of top players at the Amsterdam Olympics
.

1929 SpVgg Fürth
Another late end to the season, this time because fixtures had been disrupted by the very harsh winter.  Misery again for Hertha  They beat Nuremberg in a replayed semi final (the first game had gone to 150 minutes without a goal being scored) - the final was played at Nuremberg's ground, and Hertha received a very hostile reception from local fans as they lost their fourth consecutive final. Hertha were reduced to 10 men by an injury to  Gerhard Schulz with the score at 1-1.Karl Rupprecht won it for Fürth (3-2) five minutes from time. 

1930  Hertha BSC
Hertha supporters and players must have been fearing the worst when , appearing in their 5th successive final, they were 2-0 down to Holstein Kiel after just 8 minutes. The game see sawed but  
Hans Ruch gave the Berlin side their long awaited victory with an 87th minute strike to round off the 5-4 thriller. Holstein had levelled at 4-4 despite being down to 10 following a sending off in the 80th minute.

1931  Hertha BSC
Hertha had developed a new habit-scoring late winners.  SV 1860 München were beaten 3-2 in the final thanks to Willi Kirsei's 89th minute goal. 

1932 Bayern Munich
The National final of 1932 was a repeat of that season's South German final . Eintracht Frankfurt won that game, with Bayern joining them in the National championship as runners up. Bayern got revenge in front of a 55,000 crowd at Nuremberg, beating Eintracht 2-0.  It was Bayern Munich's first title. 

Fred Spiksley

In a twenty year career as a professional, Fred Spiksley played for Gainsborough Working Men's Club, Gainsborough Wednesday, Gainsborough Trinity, The Wednesday, Glossop North End, Leeds City, Southern United and Watford.  He was capped 7 times by England, scoring 5 goals.
During a 11 year period with The Wednesday he scored 100 goals in 293 league games and 14 goals in 28 FA Cup appearances. He scored twice in the Wednesday's 1896 FA Cup Final triumph.
He was noted for his dribbling and close control and is said to be the the first player to use the 'back heel' as a regular part of his repertoire. 

After retiring as a player Spiksley went abroad to coach. He managed the following sides:
AIK Stockholm (Sweden)- champions 1911
Sweden national team
 TSV 1860 München (Germany)
1. FC Nuremberg (Germany)
 Reforma AC (Mexico)
 Real Club España (Mexico)- Primera Fuerza winners 1924 
Fulham (England- assistant coach)
1. FC Nuremberg -  during his second spell with Nuremberg he led them to the German national football championship in 1927.

Spiksley, of Sheffield Wednesday... delights to dribble the ball into the corner and then centre across, and it is seldom he fails to place the ball in the goal mouth for his fellow forwards to put through. He is about ten stone, but what he lacks in weight he makes up in speed. He can play the combination game to perfection, and I can state this at first hand, as I have often had the pleasure of playing with him. When he finds himself in difficulties he will try to give the ball to someone better placed - a form of unselfishness which a good many well-known players might copy. Instead of this, many men would rather lose the ball by trying to beat one or two opponents, than give it to a partner; not so Spiksley.
Ernest Needham 


Fred Spiksley could do almost anything he wanted with either foot, and was a sure marksman. Spiksley as a football player was a wonder.
J. A. H. Catton

Conjurers have sleight of hand. Let me vary the phrase and say that Spiksley had sleight of foot. He did most of his dribbling with the outside of the right foot. I do not like making sweeping statements, but I have never seen so thoroughly competent an outside-left as Spiksley, who relied not on weight, or even on speed alone, but upon his craft and power over the ball.
Sir Frederick Wall



Here's a link to a YouTube clip featuring Fred Spiksley going through some drills with a couple of Fulham players in 1931.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7tMsFmXtN74

Heiner Stuhlfauth

Heinrich 'Heiner' Stuhlfauth was a  familiar and formidable figure in German football in the 1920s. The 1 FC Nuremberg goalkeeper played  606 first team matches for the club. He won five German titles (1920, 1921, 1924, 1925 and 1927)  and also took part in the remarkable 1922 final in which SV Hamburg and 1FC Nuremberg could not be separated over 4 hrs of football (no winner that year!)

Stuhlfauth also played 21 games for Germany (from debut against Sweden on 27.06.1920 to his finale v Italy on 02.03.1930- including  2 appearances at the 1928 Olympics in Amsterdam). Germany won 8 drew 5 and  lost 8 with Stuhlfauth in goal.