Walter Zeman

Walter Zeman (1 May 1927 - 8 August 1991) was an Austrian footballer. Heplayed as goalkeeper mainly for SK Rapid Wien and for the Austrian national football team in the 1950s.

Walter Zeman
Personal information
Full nameWalter Zeman
Date of birth(1927-05-01)May 1, 1927
Place of birthVienna, Austria
Date of deathAugust 8, 1991(1991-08-08) (aged 64)
Place of deathVienna, Austria
Height182 cm (6 ft 0 in)
Playing positionGoalkeeper
Youth career
SV Wienerberg
Vienna
Senior career*
YearsTeamApps(Gls)
1942-1944FC Wien
1945- 1961SK Rapid Wien235(0)
1961-1962SAK 1914
National team
Austria41(0)
* Senior club appearances and goals counted for the domestic league only

Zeman began his youth career at local club SV Wienerberger, but he soon moved on to FC Wien. In 1945 Zeman joined Rapid. In this year he also played his first match for the Austrian national football team. With Rapid, Zeman won eight Austrian league championships, one Austrian Cup and the 1951 Zentropa Cup. At the end of his career n the 1961-62 season he played for SAK 1914 in Salzburg.

Zeman played at the 1954 FIFA World Cup where the team finished 3rd. He played 41 matches for Austria. He earned the nicknames Tiger of Budapest and the Panther of Glasgow, for his international performances. He was named Austria's Sportsman of the Year in 1950, and was included in the FIFA World XI in 1953.[1]

After the end of his active career he became coach with the rapid youth and was in 1968 under Rudolf Vytlačil assistant coach of the first team, which reached the quarter-finals of the European Cup of Champions this season and threw Real Madrid out of the competition.

Honours

Individual

  • 1 × FIFA-worldteam 1953
  • 1 × Austrian Sportsman of the year 1950 [2]
  • 3 × Austrian footballer of the year 1951, 1952, 1953
  • In April 2010 the Walter-Zeman-Gasse in Wien-Donaustadt (22nd district) was named after him.[3]

References

  1. "Saving grace: Europe's favourite goalkeepers". UEFA.com. 30 January 2015. Retrieved 14 March 2020.
  2. Der Standard.at
  3. Geschichtewiki Wien (German)

Other websites