Ernst Kipfer (3 November 1915 – 7 February 2016) was a

Swiss Swiss may refer to: * the adjectival form of Switzerland * Swiss people Places * Swiss, Missouri * Swiss, North Carolina *Swiss, West Virginia * Swiss, Wisconsin Other uses *Swiss-system tournament, in various games and sports *Swiss Internation ...

footballer A football player or footballer is a sportsperson who plays one of the different types of football. The main types of football are association football, American football, Canadian football, Australian rules football, Gaelic football, rugby le ...

who played for

FC Basel Fussball Club Basel 1893, widely known as FC Basel, FCB, or just Basel, is a Swiss football club based in Basel, in the Canton of Basel-Stadt. Formed in 1893, the club has been Swiss national champions 20 times, Swiss Cup winners 13 times, and ...

and

Lausanne-Sport FC Lausanne–Sport (also referred to as LS) is a Swiss football club based in Lausanne in the canton of Vaud. Founded in 1896, Lausanne Sport played in the Swiss Super League in their most recent 2021-22 season, the highest tier of football i ...

. He played as

goalkeeper In many team sports which involve scoring goals, the goalkeeper (sometimes termed goaltender, netminder, GK, goalie or keeper) is a designated player charged with directly preventing the opposing team from scoring by blocking or intercepting o ...

Career

Kipfer joined

's first team as reserve goalkeeper in their 1935–36 season. He had one appearance in a test match in August 1935 and played his domestic league debut for the club in the home game at the Landhof on 6 September 1936 as Basel were defeated 0–5 by

Biel-Bienne , french: Biennois(e) , neighboring_municipalities= Brügg, Ipsach, Leubringen/Magglingen (''Evilard/Macolin''), Nidau, Orpund, Orvin, Pieterlen, Port, Safnern, Tüscherz-Alfermée, Vauffelin , twintowns = Iserlohn (Germany) B ...

. He was substituted in at half time for Eugène de Kalbermatten. This was his only game for the club at that time. He moved to

in 1937 and signed a professional contract. He was about to move to the

Racing Club Strasbourg Racing Club de Strasbourg Alsace (commonly known as RC Strasbourg, Racing Straßburg, RCSA, RCS, or simply Strasbourg; Alsatian: ''Füeßbàllmànnschàft Vu Stroßburri'') is a French association football club founded in 1906, based in the c ...

and played in a test game against

Racing Paris Racing Club de France Football (, also known as Racing Paris, RCF Paris, Matra Racing, Racing Club, or Racing) is a French association football club based in Colombes, a suburb of Paris. Racing was founded in 1882 as a multi-discipline spor ...

, but a short time later, the outbreak of the Second World War prevented this transfer. Kipfer re-joined the first team again in their 1940–41 season under head coach

Eugen Rupf Eugen Rupf (16 June 1914 – 2000) was a Swiss footballer who played for Switzerland in the 1938 FIFA World Cup. He played for Grasshopper Club Zürich. He also played three seasons for Basel as player-coach scoring 20 goals in 41 appearances. W ...

. Between the years 1936 and 1943 he played a total of 13 games for Basel. Nine of these games were in the Nationalliga, one in the

Swiss Cup The Swiss Cup (; ; ; ) is a football cup tournament that has been organised annually since 1925–26 by the Swiss Football Association. Since 1999 the winner earns the chance to qualify for the UEFA Europa League or the UEFA Europa Conference L ...

and the other three were friendly games.

Private life

Born in

Basel , french: link=no, Bâlois(e), it, Basilese , neighboring_municipalities= Allschwil (BL), Hégenheim (FR-68), Binningen (BL), Birsfelden (BL), Bottmingen (BL), Huningue (FR-68), Münchenstein (BL), Muttenz (BL), Reinach (BL), Riehen (BS ...

, Kipfer grew up in the Matthäus district to the north of the city. His father was the owner of the carpentry business in the Oetlingerstrasse, where Ernst also worked later. In addition to school, which he said wasn't really his thing, he was particularly influenced by sport. Not just as gymnast with the local gymnastic club (TV Kleinbasel), but also goalkeeper for FC Basel and for the TVKB handball team in the Nati 1. In 1939 he moved to France, but as soon as he arrived, he had to return, because the war had broken out. He refused to pursue a career in the army and looked after the business at home, which he had to take over following his father's early death. Kipfer always remained member to the gymnastic club, he was made an honorary member in 1957 and was honoured for 80 years of club membership in 2012. Kipfer also remained closely connected to the FCB as club member and interested supporter right up until he died at his home in

Allschwil , neighboring_municipalities= Baselland (BL), Binningen, Buschwiller (FR-68), Hégenheim (FR-68), Neuwiller (FR-68), Oberwil, Saint-Louis (FR-68), Schönenbuch , twintowns = Pfullendorf (Germany), Blaj (Romania) } Allschwil () is a town a ...

on 3 November 1915.

References

Sources

* * Rotblau: Jahrbuch Saison 2017/2018. Publisher: FC Basel Marketing AG.
Verein "Basler Fussballarchiv" Homepage
* {{DEFAULTSORT:Kipfer, Ernst FC Basel players Swiss men's footballers Men's association football goalkeepers 1915 births 2016 deaths Footballers from Basel-Stadt Men centenarians