Karl-Heinz "Gala" Metzner (9 January 1923 – 25 October 1994) was a German

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 ...

. He was born in

Kassel Kassel (; in Germany, spelled Cassel until 1926) is a city on the Fulda River in northern Hesse, Germany. It is the administrative seat of the Regierungsbezirk Kassel and the district of the same name and had 201,048 inhabitants in December 2020 ...

. He was part of the

West German West Germany is the colloquial term used to indicate the Federal Republic of Germany (FRG; german: Bundesrepublik Deutschland , BRD) between its formation on 23 May 1949 and the German reunification through the accession of East Germany on 3 O ...

team that won the

1954 FIFA World Cup The 1954 FIFA World Cup was the fifth edition of the FIFA World Cup, the quadrennial international football tournament for senior men's national teams of the nations affiliated to FIFA. It was held in Switzerland from 16 June to 4 July. Switzerla ...

. In total he earned two caps for West Germany. During his club career he played for

Hessen Kassel KSV Hessen Kassel is a semi-professional German football club based in Kassel, Hesse. KSV competes in the German Regionalliga Südwest, the fourth tier of German football. Nicknamed "Die Löwen" (the lions), the club was founded as FC Union 9 ...

. Already at the age of 17, Metzner took part in an instruction training of the German national team, however

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...

stopped Metzner's aspirations; Metzner had to serve in the war where he received a hand injury, which handicapped him throughout the rest of his life. After the war, Metzner played for Hessen Kassel as an

inside forward Forwards (also known as attackers) are outfield positions in an association football team who play the furthest up the pitch and are therefore most responsible for scoring goals as well as assisting them. As with any attacking player, the role ...

and as a half back. He was first called up by

coach

Sepp Herberger Josef "Sepp" Herberger (28 March 1897 – 28 April 1977) was a German football player and manager. He is most famous for being the manager of the West German national team that won the 1954 FIFA World Cup final, a match later dubbed ''The Mirac ...

for a 1952 international friendly against

Yugoslavia Yugoslavia (; sh-Latn-Cyrl, separator=" / ", Jugoslavija, Југославија ; sl, Jugoslavija ; mk, Југославија ;; rup, Iugoslavia; hu, Jugoszlávia; rue, label=Pannonian Rusyn, Югославия, translit=Juhoslavija ...

, where he did not play. His international debut came a week later in the game against

Spain , image_flag = Bandera de España.svg , image_coat = Escudo de España (mazonado).svg , national_motto = ''Plus ultra'' (Latin)(English: "Further Beyond") , national_anthem = (English: "Royal March") , i ...

in Madrid. Although he was a member of the

German squad, Metzner could not break into the starting eleven, neither as a half back nor as an

, as the half backs

Horst Eckel Horst Eckel (8 February 1932 – 3 December 2021) was a German footballer. He was part of the West Germany national team that won the 1954 FIFA World Cup. He was the last surviving player of the 1954 World Cup Final. Club career Eckel debuted ...

and Karl Mai and the inside forwards

Max Morlock Maximilian Morlock (; 11 May 1925–10 September 1994) was a German footballer active in the 1950s and early 1960s. In his time with the West Germany national team, he earned 26 caps and scored 21 goals. His position was that of an inside ri ...

and

Fritz Walter Friedrich "Fritz" Walter (, ; 31 October 1920 – 17 June 2002) was a German footballer who spent his entire senior career at 1. FC Kaiserslautern. He usually played as an attacking midfielder or inside forward. In his time with the Germany a ...

were too strong. Metzner ended his career on 5 August 1961, in a friendly game between Kassel and Radnički Belgrade. He played 620 times for Hessen Kassel. Metzner died of

heart failure Heart failure (HF), also known as congestive heart failure (CHF), is a syndrome, a group of signs and symptoms caused by an impairment of the heart's blood pumping function. Symptoms typically include shortness of breath, excessive fatigue, a ...

in 1994.

References

1923 births 1994 deaths German footballers Germany international footballers 1954 FIFA World Cup players FIFA World Cup-winning players KSV Hessen Kassel players Sportspeople from Kassel Association football midfielders Footballers from Hesse {{germany-footy-midfielder-1920s-stub