Karl (Charly) Mai (27 July 1928 – 15 March 1993) 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
Fürth
Fürth (; East Franconian: ; yi, פיורדא, Fiurda) is a city in northern Bavaria, Germany, in the administrative division (''Regierungsbezirk'') of Middle Franconia. It is now contiguous with the larger city of Nuremberg, the centres of the ...
.
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 ...
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 21 caps and scored one goal for West Germany.
During his club career he played for
SpVgg Fürth and
Bayern Munich
Fußball-Club Bayern München e. V. (FCB, ), also known as FC Bayern (), Bayern Munich, or simply Bayern, is a German professional sports club based in Munich, Bavaria. It is best known for its professional men's football team, which play ...
.
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 Mira ...
compared Mai's playing style to that of 1930s player
Andreas Kupfer but also appreciated his solidity and straightness. In the
1954 World Cup Final Mai faced
Sandor Kocsis who had scored no less than 11 goals up to that game, yet he failed to score in the final as Mai performed a rigid marking job on Kocsis. Mai was an outspoken player who also did not shy away from stating his opinion towards Herberger.
After his professional career he became a coach in the 1960s and then a school trainer. In the early 1990s, his right lung was removed. He died in 1993.
References
External links
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1928 births
1993 deaths
German footballers
Germany international footballers
FC Bayern Munich footballers
SpVgg Greuther Fürth players
1954 FIFA World Cup players
FIFA World Cup-winning players
German football managers
SC Young Fellows Juventus players
Sportspeople from Fürth
Footballers from Bavaria
Association football midfielders
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