Ludwig Goldbrunner (5 March 1908 – 26 September 1981) 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 began playing for his home club

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 pla ...

in 1927, with whom he won the German championship in 1932.

Career

Goldbrunner played as a

centre half In the sport of association football, a defender is an outfield position whose primary role is to stop attacks during the game and prevent the opposition from scoring. Centre-backs are usually positioned in pairs, with one full-back on either s ...

39 times for the German National team between 1933 and 1940. He played in the 1938 France World Cup but promptly retired from the team after a 4 – 2 defeat against

Switzerland ). Swiss law does not designate a ''capital'' as such, but the federal parliament and government are installed in Bern, while other federal institutions, such as the federal courts, are in other cities (Bellinzona, Lausanne, Luzern, Neuchâtel ...

. He was also part of Germany's squad at the

1936 Summer Olympics The 1936 Summer Olympics (German: ''Olympische Sommerspiele 1936''), officially known as the Games of the XI Olympiad (German: ''Spiele der XI. Olympiade'') and commonly known as Berlin 1936 or the Nazi Olympics, were an international multi-sp ...

. He became known in 1937 as one of the "''Breslau-Elf''" (

Breslau Eleven The Breslau Eleven (german: Breslau-Elf) was the name given to the Germany national football team who defeated Denmark 8–0 at Hermann-Göring-Sportfeld in Breslau, Nazi Germany (now Wrocław, Poland) on 16 May 1937. Coached by Sepp Herberger, t ...

) players, after they thrashed Denmark with an 8:0 score. He was the center half of

's first great side, the 1932 German champions. A year later, Goldbrunner debuted for German National team against Switzerland. In the following years Goldbrunner took turns with

Reinhold Münzenberg Reinhold Münzenberg (25 January 1909 in Walheim – 25 June 1986 in Aachen) was a German football player, in the defender position. Biography Münzenberg spent most of his career with Alemannia Aachen (1927–1951) but also had spells with ...

at the center half position, but by 1936 with Münzenberg having moved to the

left back In the sport of association football, a defender is an outfield position whose primary role is to stop attacks during the game and prevent the opposition from scoring. Centre-backs are usually positioned in pairs, with one full-back on either s ...

position, Goldbrunner settled at the center half position permanently. During his international career, Goldbrunner played against the best center forwards in European football, namely England's

George Camsell George Henry Camsell (27 November 1902 – 7 March 1966) was an English footballer who scored a club record 325 league goals in 419 games for Middlesbrough, and 18 goals in nine appearances for England. His 59 goals in one season (1926–27) fo ...

, Portugal's

Fernando Peyroteo Fernando Baptista de Seixas Peyroteo de Vasconcelos (10 March 1918 – 28 November 1978) was a Portuguese footballer who played as a striker. He spent his entire professional career with Sporting CP, scoring 544 goals in all competitions, winn ...

, Belgium's

Raymond Braine Raymond Ernest Michel Braine (28 April 1907 – 24 December 1978) was a Belgian football striker. He was also the first Belgian professional player, when he obtained a transfer to Sparta Prague in 1930. Braine played in 54 matches for the Be ...

, France's

Paul Nicolas Paul Nicolas (4 November 1899 – 3 March 1959) was a French footballer who played as a striker. He was part of the France national football teams at the 1920, 1924, and 1928 Summer Olympics. He was also part of the France national football ...

, Italy's

Silvio Piola Silvio Piola (; 29 September 1913 – 4 October 1996) was an Italian footballer who played as a striker. He is known as a highly prominent figure in the history of Italian football due to several records he set, and he is regarded as one of the ...

and Spain's

Isidro Lángara Isidro Lángara Galarraga (25 May 1912 in Pasaia, Gipuzkoa – 21 August 1992 in Andoain) was a Spanish football striker from the Basque Country. He played 12 times for Spain, scoring 17 goals. He has the highest goal ratio in La Liga at 1.14 ...

. Remarkably, only

managed to score against Goldbrunner. When the best

team of all time was drawn up he was in the shortlist and many would have him on the bench, a great achievement as this would mean he's in the top 20 best players

history. He's included in the top 30 German footballers of all time.

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Goldbrunner, Ludwig 1908 births 1981 deaths Footballers from Munich German men's footballers Germany men's international footballers Olympic footballers for Germany Footballers at the 1936 Summer Olympics 1938 FIFA World Cup players FC Bayern Munich footballers German football managers FC Bayern Munich managers TSV 1860 Munich managers Men's association football defenders