Maximilian Morlock (; 11 May 1925–10 September 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 ...

active in the 1950s and early 1960s. In his time with the West Germany national team, he earned 26

caps Caps are flat headgear. Caps or CAPS may also refer to: Science and technology Computing * CESG Assisted Products Service, provided by the U.K. Government Communications Headquarters * Composite Application Platform Suite, by Java Caps, a Java ...

and scored 21 goals. His position was that of an

inside right Forwards (also known as attackers) are Glossary of association football terms#O, outfield positions in an association football team who play the furthest up the pitch and are therefore most responsible for scoring Goal (sport)#Association footbal ...

forward. In his youth he learned to play football at Eintracht Nürnberg. In 1940 he became a member of the then famous 1. FC Nürnberg, debuting in the first team on 30 November 1941. Until 1964 he appeared more than 900 times in the first team of the so-called ''Club'' and scored about 700 goals. In 1948 and 1961 he led the team to German championships, in 1962 to the

German Cup The DFB-Pokal ( is a German knockout football cup competition held annually by the German Football Association (DFB). Sixty-four teams participate in the competition, including all clubs from the Bundesliga and the 2. Bundesliga. It is considered ...

. 38 years old he even appeared 21 times in the founding season of the German

Bundesliga The Bundesliga (; ), sometimes referred to as the Fußball-Bundesliga () or 1. Bundesliga (), is a professional association football league in Germany. At the top of the German football league system, the Bundesliga is Germany's primary footba ...

. He also was top scorer of the Oberliga Süd in 1950–51 and 1951–52. His first cap for the national team was in 1950, when he played instead of the injured

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 ...

. He was a member of the West Germany team that won their first

World Cup A world cup is a global sporting competition in which the participant entities – usually international teams or individuals representing their countries – compete for the title of world champion. The event most associated with the concept i ...

1954 Events January * January 1 – The Soviet Union ceases to demand war reparations from West Germany. * January 3 – The Italian broadcaster RAI officially begins transmitting. * January 7 – Georgetown-IBM experiment: The fir ...

. In the final match against

Hungary Hungary ( hu, Magyarország ) is a landlocked country in Central Europe. Spanning of the Carpathian Basin, it is bordered by Slovakia to the north, Ukraine to the northeast, Romania to the east and southeast, Serbia to the south, Croatia a ...

Morlock scored West Germany's first goal to start the comeback after going 2–0 down. He received his last cap in a friendly game against

Egypt Egypt ( ar, مصر , ), officially the Arab Republic of Egypt, is a transcontinental country spanning the northeast corner of Africa and southwest corner of Asia via a land bridge formed by the Sinai Peninsula. It is bordered by the Mediter ...

in December 1958. As a player, Morlock's strengths were a sound technique coupled with fighting spirit. As a linkman he felt at home best between defense and attack, but he was also dangerous in front of the goal. Morlock died from

cancer Cancer is a group of diseases involving abnormal cell growth with the potential to invade or spread to other parts of the body. These contrast with benign tumors, which do not spread. Possible signs and symptoms include a lump, abnormal b ...

in 1994, aged 69.

Honours

* In 1961 he was voted

German Footballer of the Year The title Footballer of the Year (German: ''Fußballer des Jahres'') has been awarded in Germany since 1960. Eligible are German players as well as non-German players playing in Germany. In 1996, the title Women's Footballer of the Year (German ...

by the Association of German Sports Journalists. * In 1995, less than a year after his death, the

square In Euclidean geometry, a square is a regular quadrilateral, which means that it has four equal sides and four equal angles (90-degree angles, π/2 radian angles, or right angles). It can also be defined as a rectangle with two equal-length adj ...

in front of the Frankenstadion, home of the 1. FC Nürnberg, was renamed ''Max-Morlock-Platz'' in his honour. The stadium's postal address is ''Max-Morlock-Platz 1''. * In 2006, a majority of fans voted in favour of renaming the Frankenstadion itself into "

Max-Morlock-Stadion Max-Morlock-Stadion () is a stadium in Nuremberg, Germany, which was opened in 1928. It is located next to Zeppelinfeld. It also neighbors the Nuremberg Arena. Since 1966, it has been home stadium to the German Bundesliga club 1. FC Nürnberg. ...

", but the city of Nuremberg won a sponsorship deal with a local bank, which included renaming the stadium EasyCredit-Stadion after one of that bank's financial products. His name was finally used as the stadium's name in July 2017.

External links

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Morlock, Max 1925 births 1994 deaths Footballers from Nuremberg Association football forwards German footballers Germany international footballers FIFA World Cup-winning players 1954 FIFA World Cup players 1. FC Nürnberg players Bundesliga players