Otto Ludwig (29 November 193417 August 2014) 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 ...

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, a ...

during the late 1950s and early 60s. He played in the position of striker.

Football career

Ludwig came to FC Basel as a youth player in 1955. He played his Swiss Cup debut on 18 December 1955 in the 6–2 win against

Emmenbrücke Emmen is a village and municipality in the district of Hochdorf in the canton of Lucerne in Switzerland. The municipality Emmen consists of the village Emmen, the town Emmenbrücke, and several hamlets. History Emmen is first mentioned in 840 a ...

. He played his Nationalliga A debut on 31 August 1958 in the away game against

La Chaux-de-Fonds La Chaux-de-Fonds () is a Swiss city in the canton of Neuchâtel. It is located in the Jura mountains at an altitude of 1000 m, a few kilometers south of the French border. After Geneva, Lausanne and Fribourg, it is the fourth largest city l ...

that Basel lost 2–1. He scored his first goal for his club on 14 September 1958 against Lausanne-Sport as Basel won 5–0. It was the last goal of the game. For the season 1960/61 Ludwig played for

Old Boys The terms Old Boys and Old Girls are the usual expressions in use in the United Kingdom for former pupils of primary and secondary schools.''Oxford English Dictionary'' While these are traditionally associated with independent schools, they are ...

in the 1. Liga, then the third tier of the Swiss football league system. After that season he returned to FC Basel. In the season 1961/62 he played in 18 league games scoring 5 goals. In the season 1962/63 he played 17 league games scoring one goal. On 15 April 1963 the

Wankdorf Stadium The Wankdorf Stadium (german: Wankdorfstadion, ) was a football stadium in the Wankdorf quarter of Bern, Switzerland, and the former home of Swiss club BSC Young Boys. It was built in 1925, and as well as serving as a club stadium, it hosted se ...

hosted the Cup Final and Basel played against favorites Grasshopper Club. Two goals after half time, one by

Heinz Blumer Heinz Blumer (* 7 January 1942) is a retired Swiss footballer who played in the 1960s and 70s. He played mainly in the position as defender, but also as midfielder. Football career Basel Blumer played in the youth teams of FC Basel and a ...

and the second from Ludwig himself gave Basel a 2–0 victory and their third Cup win in the club's history. He played the full 90 minutes. His FCB period ended on 9 June 1963 in the last championship game of that season against FC Sion with an 8-1. Between the years 1955 to 1960 and 1961 to 1963 Ludwig played a total of 92 games for Basel scoring a total of 17 goals. 55 of these games were in the Swiss Serie A, 12 in the Swiss Cup, five in the UEFA Intertoto Cup and 20 were friendly games. He scored 9 goal in the domestic league, one in the Swiss Cup, two in the UEFA Intertoto Cup and the other five were scored during the test games. Despite winning the Cup title, in the summer of 1963 Ludwig then moved on to

Schaffhausen Schaffhausen (; gsw, Schafuuse; french: Schaffhouse; it, Sciaffusa; rm, Schaffusa; en, Shaffhouse) is a town with historic roots, a municipality in northern Switzerland, and the capital of the canton of the same name; it has an estimate ...

who also played in the Nationalliga A. But that season they suffered relegation to the Nationalliga B. He stayed at the club for another year and returned to Basel to play with the Basel older generation. He was a capable player, who became a real crowd favorite of his time, probably due to his rather small body size.

Private life

Otto Ludwig grew up in the Basel Breite quarter. He was married. Professionally he worked for the chemical industry, mainly for Hoffmann La Roche. A serious illness, which he patiently endured, shaped his last years. On August 17, 2014, he was released from his suffering.

Honours and Titles

Basel * Swiss Cup winner: 1962-63

References

Sources

* Rotblau: Jahrbuch Saison 2017/2018. Publisher: FC Basel Marketing AG. * Die ersten 125 Jahre. Publisher: Josef Zindel im Friedrich Reinhardt Verlag, Basel.
Verein "Basler Fussballarchiv" Homepage
{{DEFAULTSORT:Ludwig, Otto FC Basel players BSC Old Boys players FC Schaffhausen players German men's footballers Men's association football forwards 1934 births 2014 deaths