Rodolfo Kappenberger (6 October 1917 – 11 May 2012Ruedi Kappenberger
''worldfootball.net'') was a

Swiss Swiss may refer to: * the adjectival form of Switzerland * Swiss people Places * Swiss, Missouri * Swiss, North Carolina *Swiss, West Virginia * Swiss, Wisconsin Other uses *Swiss-system tournament, in various games and sports *Swiss Internation ...

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 ...

Career

Club

The birthplace of Rodolfo Kappenberger was

Lugano Lugano (, , ; lmo, label=Ticinese dialect, Ticinese, Lugan ) is a city and municipality in Switzerland, part of the Lugano District in the canton of Ticino. It is the largest city of both Ticino and the Italian-speaking southern Switzerland. Luga ...

, which is why he played his youth football at the former stadium Campo Marzio with FC Lugano. He later moved to

Zug , neighboring_municipalities = Cham, Baar, Walchwil, Steinhausen, Unterägeri , twintowns = Fürstenfeld (Austria), Kalesija (Bosnia-Herzegowina) Zug (Standard German: , Alemannic German: ; french: Zoug it, Zugo r ...

to learn the German language and while here Kappenberger joined

SC Zug Zug 94 is a Swiss association football, football team based in Zug, in the Canton of Zug which competes in the 1. Liga Classic, 1. Liga. It was formed in 1994 after a merger between SC Zug and FC Zug. During the summer of 1983, Ottmar Hitzfeld ...

, who at that time played in the second tier of Swiss football. He then returned home and again played for Lugano for another two seasons between 1939 and 1941. In 1941, aged 24, Kappenberger moved to Basel to study dentistry, which meant that

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, and ...

, who were then only playing in the second highest league, acquired a talented and elegant winger without a transfer fee and for a modest salary. He joined Basel's first team for their 1941–42 season under player-coach

Eugen Rupf Eugen Rupf (16 June 1914 – 2000) was a Swiss footballer who played for Switzerland in the 1938 FIFA World Cup. He played for Grasshopper Club Zürich. He also played three seasons for Basel as player-coach scoring 20 goals in 41 appearances. W ...

. Kappenberger played his domestic league debut for the club in the home game in the Landhof on 31 August 1941. Rupf scored the first goal,

Alex Mathys Alex Mathys was a Swiss footballer who played from the late 1930s to the early 1950s. He played as a forward. Mathys joined Basel's first team during their 1938–39 season under player-manager Fernand Jaccard. He made his domestic league deb ...

scored seven goals,

Joseph Bossi Joseph Bossi or Giuseppe Bossi (born 29 August 1911; date of death unknown) was a Swiss footballer who played for Switzerland in the 1934 FIFA World Cup. Bossi is deceased. https://bolavip.com/mundial/Murio-el-ultimo-futbolista-presente-en-Ita ...

added one and Kappenberger himself also netted one as Basel played a dominating 10–1 win against SC Juventus Zürich. The team played a very dominating season, they ended the eastern group of the 1st League group as winners and in the

Swiss Cup The Swiss Cup (; ; ; ) is a football cup tournament that has been organised annually since 1925–26 by the Swiss Football Association. Since 1999 the winner earns the chance to qualify for the UEFA Europa League or the UEFA Europa Conference L ...

they advanced to the final and were only beaten after they lost the replay. Kappenberger was the team’s best goal scorer with 14 goals in the league and two in the cup. In the league play-off match against the western group winners

FC Bern 1894 Fussballclub Bern (FC Bern) is a football team from Bern, the capital city of Switzerland, who currently play in the Gruppe 1, Bern/Jura canton of 2. Liga. In 1921, the club won the Och Cup (that was considered as the former Swiss Cup). Th ...

Kappenberger scored the first goal as they won 3–1 to achieve promotion. Basel suffered relegation at the end of their 1944–45 season, but they became Nationalliga B champions the following year, thus winning promotion to return to the top tier of Swiss football. Kappenberger remained loyal to FCB until the summer of 1948. He reached the cup final three times during his seven years with RotBlau. The team were defeated twice, 1942 against Grasshopper Club and 1944 against

Lausanne-Sport FC Lausanne–Sport (also referred to as LS) is a Swiss football club based in Lausanne in the canton of Vaud. Founded in 1896, Lausanne Sport played in the Swiss Super League in their most recent 2021-22 season, the highest tier of football i ...

. But the cup final from 1947 was won 3–0 against Lausanne. Between the years 1941 and 1948 Kappenberger played a total of 127 games for Basel scoring a total of 42 goals. 100 of these games were in the

Swiss Super League The Swiss Super League (known as the Credit Suisse Super League for sponsorship reasons) is a Swiss professional league in the top tier of the Swiss football league system and has been played in its current format since the 2003–04 season ...

, 19 in the

and eight were friendly games. He scored 31 goals in the domestic league, six in the cupand the other five were scored during the test games.

International

Kappenberger also played six games for the Switzerland national team in which he scored five goals. He gave his debut on 28 December 1941 in the Mestalla Stadium in

Valencia Valencia ( va, València) is the capital of the Autonomous communities of Spain, autonomous community of Valencian Community, Valencia and the Municipalities of Spain, third-most populated municipality in Spain, with 791,413 inhabitants. It is ...

, as

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 ...

beat the Swiss by 3–2. Kappenberger scored his team’s first goal, which was the intermediate equaliser to one goal each. He also scored two goals in the 2–1 away win on 1 February 1942 against Germany in the

Praterstadion Ernst-Happel-Stadion (), known as Praterstadion until 1992, sometimes also called Wiener-Stadion, is a football stadium in Leopoldstadt, the 2nd district of Austria's capital Vienna. With 50,865 seats, it is the largest stadium in Austria. It wa ...

Vienna en, Viennese , iso_code = AT-9 , registration_plate = W , postal_code_type = Postal code , postal_code = , timezone = CET , utc_offset = +1 , timezone_DST ...

Private life

After his dental studium Kappenberger became dentist. In 1948, Kappenberger ended his football career to concentrate on his job as a dentist. As a result, he maintained a practice Basel for four decades until his retirement. He married Franziska and the couple had a son. The couple then moved their residence, first partially and then completely, to the canton of Ticino. He died in

Magliaso Magliaso is a municipality in the district of Lugano in the canton of Ticino in Switzerland. History Magliaso is first mentioned in 769 as ''de Maliacis''. In 854 it was mentioned as ''de vico Maliaci''. During the Lombards era the monastery o ...

on 11 May 2012.

Honours and Titles

winner: 1947 * Second division champions and promotion: 1941–42, 1945–46

References

Sources

*
Verein "Basler Fussballarchiv" Homepage
{{DEFAULTSORT:Kappenberger, Rodolfo 1917 births 2012 deaths Swiss men's footballers Switzerland men's international footballers Men's association football forwards FC Basel players FC Lugano players Sportspeople from Lugano Footballers from Ticino