Wilhelm Gmelin (14 April 1891 – 9 December 1978) was a German

football Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kicking a ball to score a goal. Unqualified, the word ''football'' normally means the form of football that is the most popular where the word is used. Sports commonly c ...

goalkeeper In many team sports which involve scoring goals, the goalkeeper (sometimes termed goaltender, netminder, GK, goalie or keeper) is a designated player charged with directly preventing the opposing team from scoring by blocking or intercepting o ...

. He played club football with

Eintracht Frankfurt Eintracht Frankfurt e.V. () is a professional sports club based in Frankfurt, Hesse, Germany. It is best known for its football club, which was founded on 8 March 1899. The team is currently playing in the Bundesliga, the top tier of the Germa ...

and its predecessor clubs.

Career

Goalkeeper Gmelin started his first team career in 1907 at Frankfurter FC Victoria 1899. Four years later Victoria merged with fellow Frankfurt club Frankfurter Kickers to form Frankfurter FV (Kickers-Victoria). Another nine years later another club merger formed

. In 1911–12 Gmelin's team only lost 2 of 23 matches, securing the Nordkreis championship and the qualification for the South German championship. In encounters with SpVgg Fürth, Karlsruher FV and Phönix Mannheim Frankfurter FC Victoria 1899 could only achieve two draws. In 1912–13 Victoria won the Nordkreis title once more and participated in another South German championship round where the Frankfurt club closely missed out the first spot that would have allowed playing the 1913 German championship. In the next season Gmelin's Victoria won the 3rd Nordkreis league in a row and another runners-up finish in the South German round. After the outbreak of

World War I World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, the United States, and the Ottoman Empire, with fightin ...

football fixtures were stopped. After the war many former football players met to revive competitive football. In 1920 and 1921 Gmelin won the Nordmain championship with Eintracht before hanging up his boots. Wilhelm Gmelin was honorary captain at Eintracht Frankfurt.

Honours

Nordkreis-Liga The Nordkreis-Liga (English: ''Northern district league'') was the highest association football league in the German Grand Duchy of Hesse and the Prussian province of Hesse-Nassau from 1909 to 1918. The league was disbanded with the introduction o ...

** Champion: 1911–12, 1912–13, 1913–14 *

Kreisliga Nordmain The Kreisliga Nordmain (English: ''District league North Main'') was the highest association football league in parts of the German state of Hesse and the Prussian province of Hesse-Nassau from 1919 to 1923. The league was disbanded with the introd ...

** Winner: 1919–20, 1920–21 ** Runner-up: 1921–22

Sources

External links

Wilhelm Gmelin
at eintracht-archiv.de 1891 births 1978 deaths German men's footballers Eintracht Frankfurt players Footballers from Frankfurt Men's association football goalkeepers {{Germany-footy-goalkeeper-stub