Adolf Patek (4 April 1900 – 9 September 1982) was an

Austria Austria, , bar, Östareich officially the Republic of Austria, is a country in the southern part of Central Europe, lying in the Eastern Alps. It is a federation of nine states, one of which is the capital, Vienna, the most populous ...

n footballer and football manager. He began his playing career in 1916 with

Wiener Sport-Club The Wiener Sport-Club, sometimes abbreviated as WSC, was established in 1883 in Vienna, Austria and is one of the country's oldest athletics clubs. Their traditional home is in the Dornbach quarter of the city ( 17th district). History At vari ...

. In 1919 his team reached the Austrian Cup finals, but was defeated by

SK Rapid Wien Sportklub Rapid Wien (), commonly known as Rapid Vienna, is an Austrian football club playing in the country's capital city of Vienna. Rapid has won the most Austrian championship titles (32), including the first title in the season 1911–12, ...

3-0. Along with Karl Jordan, Patek joined DFC Ústí for a short period before moving to

DFC Prague The Deutscher Fußball-Club Prag, commonly known as DFC Prag, was a football club based in Prague. The club was founded on 25 May 1896 by a group of German Jews in Prague, which at the time of its founding was the capital of the Kingdom of Bohem ...

. He quickly became known for his ability as a striker and was poached by rivals

Sparta Prague ) but refer to Spartans as "''Rudí''" ( en, The Dark Reds/The Maroons).'' Letenští'' , ground = Generali Česká pojišťovna Arena , capacity = 19,416 , clubname = Sparta Prague , image = Sparta Praha logo.png , image_size = 160px , fu ...

. Joined by Pepi Horejs, whom he had played alongside in Vienna, Patek was part of the Sparta side which won the Czechoslovak championship in 1926 and 1927. He additionally won the

1927 Mitropa Cup The 1927 season of the Mitropa Cup football club tournament was won by Sparta Prague in a final against Rapid Wien. This was the inaugural edition of the tournament. Quarter-finals First leg ---- ---- ---- Second leg ''MTK won 8–2 o ...

with Sparta and participated also in the lost final match of

1930 Mitropa Cup The 1930 season of the Mitropa Cup football club tournament was won by Rapid Vienna in a two-legged final against Sparta Prague. This was the fourth edition of the tournament. The holders, Újpesti FC, lost in the quarter final against the ital ...

, both against

Rapid Wien Sportklub Rapid Wien (), commonly known as Rapid Vienna, is an Austrian football club playing in the country's capital city of Vienna. Rapid has won the most Austrian championship titles (32), including the first title in the season 1911–12, ...

. Following the Second World War, Patek transitioned into a coaching career, beginning as an assistant in the

Austrian Football Association The Austrian Football Association (german: Österreichischer Fußball-Bund; ÖFB) is the governing body of football in Austria. It organises the football league, Austrian Bundesliga, the Austrian Cup and the Austria national football team, as well ...

before joining

FC Bern 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 ...

from 1947-49 as a coach and trainer. From September 1949 until May 1953, he coached the

Luxembourg national football team The Luxembourg national football team (nicknamed the ''Red Lions''; lb, Lëtzebuergesch Foussballnationalequipe, french: Équipe du Luxembourg de football, german: Luxemburgische Fußballnationalmannschaft) is the national football team of Luxe ...

before coaching

Karlsruher SC Karlsruher SC is a German association football club, based in Karlsruhe, Baden-Württemberg that currently plays in the 2. Bundesliga, the second tier of German football. Domestically, the club was crowned German champion in 1909, and won the DF ...

, where he reached his greatest success as a coach, in 1955 leading that team to win the

DFB Cup The DFB-Pokal ( is a German knockout Association football, 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. Bundesl ...

. In the following season, KSC qualified for the final round of the German Cup, ultimately falling to

Borussia Dortmund Ballspielverein Borussia 09 e. V. Dortmund, commonly known as Borussia Dortmund (), BVB (), or simply Dortmund (), is a German professional sports club based in Dortmund, North Rhine-Westphalia. It is best known for its men's professional fo ...

. In 1956, Patek became coach of

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 ...

, winning the first

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 considere ...

final played under floodlights, against FC Schalke. After two years in Frankfurt, he spent another three as a coach at Bayern Munich, staying until 1961. After a short stint with SC YF Juventus, he returned to Austrian football to coach SC Wiener Neustadt, winning the 1963 Austrian Cup final against

LASK Linz Linzer Athletik-Sport-Klub, commonly known as Linzer ASK () or simply LASK, is an Austrian professional football club, from the Upper-Austrian state capital Linz. It is the oldest football club in that region, and plays in the Austrian Footbal ...

. This qualified the team for the European Cup, but they fell to Ştiinţa Cluj.

References

1900 births 1982 deaths Footballers from Vienna Austrian footballers AC Sparta Prague players Association football forwards Austrian football managers Karlsruher SC managers Eintracht Frankfurt managers FC Bayern Munich managers SC Young Fellows Juventus managers Luxembourg national football team managers FC Bern managers 1. Wiener Neustädter SC managers Expatriate footballers in Czechoslovakia DFC Prag players Wiener Sport-Club players {{Austria-footy-bio-stub