Frédéric "Fritz" Keller (born Friedrich Keller, 21 August 1913 – 8 June 1985) was a German-born professional French
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 as a
forward in the
Première division for
RC Strasbourg, and for the
France national team.
Club career
Born to an
Alsatian mother and a German father in
Strasbourg (then
Reichsland Elsaß-Lothringen), Fritz Keller was the second and arguably the most talented of the three Keller brothers (Albert, Fritz, Curt) who all played as professionals for
RC Strasbourg in the 1930s. He was a key member of the Strasbourg team that finished second in the
1934–35 Championship and reached
the final of the cup in 1937.
When Alsace was ''de facto'' annexed by the
Third Reich
Nazi Germany (lit. "National Socialist State"), ' (lit. "Nazi State") for short; also ' (lit. "National Socialist Germany") (officially known as the German Reich from 1933 until 1943, and the Greater German Reich from 1943 to 1945) was ...
, Fritz Keller elected to play for
SS side
SG SS Straßburg
SS Straßburg was a German association football club from the city of Straßburg, Elsass (today Strasbourg, Alsace in France).
The team was founded in 1900 as ''FC Frankonia 1900 Straßburg'' (after Franconia) when the region was under German ...
in the
Gauliga Elsaß
The Gauliga Elsaß was the highest football league in the region of Alsace (German: Elsaß, the old orthography of Elsass) from 1940 to 1945. The Nazis reorganised the administrative region and the Alsace became part of the Gau Baden-Elsaß.
Ov ...
rather than continuing with RC Strasbourg's ersatz, Rasensport Club Straßburg. According to some of his former teammates at RCS, this was more an opportunistic move than a real ideological gesture as the SS were offering significant rewards to build up the best team in Alsace.
International career
Keller had his first cap for France on 10 May 1934 against
the Netherlands
)
, anthem = ( en, "William of Nassau")
, image_map =
, map_caption =
, subdivision_type = Sovereign state
, subdivision_name = Kingdom of the Netherlands
, established_title = Before independence
, established_date = Spanish Netherl ...
and participated in
World Cup 1934, playing one game against
Austria's ''Wunderteam''. He was the first RC Strasbourg player to earn a cap with the national team. His younger brother
Curt Keller also had one cap with France in 1937 but, at that time, Fritz's career for the national team had ended.
References
External links
FFF ProfileRacingstub profile
{{DEFAULTSORT:Keller, Fritz
1913 births
1985 deaths
Footballers from Strasbourg
Men's association football forwards
French footballers
France men's international footballers
Ligue 1 players
Ligue 2 players
RC Strasbourg Alsace players
1934 FIFA World Cup players
French people of German descent
People from Alsace-Lorraine
Alsatian-German people