Josef "Jupp" Posipal (20 June 1927 – 21 February 1997) 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 le ...

. Born in Romania, he was part of the German national team that won the

1954 FIFA World Cup The 1954 FIFA World Cup was the fifth edition of the FIFA World Cup, the quadrennial international football tournament for senior men's national teams of the nations affiliated to FIFA. It was held in Switzerland from 16 June to 4 July. Switzerla ...

. During his club career he played for SV Linden 07, SV Arminia Hannover, and

Hamburger SV Hamburger Sport-Verein e.V. (), commonly known as Hamburger SV () or Hamburg (), is a German sports club based in Hamburg, with its largest branch being its football section. Though the current HSV was founded in June 1919 from a merger of three ...

Career

Posipal was born in

Lugoj Lugoj (; hu, Lugos; german: Lugosch; sr, Лугош, Lugoš; bg, Лугож; tr, Logoş) is a list of cities and towns in Romania, city in Timiș County, Romania. The Timiș River divides the city into two halves, the so-called "Romanian Lugoj" ...

Romania Romania ( ; ro, România ) is a country located at the crossroads of Central Europe, Central, Eastern Europe, Eastern, and Southeast Europe, Southeastern Europe. It borders Bulgaria to the south, Ukraine to the north, Hungary to the west, S ...

, to a father of German descent and a mother of Hungarian origin. When he was 16, Posipal's family relocated to Germany. In his youth his sportive activities focused on

swimming Swimming is the self-propulsion of a person through water, or other liquid, usually for recreation, sport, exercise, or survival. Locomotion is achieved through coordinated movement of the limbs and the body to achieve hydrodynamic thrust that r ...

and

track-and-field Track and field is a sport that includes athletic contests based on running, jumping, and throwing skills. The name is derived from where the sport takes place, a running track and a grass field for the throwing and some of the jumping event ...

as well as

handball Handball (also known as team handball, European handball or Olympic handball) is a team sport in which two teams of seven players each (six outcourt players and a goalkeeper) pass a ball using their hands with the aim of throwing it into the g ...

.Bitter, Jürgen. ''Deutschlands Fußball Nationalspieler'', Sportverlag, 1997, p. 368. In 1949 he joined

as then coach Georg Knöpfle was looking for a forward. However Knöpfle soon discovered that Posipal was a strong defender and withdrew him from attack to a half back position. Already a year later in 1950, West Germany national team coach

Sepp Herberger Josef "Sepp" Herberger (28 March 1897 – 28 April 1977) was a German football player and manager. He is most famous for being the manager of the West German national team that won the 1954 FIFA World Cup final, a match later dubbed ''The Mirac ...

intended to invite Posipal to join the squad for Germany's first international game after

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...

, but officials found out that Posipal had a

n citizenship and not German. After he had become a West-German citizen in 1951, Posipal debuted in the international game against

Turkey Turkey ( tr, Türkiye ), officially the Republic of Türkiye ( tr, Türkiye Cumhuriyeti, links=no ), is a list of transcontinental countries, transcontinental country located mainly on the Anatolia, Anatolian Peninsula in Western Asia, with ...

West Berlin West Berlin (german: Berlin (West) or , ) was a political enclave which comprised the western part of Berlin during the years of the Cold War. Although West Berlin was de jure not part of West Germany, lacked any sovereignty, and was under mi ...

. In 1952, Posipal was moved from the right half back position to that of center half. In that position he was considered to be one of Germany's best defenders during these years and one of the best in European football. In October 1953, he was invited to represent Europe in a game against

England England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe b ...

Wembley Stadium Wembley Stadium (branded as Wembley Stadium connected by EE for sponsorship reasons) is a football stadium in Wembley, London. It opened in 2007 on the site of the Wembley Stadium (1923), original Wembley Stadium, which was demolished from 200 ...

. However, during the first round of the

, Posipal had lost his form and after being injured for the quarterfinal against

Yugoslavia Yugoslavia (; sh-Latn-Cyrl, separator=" / ", Jugoslavija, Југославија ; sl, Jugoslavija ; mk, Југославија ;; rup, Iugoslavia; hu, Jugoszlávia; rue, label=Pannonian Rusyn, Югославия, translit=Juhoslavija ...

, 1. FC Kaiserslautern’s

Werner Liebrich Werner Liebrich (18 January 1927 – 20 March 1995) was a German footballer who played in the centre back position. He is notable for his role in the West Germany triumph in the 1954 FIFA World Cup, and spending his entire playing career of almos ...

played as center half instead of Posipal. Being fit again for the semifinal against

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 ...

, Herberger brought Posipal back to the starting team, but since Liebrich had played exceptionally well against Yugoslavia, Posipal played as a right full back at the expense of

Fritz Laband Fritz Laband (1 November 1925 – 3 January 1982) was a German association football, footballer who played as a defender (association football), defender. He was part of the Germany national football team, West Germany national team that won the ...

. Herberger's trust in Posipal despite his lack of form in previous games paid off as Posipal did very well in the semifinal and the final in the unusual new position. For the rest of his international career, Posipal kept playing as right back with Liebrich as the center half. He finished his football career in 1958.

Legacy

In 2012, when his long-time club Hamburger SV celebrated its 125th anniversary, Posipal was elected into the club history's all-star team.

Personal life and death

Posipal died at the age of 69 in

Hamburg (male), (female) en, Hamburger(s), Hamburgian(s) , timezone1 = Central (CET) , utc_offset1 = +1 , timezone1_DST = Central (CEST) , utc_offset1_DST = +2 , postal ...

heart failure Heart failure (HF), also known as congestive heart failure (CHF), is a syndrome, a group of signs and symptoms caused by an impairment of the heart's blood pumping function. Symptoms typically include shortness of breath, excessive fatigue, a ...

. He was married to Gisela and had two sons with her. His son Peer Posipal, who played for the

Bundesliga The Bundesliga (; ), sometimes referred to as the Fußball-Bundesliga () or 1. Bundesliga (), is a professional association football league in Germany. At the top of the German football league system, the Bundesliga is Germany's primary footba ...

team

Eintracht Braunschweig Braunschweiger Turn- und Sportverein Eintracht von 1895 e.V., commonly known as Eintracht Braunschweig () or BTSV (), is a German association football, football and sports club based in Braunschweig, Lower Saxony. The club was one of the founding ...

, is a former professional football player as well. His grandson Patrick Posipal is also a professional footballer.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Posipal, Josef 1927 births 1997 deaths People from Lugoj German footballers Germany international footballers German people of Romanian descent Romanian people of German descent Romanian people of Hungarian descent 1954 FIFA World Cup players FIFA World Cup-winning players Association football defenders SV Arminia Hannover players Hamburger SV players Naturalized citizens of Germany Romanian emigrants to West Germany West German footballers