Karl-Heinz Schnellinger (born 31 March 1939) is a German former footballer who played as a defender. An athletic and hard-tackling player, with a strong physique, he was nicknamed the "

Volkswagen Volkswagen (),English: , . abbreviated as VW (), is a German motor vehicle manufacturer headquartered in Wolfsburg, Lower Saxony, Germany. Founded in 1937 by the German Labour Front under the Nazi Party and revived into a global brand post-W ...

" for his continuity of performance, both in quantity and in quality, and for his versatility; indeed, although he was usually deployed as a full-back, he was capable of playing anywhere along the back, and could also play as a centre-back, as a sweeper, or even as a

defensive midfielder A midfielder is an outfield position in association football. Midfielders may play an exclusively defensive role, breaking up attacks, and are in that case known as defensive midfielders. As central midfielders often go across boundari ...

. In his prime he was often considered one of the best and most complete

left-back In the sport of association football, a defender is an outfield position whose primary role is to stop attacks during the game and prevent the opposition from scoring. Centre-backs are usually positioned in pairs, with one full-back on either s ...

s in the world in his era, rivaled only by

Giacinto Facchetti Giacinto Facchetti (; 18 July 1942 – 4 September 2006) was an Italian footballer who played as a left-back for Inter Milan from 1960 to 1978. He later served as Inter chairman from January 2004 until his death in 2006. He played 634 official ga ...

, Nilton Santos and

Silvio Marzolini Silvio Marzolini (4 October 1940 – 17 July 2020)Marzol ...

Club career

Schnellinger was born in Düren (then in Rhine Province,

Prussia Prussia, , Old Prussian: ''Prūsa'' or ''Prūsija'' was a German state on the southeast coast of the Baltic Sea. It formed the German Empire under Prussian rule when it united the German states in 1871. It was ''de facto'' dissolved by an ...

, today

North Rhine-Westphalia North Rhine-Westphalia (german: Nordrhein-Westfalen, ; li, Noordrien-Wesfale ; nds, Noordrhien-Westfalen; ksh, Noodrhing-Wäßßfaale), commonly shortened to NRW (), is a state (''Land'') in Western Germany. With more than 18 million inha ...

). He won the German Championship with 1. FC Köln in 1962, and was awarded the (

Footballer of the Year (Germany) The title Footballer of the Year (German: ''Fußballer des Jahres'') has been awarded in Germany since 1960. Eligible are German players as well as non-German players playing in Germany. In 1996, the title Women's Footballer of the Year (German ...

), performed well in the

1962 FIFA World Cup The 1962 FIFA World Cup was the seventh edition of the FIFA World Cup, the quadrennial international football championship for senior men's national teams. It was held from 30 May to 17 June 1962 in Chile. The qualification rounds took place be ...

and was subsequently named in the tournament's 'Dream-Team'. After Schnellinger had left Köln for A.C. Mantova in 1963, his debut in

Serie A The Serie A (), also called Serie A TIM for national sponsorship with TIM, is a professional league competition for football clubs located at the top of the Italian football league system and the winner is awarded the Scudetto and the Cop ...

came in a match against

A.C. Milan Associazione Calcio Milan (), commonly referred to as AC Milan or simply Milan, is a professional Association football, football club in Milan, Italy, founded in 1899. The club has spent its entire history, with the exception of the 1980–81 ...

which ended in a surprising 4–1 victory for Mantova. However, he played there only for one season before he was signed by

A.S. Roma ' (''Rome Sport Association''), commonly referred to as Roma (), is a professional football club based in Rome, Italy. Founded by a merger in 1927, Roma has participated in the top tier of Italian football for all of its existence, except for ...

in 1964 when they won the

Coppa Italia The ("Italy Cup") is an annual knockout cup competition in Italian football organized by the FIGC until the 2009–10 season and the Lega Serie A ever since. History The beginning of the tournament was turbulent, due to the complexity of ...

, and finally by A.C. Milan in 1965, being transferred along with Roma teammates Antonio Valentín Angelillo and

Angelo Sormani Angelo Benedicto Miguel Sormani (; born 3 July 1939) is a former football manager and player, who played as a forward; he was capable of playing anywhere along the front-line, as a centre-forward, as well as in an attacking midfield role, or ...

. He played nine seasons with the ''Rossoneri'', obtaining several successes both at the national and European level. He was one of the first successful German footballers abroad. Schnellinger left Milan in 1974, and retired after a season back in his native Germany with

Tennis Borussia Berlin Tennis Borussia Berlin is a German football club based in the locality of Westend in Berlin. History The team was founded in 1902 as ''Berliner Tennis- und Ping-Pong-Gesellschaft Borussia'' taking its name from its origins as a tennis and ta ...

International career

Schnellinger participated in his first

1958 World Cup The 1958 FIFA World Cup was the sixth FIFA World Cup, a quadrennial football tournament for men's senior national teams, and was played in Sweden from 8 to 29 June 1958. It was the first FIFA World Cup to be played in a Nordic country. Brazil be ...

in Sweden at the age of 19, and went on to become one of the few players to play in four World Cups (

1958 Events January * January 1 – The European Economic Community (EEC) comes into being. * January 3 – The West Indies Federation is formed. * January 4 ** Edmund Hillary's Commonwealth Trans-Antarctic Expedition completes the third ...

1962 Events January * January 1 – Western Samoa becomes independent from New Zealand. * January 3 – Pope John XXIII excommunicates Fidel Castro for preaching communism. * January 8 – Harmelen train disaster: 93 die in the wor ...

, 1966,

1970 Events January * January 1 – Unix time epoch reached at 00:00:00 UTC. * January 5 – The 7.1 Tonghai earthquake shakes Tonghai County, Yunnan province, China, with a maximum Mercalli intensity of X (''Extreme''). Between 10,000 and ...

). He was renowned for his physical power, pace, and his winning mentality. His only international goal came in the last minute to draw 1–1 in the thrilling semi-final of the 1970 World Cup against

Italy Italy ( it, Italia ), officially the Italian Republic, ) or the Republic of Italy, is a country in Southern Europe. It is located in the middle of the Mediterranean Sea, and its territory largely coincides with the homonymous geographical ...

, which later became known as the " Game of the Century". His goal led to the famous German radio commentary line "Ausgerechnet Schnellinger!" – roughly: "Of all the players, it's Schnellinger" – which refers to him never having previously scored for the national team, and also to his being one of the two players in the German squad then playing in the Italian Serie A (the other being

Helmut Haller Helmut Haller (; 21 July 1939 – 11 October 2012) was a German footballer who played as a forward. At international level, he represented West Germany at three World Cups. At club level, he played in both Germany and Italy, and won Italian l ...

). Italy eventually won 4–3 after extra time. In the previous round, late in the match against England, it was Schnellinger's cross that

Uwe Seeler Uwe Seeler (; 5 November 1936 – 21 July 2022) was a German footballer and football official. As a striker, he was a prolific scorer for Hamburger SV and also made 72 appearances for the West Germany national team. Widely regarded as one of ...

scored from with a backwards header that tied the score 2–2, a game West Germany won 3–2 after extra time. Schnellinger won his last cap in 1971. He is the last surviving player from the Germany team in the 1958 World Cup.

Personal life

Schnellinger later lived in

Milan Milan ( , , Lombard: ; it, Milano ) is a city in northern Italy, capital of Lombardy, and the second-most populous city proper in Italy after Rome. The city proper has a population of about 1.4 million, while its metropolitan city h ...

's suburb of Segrate where he worked as a businessman after retirement from football.

Honours

1. FC Köln * German Championship:

Roma *

: 1963–64 A.C. Milan *

: 1967–68 * Coppa Italia: 1966–67, 1971–72, 1972–73 * European Cup: 1968–69 *

European Cup Winners' Cup The UEFA Cup Winners' Cup was a European football club competition contested annually by the winners of domestic cup competitions. The cup was, chronologically, the second seasonal inter-European club competition organised by UEFA. The tournam ...

: 1967–68, 1972–73 * Intercontinental Cup: 1969 West Germany *

FIFA World Cup The FIFA World Cup, often simply called the World Cup, is an international association football competition contested by the senior men's national teams of the members of the ' ( FIFA), the sport's global governing body. The tournament ha ...

: runner-up 1966, third place

, fourth place

Individual *

Ballon d'Or The Ballon d'Or (; ) is an annual association football, football award presented by French news magazine ''France Football'' since 1956. Between 2010 and 2015, in an agreement with FIFA, the award was temporarily merged with the FIFA World Pl ...

: third place 1962 *

: 1962 *

FIFA World Cup All-Star Team At the end of each FIFA World Cup final tournament, several awards are presented to the players and teams who have distinguished themselves in various aspects of the game. Awards *There are currently five post-tournament awards from the FIFA ...

: 1962 *

FIFA XI FIFA (; stands for ''Fédération Internationale de Football Association'' ( French), meaning International Association Football Federation ) is the international governing body of association football, beach football and futsal. It was found ...

: 1963, 1967FIFA XI´s Matches – Full Info
*A.C. Milan Hall of Fame

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Schnellinger, Karl-Heinz 1939 births Living people People from Düren Sportspeople from Cologne (region) Footballers from North Rhine-Westphalia German footballers Association football defenders 1. FC Köln players Mantova 1911 players A.C. Milan players A.S. Roma players Tennis Borussia Berlin players Bundesliga players Serie A players UEFA Champions League winning players Germany international footballers 1958 FIFA World Cup players 1962 FIFA World Cup players 1966 FIFA World Cup players 1970 FIFA World Cup players German expatriate footballers German expatriate sportspeople in Italy Expatriate footballers in Italy