Rudi Strittich (3 March 1922 – 11 July 2010) was an Austrian

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 ...

coach and former player.

Club career

Strittich debuted for Vorwärts Steyr, and later played for First Vienna FC. While with First Vienna, he went on a tour of the Middle East and upon returning was arrested along with two other players for smuggling narcotics into Austria. Strittich was imprisoned for three months and banned from football for one year by 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 ...

. Unable to play football in Austria, Strittich was recruited by

Béla Guttmann Béla Guttmann (; 27 January 1899 – 28 August 1981) was a Hungarian footballer and coach. He was born in Budapest, Austria-Hungary, and was Jewish. He was deported by the Nazis to a Nazi slave labor camp where he was tortured; he survived the ...

to play for Italian club USC Triestina. The Austrian FA would not clear him to play, so he joined Colombian side Samarios, where he could play because the Colombian Football Federation was not at the time affiliated to

FIFA 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 ...

. Upon returning to Austria, Strittich learned that his ban was still in effect, as the Austrian FA ruled that he did serve the ban while playing in Colombia. He moved to Switzerland and trained with the youth side of Young Fellows Zürich. Next, he briefly returned to Vienna, and was sold to French side

Besançon RC Besançon (, , , ; archaic german: Bisanz; la, Vesontio) is the prefecture of the department of Doubs in the region of Bourgogne-Franche-Comté. The city is located in Eastern France, close to the Jura Mountains and the border with Switzerl ...

after just six months. He suffered a back injury in France, and would retire from playing soon after.

International career

He made his debut for

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 ...

in December 1946 against

Hungary Hungary ( hu, Magyarország ) is a landlocked country in Central Europe. Spanning of the Carpathian Basin, it is bordered by Slovakia to the north, Ukraine to the northeast, Romania to the east and southeast, Serbia to the south, Cr ...

and earned 4 caps, scoring one goal.

Coaching career

After retiring as a football player Strittich worked as a coach for Sturm Graz in his home country. However, his greatest success as a coach came in

Denmark ) , song = ( en, "King Christian stood by the lofty mast") , song_type = National and royal anthem , image_map = EU-Denmark.svg , map_caption = , subdivision_type = Sovereign state , subdivision_name = Kingdom of Denmark , establish ...

, where he made Esbjerg fB champions in 1961, 1962, 1965, and 1979. He was also coach of the

Denmark national football team The Denmark men's national football team ( da, Danmarks herre-fodboldlandshold or ''herrelandsholdet'') represents Denmark in men's international football competitions. It is controlled by the Danish Football Association (DBU), the governing ...

from 1970 to 1975.

Honours

As a player

Austrian Football Bundesliga The Austrian Football Bundesliga (german: Österreichische Fußball-Bundesliga, italic=no , "Austrian Football Federal League"), also known as Admiral Bundesliga for sponsorship reasons, is the top level of the Austrian football league system. The ...

(1): 1943

As a manager

* Danish Football League (4): 1961, 1962, 1965, 1979

References

External links