Franjo "Mara" Wölfl (sometimes spelled Velfl; 18 May 1918 – 8 July 1987) was a Croatian and Yugoslav footballer who played as a forward in the period between the late 1930s and early 1950s. A prolific goalscorer, Wölfl spent most of his career playing for his hometown clubs 1. HŠK Građanski and

Dinamo Zagreb Građanski nogometni klub Dinamo Zagreb (), commonly referred to as simply Dinamo Zagreb (), is a Croatian professional football club based in Zagreb. Dinamo play their home matches at Stadion Maksimir. They are the most successful club in Cr ...

. He was also a Yugoslavia international, both before and after

World War II World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

, and was part of the squad which won the silver medal at the

1948 Summer Olympics The 1948 Summer Olympics, officially the Games of the XIV Olympiad and officially branded as London 1948, were an international multi-sport event held from 29 July to 14 August 1948 in London, United Kingdom. Following a twelve-year hiatus cau ...

in London. During the war, he also played in 14 friendlies for the

Independent State of Croatia The Independent State of Croatia (, NDH) was a World War II–era puppet state of Nazi Germany and Fascist Italy (1922–1943), Fascist Italy. It was established in parts of Axis occupation of Yugoslavia, occupied Yugoslavia on 10 April 1941, ...

team. After retiring in 1953, he briefly co-managed

Yugoslavia , common_name = Yugoslavia , life_span = 1918–19921941–1945: World War II in Yugoslavia#Axis invasion and dismemberment of Yugoslavia, Axis occupation , p1 = Kingdom of SerbiaSerbia , flag_p ...

during the 1954 FIFA World Cup qualifiers.

Club career

Wölfl spent much of his career with Građanski Zagreb. With Građanski he was the top scorer in the Croatian First League's 1943 season. After

, Građanski was disbanded by the communist authorities and Wölfl moved to the regime's newly formed club

. With Dinamo, Wölfl was the

Yugoslav First League The Yugoslav First League ( Bosnian: Prva savezna liga u fudbalu, sr-Cyrl-Latn, Прва савезна лига у фудбалу, Prva savezna liga u fudbalu, , , , , ) was the premier football league in the Kingdom of Yugoslavia (1918–1941) ...

's top scorer in 1947 and 1948.

International career

Wölfl played international football first with the Kingdom of Yugoslavia national team from 1938 and then the Croatia national team from 1940 to 1944. He played 4 of those for the Jozo Jakopić-led ''Banovina'' and the other 14 games under the flag of the

, a

-era

puppet state A puppet state, puppet régime, puppet government or dummy government is a State (polity), state that is ''de jure'' independent but ''de facto'' completely dependent upon an outside Power (international relations), power and subject to its ord ...

Nazi Germany Nazi Germany, officially known as the German Reich and later the Greater German Reich, was the German Reich, German state between 1933 and 1945, when Adolf Hitler and the Nazi Party controlled the country, transforming it into a Totalit ...

. Finally, Wölfl suited up for communist Yugoslavia's national team from 1945 to 1951.

Honours

Club

1. HŠK Građanski *Yugoslav Football Championship: 1939–40 *Croatian Football Championship:

1943 Events Below, the events of World War II have the "WWII" prefix. January * January 1 – WWII: The Soviet Union announces that 22 German divisions have been encircled at Stalingrad, with 175,000 killed and 137,650 captured. * January 4 � ...

Dinamo Zagreb *Yugoslav First Federal League: 1947–48 *Marshal Tito Cup:

1951 Events January * January 4 – Korean War: Third Battle of Seoul – Chinese and North Korean forces capture Seoul for the second time (having lost the Second Battle of Seoul in September 1950). * January 9 – The Government of the Uni ...

International

Yugoslavia * Balkan Cup runner-up:

1946 1946 (Roman numerals, MCMXLVI) was a common year starting on Tuesday of the Gregorian calendar, the 1946th year of the Common Era (CE) and ''Anno Domini'' (AD) designations, the 946th year of the 2nd millennium, the 46th year of the 20th centur ...

1947 It was the first year of the Cold War, which would last until 1991, ending with the dissolution of the Soviet Union. Events January * January–February – Winter of 1946–47 in the United Kingdom: The worst snowfall in the country i ...

*Olympic tournament silver medalist: 1948 London

Individual

*Yugoslav championship top scorer: 1946–47, 1947–48

References

External links

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BIO JE PRVI PRAVI 'PLAVI 9' Zabijao je poput Messija danas, o njegovom voleju još kruže legende, a imao je samo jednu manu...
1918 births 1987 deaths Footballers from Zagreb Croatian people of German descent Men's association football forwards Yugoslav men's footballers Yugoslavia men's international footballers Footballers at the 1948 Summer Olympics Olympic footballers for Yugoslavia Olympic silver medalists for Yugoslavia Medalists at the 1948 Summer Olympics Olympic medalists in football Croatian men's footballers Croatia men's international footballers Dual internationalists (men's football) FC Viktoria Plzeň players HŠK Građanski Zagreb players GNK Dinamo Zagreb players Expatriate men's footballers in Czechoslovakia Yugoslav First League players Yugoslav football managers Yugoslavia national football team managers Burials at Mirogoj Cemetery {{Croatia-footy-forward-stub