Fritz Szepan

1925/50 FC Schalke 04 (GER) 434 games, 309 goals

(German Championship: 87 games, 56 goals)

(Oberliga West: 10 games, 1 goal)

(Gauliga: 255 games, 198 goals)

(German Cup: 35 games, 19 goals)

(West German Championship/Westphalian Cup: 47 games, 35 goals)

With the National Team :

34 caps, 8 goals

(Friendly matches: 25 caps, 7 goals)

(World Cup qualifiers: 4 caps, 1 goal)

World Cup: 5 caps)

1st cap: 20 November 1929 against Finland (4-0)

Last cap: 22 October 1939 against Bulgaria (2-1)

Friedrich Hermann Sczepan

Born on September 2, 1907 in Gelsenkirchen (GER)

Died on December 14, 1974 in Gelsenkirchen (GER)

German, Left-winger, Attacking-midfielder, Central-Midfielder, 1m77

Nickname: The blond

Fritz Szepan was born on September 2, 1907 in Gelsenkirchen, Germany, where he would stay all his life, and play professionally in only one club, the major club in his city, Schalke 04, with whom he joined the first team in 1925.

Able to play in almost all positions thanks to his quality in all areas, Fritz Szepan would play mainly as a left winger, inside-left, but also as a central midfielder or defender. Considered lazy, he was far from being a fast player, he compensated for this weakness with exceptional technical quality.

Fritz Szepan is one of the players with the best vision of the game of his time, but also a ball virtuoso, an excellent dribbler and having one of the best ball handling skills in history. With him and Kuzorra, Schalke 04 will dominate German football, winning 6 German championships in 1934, 1935, 1937, 1939, 1940 and 1942.

Szepan will be one of the most legendary players of his time, especially because he is considered a talented and gifted player in the field of passes, both short and long. Within a fast and offensive team, he will be the technical leader and playmaker of Schalke 04.

The one who is considered the Franz Beckenbauer before World War II will continue to play football during the conflict despite a football destroyed and ravaged by the war. Natural leader of Schalke 04, he will be attached to the Third Reich when Nazi Germany, which seeks to become number 1 in all areas, will see in the player its flagship player.

He will be part of the unified team between Austria and Germany in 1938, he then participates in the 1934 World Cup and finishes 3rd in the World Cup then he participates in that of 1938, a failure.

After the Second World War, the past of thousands of Germans was studied during the conflict, Fritz Szepan will have taken advantage of the conflict when his wife took over a textile store that belonged to a Jewish family. Which tarnished his image.

He still continues to play football with Schalke 04 until 1950, he is then 43 years old and he comes to end a 25-year career with the German club, retiring in the skin of one of the greatest legends of German football.

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