Georg Knöpfle

Georg Knöpfle was also called “button” due to his short height and based on his playing style. On 15 April 1928, he was first named to the national team. Knöpfle played both games at the Olympics. In the same year he transferred to FSV Frankfurt, where he played until 1936.

Knöpfle earned 23 caps for the German national football team, then became their coach in 1935, and was on the German coaching staff at the 1936 Berlin Olympics. After the war he became one of West Germany’s best coaches, winning the German Cup with Werder Bremen in 1961 and the German Championship with 1.FC Köln in 1963 in the first year of the Bundesliga. In 1966 Knöpfle became the first technical director of a German football club, the Hamburger Sportverein.

Knöpfle’s coaching assignments were as follows – 1937-48 with Eintracht Braunschweig, 1948–58 with Arminia Hannover, Hamburger SV, FC Bayern München and Alemannia Aachen; 1958–63 with Werder Bremen, 1963–66 with 1.FC Köln, 1966–69 technical director with Hamburger SV, and 1969–70 again coach with Hamburger SV. He trained as a clerk, but never worked as such.