<H1 Qsafl="2">Fritz Walter</H1><BR Qsafl="2"><STRONG Qsafl="2">Born:</STRONG> 31st October 1920<BR Qsafl="2"><STRONG Qsafl="2">Country:</STRONG> West Germany<BR Qsafl="2">
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<DIV class=clear Qsafl="2"></DIV>Fritz Walter was, during his playing days one of the most popular players to turn out for West Germany and Germany. His goal scoring record would stand upto many modern day footballers, managing to score 33 goals in 61 international games.<BR Qsafl="2"><BR Qsafl="2">Walter only played for FC Kaiserslautern in his playing days, starting in the youth team aged just 8. His first team debut came when he was 17 followed 3 years later by his international debut. His first international game was against <a href="http://www.soccerpulse.com/#" target="_blank" ><FONT style="FONT-WEIGHT: 400; FONT-SIZE: 12px; COLOR: #990000! important; FONT-FAMILY: arial,sans-serif; POSITION: static" color=#990000>Romania</FONT></A>, a game in which he scored a hat-trick. Life however for Walter was about to take a cruel twist with the start of the war. <BR Qsafl="2"><BR Qsafl="2">At the age of 22 he was drafted into the army and sent to fight like many young men of the time. At the end of the war he was in a POW camp in Hungary and at the mercy of fate. On arrival at the POW camp the Russians were to send all German POW's to a Gulag, with life expectancy around 5 years, things didnt look to hopefull. A Hungarian prison guard saved him by claiming that Fritz Walter was an Austrian. Legend has it that the prison guard had seen Fritz Walter playing football for Germany and that is why he saved him. On his return to Germany Walter continued where he left off for Kaiserslauten, helping the team to league championships in 1951 and 1953.
<DIV Qsafl="2"><STRONG Qsafl="2">layed For</STRONG><BR Qsafl="2">
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<LI Qsafl="2">FC Kaiserslautern</LI></UL></DIV><BR Qsafl="2"><BR Qsafl="2">In 1951 he also returned to the national team and given the honour of being named captain. He captained the West Germany team during the 1954 World Cup, a competition that they won. Fritz Walter also took part in the 1958 World Cup but this tournament was to be his last. Walter received his last cap during the semi-final against Sweden in the 1958 World Cup, suffering an <a href="http://www.soccerpulse.com/#" target="_blank" ><FONT style="FONT-WEIGHT: 400; FONT-SIZE: 12px; COLOR: #990000! important; FONT-FAMILY: arial,sans-serif; POSITION: static" color=#990000>injury</FONT></A> which ended his international career, and retired from football in 1959.<BR Qsafl="2"><BR Qsafl="2">In 1956 there was a crack down by the Soviets of the Hungarian Uprising. The Hungarian football team got caught away from home, and for two years, Fritz managed their games and provided the financial support that they needed. In a small way he paid back that Hungarian guard who had saved him after the war.<BR Qsafl="2"><BR Qsafl="2">Fritz Walter is still held in great esteem by the German People and his death in 2002, aged 81, was met with great sadness. It had been his dream to watch the World Cup in 2006 in his town of Kaiserslautern. The stadium of FC Kaiserslautern has been called the Fritz Walter Stadion since 1985.<BR Qsafl="2"><IMG src="http://www.soccerpulse.com/assets/images/legends/thumb_fritz.jpg" border=0>
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