Sunday, 4th July 1954, what would become known as ‘the Miracle of Bern’. Fritz Walter was the captain of West Germany. This would be a defining day for the nation, and for the history of international football.
Heavy rainfall has been pouring down onto the Wankdorfstadion turf for hours leading up to the final. West German coach Sepp Herberger knew the score, stating that “This is Fritz’s kind of weather”. The world expected a dominant Hungary to win the final, achieving the star on their shirt that would confirm them as the best team of the era. It was all in place for the Mighty Magyars, the Golden Team, to claim victory.
This was a Hungary team that was unbeaten in 32 matches over the previous years, including two famous victories over England (7-1 in Budapest and 6-3 in London) that shocked the world (or very much shocked the English at least). Players like Sándor Kocsis, Ferenc Puskás, and Nándor Hidegkuti, would go down as all-time football greats, changing the way football was played thanks to coach Gusztáv Sebes.
Hungary had also beaten West Germany convincingly in the group stage, 8-3. So, what happened?
It rained, heavily, a bog of a pitch levelling the playing field somewhat. Hungarian talisman Puskás was carrying an ankle injury but played in the final, a shadow of his usual self. He did score the opening goal of the match after 6 minutes, despite the injury. Czibor made it two just two minutes later, and a thrashing looked on the cards.
It’s good to remember though that this West Germany side were no pushovers. Fritz Walter scored 357 goals in 364 appearances as an inside forward for Kaiserslautern, the club which Herberger selected a nucleus of players from for the national side. They also had Adidas on side, wearing screw-in studs that allowed them to better adapt to any weather and surface conditions, a game-changer that other teams had no access to.
They fought back to level at 2-2 by the 18th minute. The rest of the match was evenly fought, with the eventual 3-2 winning goal scored by Rahn in the 84th minute.
Fritz unsurprisingly became a star back home, along with the rest of the squad and coach, uniting the country. He would go on to play in the 1958 World Cup, where the holders lost to Sweden in the semi-finals, retiring from all football in 1959.
Why did he love playing in rainy weather?
It is said that because he had contracted malaria during the war, he would struggle in hot and sunny conditions. Consistently impressing in such weather conditions led to Germans describing rainy weather as ‘Fritz Walter’s weather’. If there were cloudy skies and rain forecast, you’d expect him to put in a top performance.
The Hungarians played an important role in his life. Walter had been a Prisoner of War, playing football with Hungarian and Slovakian guards who probably saved his life , telling Soviet soldiers, when they arrived to ship German prisoners to labour camps, that he was not German.
Fritz Walter passed away in June 2002. His hometown club Kaiserslautern had already renamed its stadium in his honour in 1985, but as he had not quite lived long enough to see a World Cup match played in that stadium, during a match there in 2006, a moment of silence was held for him. He was awarded the ‘Golden Player’ accolade by the German Football Association, the best German player of the past 50 years in line with UEFA celebrating its 50th anniversary. Since 2005 in Germany, the best young German footballers are awarded with the Fritz Walter Medal each year.
It was such an iconic day in 1954 that even in Germany today they’ll still call a particularly rainy day ‘Fritz Walter’s weather’.
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