Gerhard Hanappi is an famous Austrian legend, a versatile midfielder. Hanappi was very combative player, tireless runner and brilliant technician, was very intelligent with excellent sense of anticipating which made him very useful in defensive duties, and also enabled him to make well timed runs in the box and to score a lot of goals. Hanappi mainly played as wing-half and was also remarkable in playmaking skill. He started his career at SC Wacker Wien, Deemed as Austria's biggest football talent, he then controversially moved to play for big city rivals Rapid Vienna where he proved to be very successful, He also captained the side for seven years and was chosen in Rapid's Team of the Century in 1999. Hanappi was voted 3rd greatest Austrian footballer ever by IFFHS’s poll. After retirement, He worked as an architect. He planned the Weststadion in Vienna, which was renamed to Gerhard Hanappi Stadium after his death.
One of the most complete players in history who successfully played on almost all positions. Hanappi was very combative player, tireless runner and brillant tachnician, in some way could be compared to Pavel Nedved. Gerhard was very intelligent with excellent sense of anticipating which made him very useful in defensive duties, and also enabled him to make well timed runs in the box and to score a lot of goals, even becoming a league top scorer. He was good playmaker although he played mainly as a wing half. Gerhard Hanappi began his career as a footballer at the club Wacker small suburb of Vienna. Even as a 17-year-old he played regularly in the first team and was able to celebrate in 1947 the Meidlinger surprisingly his first championship with Wacker. That same year, the Vienna Cup in Austria are defeated 4-3. Gerhard Hanappi played in the finals still in the middle of Meidlinger, later he was used mostly as a defender. Gerhard Hanappi was soon regarded as the greatest football talent in Vienna, so numerous clubs sought a change to itself. At age 19 he was a defender while his debut on 14 November 1948, the Austrian national soccer team's 2-1 victory over Sweden. Gerhard Hanappi away from his debut came in all 55 games the following countries, the Austrian national team, before he had six years later, a break due to injury in a game against Yugoslavia. With 21 years of Wacker-player has been chosen as the first non-Rapidler footballer of the year. In the year 1950, pointed to the "case Hanappi" as his departure was called to Wacker. Gerhard Hanappi should go to Rapid, Wacker was their star, however, share at any price. Rapids section chief Franz Binder decided to "kidnap" a short hand the football players and hid it. The final exchange of Meidling to Hütteldorf could be completed only after several months of free association. Wacker fans swore the Green-Whites "eternal vengeance," which led to this spicy duels two clubs in the following years. During his free time, took the club coach and former national team players wonder Walter Gerhard Hanappi Nausch in order and set the all-rounder also continue in the team. In his first season playing for SK Rapid Gerhard Hanappi has already won his first international title. In the finale of Zentropacups a remake of Mitropapokals, the all-rounder hit after a 5-0 victory over Lazio in the semi-finals in an all-Austrian duel on Wacker. The hard-run game finally ended with 3:2 in favor of the Green-Whites. At the national level could Gerhard Hanappi mostly determine the championship event with his new club - a total of seven league titles and once he won the Cup in Hütteldorf. Also in the discharged since 1955 European Cup champion, he could come up with the rapid learning from 1961 to the semifinals. Total full 14 years until his retirement in 1964, played at Rapid Hanappi, seven of those years (1957-1964) as their captain. During this time denied Hanappi, who played on nearly all positions with Rapid, 333 league matches, scoring 114 goals. Hanappi in 1999 was elected by a reader poll in Rapid Magazine's third most votes in the century of rapid Eleven. His biggest success in the national dress of the 93-fold team players celebrated at the World Championships in Switzerland in 1954, after having defeated Portugal in the qualifiers with 9:1. At the World Championships drew Hanappi as left-back alongside club colleague Ernst Happel with the national team after a 1-0 win over Scotland and a 5-0 thrashing about Czechoslovakia in the quarterfinals, where they met the hosts. Austria could decide this match in the famous "Battle of Lausanne heat" with 7:5 by itself, however, different from the semi-final against Germany. Gerhard Hanappi but won the small final for third place against the reigning world champions to date with Uruguay 3-1. After the World Cup defender in 1955 and was appointed captain of the national award in the same year as Austria's sportsman of the year. At the world championships in Sweden in 1958 but he could not repeat the success of 1954 and failed at the group stage with the Austrian team after Lospech to Brazil, England and the Soviet Union. After ending his football career in 1965 began his architectural career Gerhard Hanappi. That same year he was honored as the first football player with the Golden Medal of Merit of the Republic of Austria. Even at times of players he had spent his breaks with numerous architectural study books. When his "masterpiece" is the planning and construction of the stadium west of Vienna, now home of Rapid, which on 10 May 1977, opened with a 1-0 win over Austria Vienna. He had previously gained experience with sports facilities, including the planned investment in the ÖMV Stadlau. Gerhard Hanappi died at the age of 51 years of lymphatic cancer and was dedicated in an honorary grave in the cemetery Hietzinger.
Love the bit about Di Stefano and Gento
