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Josef "Pepi" Bican (September 25, 1913 - December 12, 2001) was an Austrian and Czech football forward, one of the world's most prolific goalscorers of all-time. He was a member of the Austrian Wunderteam of the 1930s, and was a five-time European Golden Boot winner. Image File history File links Wiki_letter_w. ... September 25 is the 268th day of the year (269th in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. ... 1913 (MCMXIII) was a common year starting on Wednesday. ... December 12 is the 346th day (347th in leap years) of the year in the Gregorian calendar, with 19 days remaining. ... 2001: A Space Odyssey. ... Football (soccer) - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia /**/ @import /skins-1. ... The striker (wearing the red shirt) has run past the defender (in the white shirt) and is about to take a shot at the goal, while the goalkeeper positions himself to attempt to stop the ball. ... This article or section does not cite its references or sources. ... In football (soccer), the European Golden Boot has been awarded to the highest goalscorer in all the top European divisions each season since 1967/68. ...

Early life

Bican was born in Vienna to Ludmila, a Viennese Czech woman and Frantisek, who came from Sedlice in southern Bohemia. Josef's father was a footballer who played for Hertha Vienna. He went to fight in World War I and returned uninjured. However, Frantisek was to die at the age of just 30 in 1921 because he refused an operation to treat a kidney injury sustained in a football match. His mother worked in a restaurant kitchen. The family's poverty meant that Bican had to play football without any shoes, which helped him hone his ball control skills. Inhabitants according to official census figures: 1800 to 2005 Vienna in 1858 UN complex in Vienna, with the non-affiliated Austria Center Vienna in front - picture taken from Danube Tower in nearby Danube Park. ... Sedlice: Czech Gemeinde Sedlice u Blatné, Okres Strakonice (Strakonice District), Czech Gemeinde Sedlice u Březnice, Okres Příbram (Příbram District), Czech Gemeinde Sedlice u Želivi, Okres Pelhřimov (Pelhřimov District), Czech Sedlice u Domažlic, Ortsteil von Zahořany u Domažlic, Okres Domažlice (Domažlice... Flag of Bohemia Bohemia (Czech: ; German: ) is a historical region in central Europe, occupying the western and middle thirds of the Czech Republic. ... Combatants Allied Powers: British Empire France Italy Russia United States Central Powers: Austria-Hungary Bulgaria Germany Ottoman Empire Commanders Ferdinand Foch Georges Clemenceau Victor Emmanuel III Luigi Cadorna Armando Diaz Nicholas II Aleksei Brusilov Herbert Henry Asquith Douglas Haig John Jellicoe Woodrow Wilson John Pershing Wilhelm II Paul von Hindenburg... Human kidneys viewed from behind with spine removed The kidneys are bean-shaped excretory organs in vertebrates. ...

Bican attended the Jan Amos Komensky school, a Czech school in Vienna. Four years after his father's death in 1925, Bican, at 12 years-old, started to play for the Hertha Vienna junior team. As an 18-year-old, Bican was spotted by Rapid Vienna, who were a big club in the city at the time. Comenius on a Czechoslovak 20 koruna banknote Jan Amos Komenský (Latinized Comenius) (March 28, 1592 - November 15, 1670) was a Czech teacher, educator and writer, known as teacher of nations. ... The Sportklub Rapid Wien or SK Rapid Wien is one of the two large football teams in Vienna. ...

Club career

When Bican first joined Rapid, he received 150 schillings, but, by the age of 20, Rapid wanted to keep him so much that they paid him 600 schillings. The Schilling was the currency of Austria until the Euro exchange in 2002. ...

In 1937, Bican left Vienna to join Czech club Slavia Prague. He played for Slavia throughout World War II. In eight league seasons he scored 328 goals, including 57 in 24 matches one particular year. 1937 (MCMXXXVII) was a common year starting on Friday (link will take you to calendar). ... SK Slavia Praha (English: Slavia Prague) is a Czech football club founded 1892 in Prague. ... Combatants Major Allied powers: United Kingdom Soviet Union United States Republic of China and others Major Axis powers: Nazi Germany Italy Japan and others Commanders Winston Churchill Joseph Stalin Franklin Roosevelt Harry Truman Chiang Kai-Shek Adolf Hitler Benito Mussolini Hideki Tojo Casualties Military dead: 17,000,000 Civilian dead...

After the war, several of Europe's biggest clubs wanted Bican. Juventus offered him handsome terms to join them, but he refused, after he was advised that Communists might take over Italy. He stayed in Prague and, ironically, the Communists came to power there in 1948. Bican refused to join the Communist Party, just as he had refused to join the Nazi Party in Austria. European redirects here. ... Juventus Football Club (Latin for Youth, pronounced yoo-VEHN-toos) is one of Italys oldest and most successful football clubs, based in Turin. ... This article or section does not cite its references or sources. ... This article or section does not cite its references or sources. ... 1948 (MCMXLVIII) was a leap year starting on Thursday (the link is to a full 1948 calendar). ... The Nazi swastika symbol The National Socialist German Workers Party ( German: Nationalsozialistische Deutsche Arbeiterpartei), better known as the NSDAP or the Nazi Party was a political party that was led to power in Germany by Adolf Hitler in 1933. ...

Bican tried to improve his standing with the Communists by joining Vitkovice Zelezarna. In 1951, he joined Hradec Kralove, but, on May 1, 1953, the Communist Party forced him to leave the city and, therefore, the club. After being forced to leave, he returned to Slavia Prague, or, as it was known then, Dynamo Prague. He finally retired from playing, still at Slavia, at the age of 42 in 1955. He was the oldest player in the league at that time. During this time Bican briefly managed Kralove and Slavia and then was appointed manager of Pilzen. 1951 (MCMLI) was a common year starting on Monday; see its calendar. ... To meet Wikipedias quality standards, this article may require cleanup. ... May 1 is the 121st day of the year in the Gregorian calendar (122nd in leap years). ... 1953 (MCMLIII) was a common year starting on Thursday. ... 1955 (MCMLV) was a common year starting on Saturday of the Gregorian calendar. ...

He was the league top-scorer 12 times in his career and Europe's top scorer in five consecutive seasons, from 1939/40 to 1943/44. However, it wasn't just the quantity of goals that Bican scored that was impressive, it was often also their quality. Many goals were preceded by a mazy dribble around several defenders, whilst some were scored after he juggled the ball a number of times prior to shooting.

International career

On November 29, 1933, aged 20 years and 64 days, Bican made his debut for Austria in a 2-2 draw against Scotland. He went on to play for them at the 1934 World Cup, when the Austrian Wunderteam reached the semi-finals. His solitary goal in the tournament came in extra-time in the Austrians 3-2 victory over France. November 29 is the 333rd (in leap years the 334th) day of the year in the Gregorian Calendar. ... 1933 (MCMXXXIII) was a common year starting on Sunday (link will take you to calendar). ... First international Scotland 0 - 0 England (Partick, Scotland; 30 November 1872) Largest win Scotland 11 - 0 Ireland (Glasgow, Scotland; 23 February 1901) Worst defeat Uruguay 7 - 0 Scotland (Basel, Switzerland; 19 June 1954) World Cup Appearances 8 (First in 1954) Best result Round 1, all European Championship Appearances 2 (First... The 1934 Football World Cup was hosted by Mussolinis Italy. ...

At the time Bican was playing for Slavia Praha, he applied for Czech citizenship. However, when he eventually became a Czech citizen, he discovered that a clerical error meant he couldn't play at the World Cup in 1938. In total, he scored 29 goals in 34 international matches for 3 teams (Austria, Czechoslovakia and Bohemia & Moravia). His final national team appearance was for Czechoslovakia in a 3-1 defeat against Bulgaria on September 4, 1949. 1938 (MCMXXXVIII) was a common year starting on Saturday (link will take you to calendar). ... Flag of the Protectorate The Protectorate of Bohemia and Moravia (in German: Reichsprotektorat Böhmen und Mähren, in Czech: Protektorát Čechy a Morava) was the ethnic-Czech protectorate (in fact a puppet state) of the German Reich established in the central parts of Bohemia and Moravia. ... September 4 is the 247th day of the year (248th in leap years). ... 1949 (MCMXLIX) was a common year starting on Saturday (the link is to a full 1949 calendar). ...

However, his success did have its downside. Other members of the team became jealous of the tall, handsome Bican's success. He was often called abusive names, such as "Austrian bastard."

Life after retirement

In the spring of 1968, Bican was told that he would be allowed to take a coaching job abroad. He impressed the Belgian team Tongeren and they hired him as a coach, where he had some success taking them from Division 4 to Division 2. 1968 (MCMLXVIII) was a leap year starting on Monday (the link is to a full 1968 calendar). ... Koninklijke Sportkring Tongeren is a Belgian football club currently playing in the third division. ...

Around this time, Pelé was heading for his 1000th goal and many journalists were looking for another player who had scored a thousand goals. A former German player suggested Bican, who he claimed had scored 5000 goals. When reporters asked Bican why he hadn't made more of a fuss over his goalscoring feats, he simply said "who'd have believed me if I said I'd scored five times as many goals as Pele?!" Although 5000 goals seems unlikely to be true, the normal practice is to count league goals only. Bican scored 643 league goals. Edson Arantes do Nascimento, KBE (born October 23, 1940 in Três Corações, Brazil), best known by his nickname Pelé, is a former Brazilian football player. ...

Josef "Pepi" Bican spent the last few months of his life in hospital with heart problems. He had hoped to be home for Christmas, but died less than 2 weeks before that, at the age of 88. Christmas or Christmas Day is an annual holiday that celebrates the birth of Jesus. ...

Trivia

• During his youth career, one time that his mother, Ludmila, came to watch him, she was so annoyed about a foul her son had been on the receiving end of that she ran onto the pitch and beat the opponent with her umbrella.

• As well as being a great all-round player who could use both feet, Bican had great pace - he could run the 100 metres in 10.8 seconds, which was as fast as many sprinters of the time.

• It was not only his incredible goalscoring feats that endeared him to the footballing public. During his time with Slavia, fans used to come in their hundreds just to watch him train because Bican's training sessions were often like circus acts - and they were happy to pay a few korunas for the privilege. Whilst the rest of the squad did routines or ran laps, Bican would turn-up with a hamper of empty bottles, which he would proceed to balance on the top of the flat wooden crossbar, spaced about one foot apart. He then stepped back to the edge of the penalty-area, put down a bunch of balls and took aim. One by one from twenty yards Bican would knock the bottles off the bar with his shots, and on a good day - the story goes - he would maybe miss one in ten.