14.2.06

Hansi, Hansi, Hansi!

Hans Krankl (born February 14, 1953 in Vienna, Austria)
Krankl was a centre forward, with an international record of 34 goals in 69 games. Among the clubs he played for are Rapid Vienna and Barcelona. He is regarded by many as the greatest ever Austrian player.
He was named Austrian Player of the Year for a record 9 times, and was voted the most popular Austrian player of the last 25 years.
Some of his major contributions and successes include helping his native Austria to their first ever World Cup in twenty years by qualifying for football's greatest prize in 1978, where he had the honour of being the player to score the winning goal against arch-rivals West Germany, ensuring that he went down in the record books as being part of the Austrian team which beat West Germany for the first time in 37 years. Another great success is winning the Golden Boot for Rapid Vienna (41 goals) in the same year, attracting the interest of Spanish giants FC Barcelona, helping them in his first season to the Spanish Cup as well as the Cup Winners' Cup, picking up the top goalscorer's award in that season of La Liga as well (29 goals). Since retiring as a player in 1989 playing for Austria Salzburg, Krankl has worked as a football manager and coach. He was most recently employed by the Austrian national team.