Josef Bican
Josef "Pepi" Bican (25 September 1913 – 12 December 2001) was an Austrian-Czech professional footballer who played as a striker. He is widely regarded as the greatest goalscorer in the history of the sport. He is considered by RSSSF as the second-most prolific goalscorer in history after Erwin Helmchen, with over 950 goals scored in 624 official matches. He scored 427 goals in 221 games for Slavia Prague across his 11-year playing career at the club.
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Josef Bican in 1940 | |||
| Personal information | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Full name | Josef Bican | ||
| Date of birth | 25 September 1913 | ||
| Place of birth | Vienna, Austria-Hungary | ||
| Date of death | 12 December 2001 (aged 88) | ||
| Place of death | Prague, Czech Republic | ||
| Height | 1.78 m (5 ft 10 in) | ||
| Position(s) | Forward | ||
| Youth career | |||
| 1925–1928 | Hertha Vienna | ||
| 1928–1930 | Schustek | ||
| 1930–1931 | Farbenlutz | ||
| Senior career* | |||
| Years | Team | Apps | (Gls) |
| 1931 | Farbenlutz | 2 | (2) |
| 1931 | Rapid Amateur | 0 | (0) |
| 1931–1935 | Rapid Vienna | 49 | (54) |
| 1935–1937 | Admira Vienna | 26 | (18) |
| 1937–1948 | Slavia Prague | 219 | (416) |
| 1948–1951 | FC Vítkovice | 58 | (74) |
| 1951–1952 | FC Hradec Králové | 26 | (53) |
| 1952–1955 | Dynamo Prague | 32 | (22) |
| 1957 | Slovan Liberec | 1 | (0) |
| 1957 | Spartak Brno ZJŠ | 4 | (2) |
| Total | 417 | (641) | |
| International career | |||
| 1933–1936 | Austria | 19 | (14) |
| 1938–1949 | Czechoslovakia | 14 | (12) |
| 1939 | Bohemia and Moravia | 1 | (3) |
| Managerial career | |||
| 1954–1956 | Slavia Prague | ||
| 1956–1959 | Slovan Liberec | ||
| 1957–1958 | Spartak Brno ZJŠ | ||
| 1959–1960 | TJ Spartak ZJS Brno | ||
| 1963–1964 | TJ Baník Příbram | ||
| 1964 | FC Hradec Králové | ||
| 1967–1969 | SONP Kladno | ||
| 1969–1972 | KSK Tongeren | ||
| 1977 | Benešov | ||
| *Club domestic league appearances and goals | |||
Bican began his professional career at Rapid Vienna in 1931. After four years at Rapid, he moved to local rivals Admira Vienna. Bican won four league titles during his time in Austria, moved to Slavia Prague in 1937, where he stayed until 1948, and became the club's all-time top goalscorer. He later played for FC Vitkovice, FC Hradec Králové, and Dynamo Praha, retiring in 1955 as the all-time top goalscorer in the Czechoslovak First League with 447 goals. According to UEFA, the governing body for European football, he is the leading all-time goalscorer in European top-flight leagues with 518 goals (447 in Czechoslovakia and 71 in Austria), narrowly ahead of Hungarian Ferenc Puskás.
Bican was a member of the Austrian Wunderteam of the 1930s and represented the nation at the 1934 FIFA World Cup, where they reached the semi-finals. He later switched allegiance to the Czechoslovakia national football team, but a clerical error related to his transfer of national team precluded him from playing in the 1938 FIFA World Cup. Bican was a tall and powerful player, with the technical ability to play with both feet, and had considerable pace. During his athletic prime, he was reportedly capable of running 100 metres in 10.8 seconds, which was not far off the leading sprinters of his time.
After his retirement from playing, Bican became a manager, and coached various teams from the 1950s until the 1970s. In 1998, Bican was given a "Medal of Honour" by the International Federation of Football History & Statistics (IFFHS) for being among the world's most successful top division goalscorers of all time. In 2000, the IFFHS awarded Bican the "Golden Ball" in recognition of his status as the greatest goalscorer of the 20th century. The award was based on how many times a player had been top scorer in his domestic league, a feat which Bican achieved 12 times.