Josef Bican

Josef "Pepi" Bican (25 September 1913 – 12 December 2001) was an Austrian-Czech professional footballer who played as a striker. He is the second-most prolific goalscorer in official matches in recorded history according to Rec.Sport.Soccer Statistics Foundation (RSSSF), with over 948 goals scored in 621 matches.[1] FIFA recognises a lower total of 805 goals.[2]

Josef Bican
Personal information
Full name Josef Bican
Date of birth (1913-09-25)25 September 1913
Place of birth Vienna, Austria-Hungary
Date of death 12 December 2001(2001-12-12) (aged 88)
Place of death Prague, Czech Republic
Position(s) Striker
Youth career
1923–1928 Hertha Vienna II
1928–1929 Schustek
1929–1931 Farbenlutz
Senior career*
Years Team Apps (Gls)
1931–1935 Rapid Vienna 62 (78)
1935–1937 Admira 26 (17)
1937–1948 Slavia Prague 211 (403)
1949–1951 FC Vítkovice 58 (74)
1952–1953 FC Hradec Králové[lower-alpha 1] 26 (53)
1953–1955 Dynamo Prague 31 (22)
Total 414 (647)
National team
1933–1936 Austria 19 (14)
1938–1949 Czechoslovakia 14 (12)
1939–1951 Bohemia and Moravia 1 (3)
Teams managed
1954–1956 Slavia Prague
1956–1959 TJ 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
* Senior club appearances and goals counted for the domestic league only

Bican began his professional career at Rapid Vienna in 1931. After four years at Rapid, he moved to local rivals Admira Wien. Bican won four league titles during his time in Austria,[3] then moved to Slavia Praha in 1937, where he stayed until 1948, and became the club's all-time top goalscorer.[4] 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.[5]

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 player,[6] with the technical ability to play with both feet,[7] 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.[2]

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.[8] 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.[3][9]

Early life

Bican was born in Vienna to František and Ludmila Bican. He was the second of three children.[10] František was from Sedlice in Southern Bohemia, and Ludmila was Viennese Czech. Josef's father František was a footballer who played for Hertha Vienna. He fought in World War I and returned uninjured. However, František was to die at the age of just 30 during 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 initially had to play football without shoes, which helped him improve his ball control skills. Bican attended the Jan Amos Komenský school, a Czech school in Vienna. In 1925, four years after his father's death, twelve-year-old Bican started to play for the Hertha Vienna junior team, Hertha Vienna II. When he was 18, Bican was spotted by Rapid Vienna, who were a big club in the city at the time.

Club career

In 1931, 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.

During 1937, Bican left Vienna to join Czech club Slavia Prague.[10] He played for Slavia throughout World War II, while many of his football rivals were at war. During eight league seasons he would score 328 goals, including 57 in 26 matches one particular season. Three times in his career, Bican scored seven goals in a game.[11] In a 1939–40 league match against Zlín, Bican found the net seven times as Slavia ran out 10–1 winners.[11] During the 1940–41 season, Bican matched his feat of the previous season, again against Zlín, scoring seven times, as Slavia won by a 12–1 scoreline.[11] It was 1947–48 before Bican managed his third seven-goal match, as Slavia defeated České Budějovice in a game which finished 15–1.[11]

He was, in the leagues that he played, the top-scorer 12 times during his 27-year career and Europe's top scorer in five consecutive seasons, from 1939–40 to 1943–44 while the most of players and the physically fit young men were in the war.

Bican tried to improve his standing with the Communists[7] by joining steel works Železárny Vítkovice. During 1952, he joined FC Hradec Králové,[lower-alpha 1] where he managed to score 53 goals in 26 matches.[12] On 1 May 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 during 1955. He was the oldest player in the league at that time.

Career statistics

Clubs
Club Div. Season League Cup Other Total
Apps Goals Apps Goals Apps Goals Apps Goals
S.K Rapid Amateur Amt. 1931 23—— 2 3
S.K Rapid Reserve Res. 1931–32 1324—— 13 24
Rapid Wien 1 1931–32 81022— 10 12
1932–33 161126— 18 17
1933–34 22295531 30 35
1934–35 34—— 3 4
Total Rapid6481913317695
Admira Wien 1 1935–36 1572322 19 12
1936–37 1110—— 11 10
Total Admira261723223022
SK Slavia Prague 1 1936–37 14—— 1 4
1937–38 192681014 28 40
1938–39 202922— 22 31
1 1939–40 22503511 26 56
1940–41 223851147 31 56
1941–42 224551038 30 63
1942–43 20391037 24 46
1943–44 265713516 32 76
1 1944–45 —620916 15 36
1945–46 1631—11 17 32
1946–47 2343—11 24 44
1947–48 1320—— 13 20
1948–49 721—— 7 21
Total Slavia21140331612861270525
Sokol Vítkovice Železárny 2 1949 1744—— 17 44
1 1950 2322—— 23 22
1951 188—— 18 8
Total Vítkovice587400005874
FC Hradec Králové[lower-alpha 1] 2 1952 265347— 30 60
Total Hradec Králové265347003060
Dynamo Praha 1 1953 97—— 9 7
1954 1411—— 14 11
1955 84—— 8 4
Total Dynamo312200003122
Career total41665046843364495798
Sources: Rapid Wien - Slavia Praha - HistoricalLineups - IFFHS - Český a československý fotbal - R.S.S.S.F. - ARFTS - ARFTS2 - ARFTS3 - ARFSH - ARFSH2

International career

On 29 November 1933, aged 20 years and 64 days, Bican made his debut for Austria in a 2–2 draw against Scotland. He later played for them at the 1934 World Cup, when the Austrian Wunderteam reached the semifinals. His solitary goal in the tournament came in extra-time in the Austrians' 3–2 win over France.

At the time Bican was playing for Slavia Prague, he applied for Czechoslovak citizenship. However, when he eventually became a Czechoslovak citizen, he discovered that a clerical error meant he couldn't play at the World Cup during 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 4 September 1949.[13]

However, his success did have a disadvantage. Other members of the team became jealous of the tall, handsome Bican's success, and he was sometimes called abusive names, such as "Austrian bastard".[14]

In addition to representing Austria, Czechoslovakia and the region of Bohemia & Moravia. Bican also played a number of fixtures playing for teams consisting of the best players from a league or town between 1939–1949. For the Cesko-Moravska league team in 1939 he played 6 games scoring 9 goals, for the Cesko league team in 1940–1944 he played 8 games scoring 11 goals, for Praha from 1938–1948 he played 6 games scoring one goal and Ostrava in 1949 he played one game scoring one goal, bringing Bican's total number of official goals outside of club football to 48 goals in 54 games.[4]

International goals
Austria
YearAppsGoals
193321
193465
193553
193665
Total1914
Czechoslovakia
YearAppsGoals
193868
194744
194820
194920
Total1412
Bohemia and Moravia
YearAppsGoals
193913
Total13
Total
YearAppsGoals
Total3429

Goals for Austria

Austria's goal tally[15]

#DateVenueOpponentScoreResultCompetition
1.10 December 1933Olympic Stadium, Amsterdam, Netherlands Netherlands1–01–0Friendly
2.11 February 1934Charmilles Stadium, Geneva, Switzerland  Switzerland1–03–21933–35 Dr. Gero Cup
3.3–2
4.15 April 1934Hohe Warte Stadium, Vienna, Austria Hungary4–25–2Friendly
5.5–2
6.27 May 1934Stadio Benito Mussolini, Turin, Italy France3–13–21934 FIFA World Cup
7.6 October 1935Praterstadion, Vienna, Austria Hungary1–14–41933–1935 Dr.Gero Cup
8.2–2
9.3–4
10.19 January 1936Estadio Metropolitano de Madrid, Madrid, Spain Spain1–05–4Friendly
11.26 January 1936Campo da Constituição, Porto, Portugal Portugal3–13–2Friendly
12.22 March 1936Praterstadion, Vienna, Austria Czechoslovakia1–11–11936–37 Dr. Gero Cup
13.5 April 1936Praterstadion, Vienna, Austria Hungary1–13–5Friendly
14.2–3

Goals for Czechoslovakia

Czechoslovakia's goal tally [13][15]

#DateVenueOpponentScoreResultCompetition
1.7 August 1938Råsunda Stadium, Stockholm, Sweden Sweden2–06–2Friendly
2.3–0
3.5–2
4.28 August 1938Stadion Concordije, Zagreb, Kingdom of Yugoslavia Yugoslavia2–03–1
5.4 December 1938AC Sparta Stadion, Praha, Czechoslovakia Romania1–26–2
6.3–2
7.4–2
8.6–2
9.11 May 1947 Yugoslavia1–03–1
10.3–1
11.31 August 1947 Poland1–06–3
12.2–0

Goals for Bohemia and Moravia

Bohemia and Moravia's goal tally [13][15]

#DateVenueOpponentScoreResultCompetition
1.12 November 1939Hermann Göring Stadium, Wroclaw, Nazi Germany Germany1–04–4Friendly
2.3–0
3.4–2

Life after retirement
Tombstone of Josef "Pepi" Bican at Prague's Vyšehrad cemetery
Josef Bican's grave, plus a headstone for his wife Jarmila, who died exactly ten years after him.

During the spring of 1968, Bican was told that he would be allowed to have 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.

Around this time, Pelé was getting ready for his 1000th goal and many journalists were searching for another player who had scored a thousand goals. Former Austrian player Franz "Bimbo" Binder suggested Bican, who he claimed had scored 5000 goals.[14] When reporters asked Bican why he had not sought more attention for his goalscoring feats, he simply said, "who'd have believed me if I said I'd scored five times as many goals as Pelé?" However, to score this 5000 goals he should have kept an average of 185 goals/year along all his 27 years of career, but only counting goals in official matches, Bican scored more than 948 goals.[4] Bican's goal-scoring feats are often forgotten because he did not make a big fuss about it in the media. His record is often overshadowed by Pelé's 1283 goal record, including goals in unofficial matches. But shortly before his death in 2001, IFFHS based on RSSSF statistics declared Bican with 643 league goals, the most prolific scorer of the 20th century.[16][17] This was judged by the number of times a player had been top scorer in his domestic league. Bican managed this feat 12 times, more than any other player in football history.[3]

In the 1990s, Bican spoke to Czech TV about the difficulty of scoring during his era: “When I talk to young reporters, they always say, ‘Mr Bican, scoring was easier back in your day.’ But I ask them, ‘How come? Look, are there opportunities today?’ And they tell me, ‘Of course there are, many of them’. And I say, ‘There you go. If there weren’t opportunities, it would be difficult. But if there are, scoring is the same as it was a hundred years ago, and will be the same in a hundred years’ time, too. It will always be the same.” [17]

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. In September 2013, which would have been Bican's 100th birthday, Slavia Prague commemorated him by wearing shirts that featured a replica of his signature on them.[6]

See also

Notes
  1. The club was known as Sokol Škoda by 1952.

References
  1. "Best Goalscorers All-Time (Official Matches)". www.rsssf.com.
  2. FIFA.com. "Welcome to FIFA.com News - The master of marksmen - FIFA.com". www.fifa.com. Retrieved 22 December 2020.
  3. "Josef Bican". Archived from the original on 16 May 2019. Retrieved 4 August 2020.
  4. "Prolific Scorers Data - Josef Bican - Additional Data". www.rsssf.com.
  5. Slavia Top Scorers of All Times Archived 4 July 2020 at the Wayback Machine SK Slavia Praha
  6. UEFA.com (4 December 2014). "Meet Europe's most prolific scorer of all time | Inside UEFA". UEFA.com. Retrieved 11 January 2021.
  7. "Josef Pepi Bican – The Lonely Man at the Top". Goalden Times. 6 June 2017. Archived from the original on 16 May 2019. Retrieved 16 May 2019.
  8. Admin, IFFHS (12 November 2017). "TOP DIVISION GOAL SCORERS OF ALL TIME : FERENC PUSKAS LEADS THE RANKING". International Federation of Football History & Statistics (IFFHS). Archived from the original on 4 July 2020. Retrieved 3 July 2020.
  9. "Josef Bican : world's greatest goalscorer". Archived from the original on 25 January 2020. Retrieved 4 August 2020.
  10. Nováček, Ondřej (25 September 2008). "Legendární fotbalový kanonýr Bican by se dožil pětadevadesáti let". Česká televize (in Czech). Archived from the original on 25 June 2012. Retrieved 8 May 2012.
  11. Jeřábek, Luboš; Palička, Jan (7 October 2007). "Brazilcovo šílenství: sedm gólů za zápas". idnes.cz (in Czech). Archived from the original on 22 July 2018. Retrieved 22 April 2012.
  12. "Czech FA Claims Cristiano Ronaldo Has Not Broken Josef Bican's Goalscoring Record". 90min.com. 21 January 2021.
  13. Josef Bican at FAČR (in Czech)
  14. Willoughby, Ian (23 January 2002). "Czechs in History: Josef "Pepi" Bican". Czech Radio. Archived from the original on 28 December 2007. Retrieved 8 May 2012.
  15. Josef Bican - International Goals Archived 20 May 2017 at the Wayback Machine. RSSSF
  16. "Josef Bican". Archived from the original on 23 July 2020. Retrieved 4 August 2020.
  17. "Legendary footballer Pepi Bican inducted in Czech FA's Hall of Fame". Archived from the original on 23 July 2020. Retrieved 9 August 2020.

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