Leopold Gernhardt

Leopold Gernhardt (16 March 1920 – 18 April 2013) was an Austrian football player and coach.

Career

Gernhardt began playing football at ASK Graphia. He was taken by his friend Hermann Dvoracek to a training session of Rapid's youngsters. There he caught the eye of coach Leopold Nitsch and soon changed clubs. He made his debut in the squad in September 1939. In his first two seasons he made only five appearances, but slipped into the first team in the final round of the German championship due to an injury to regular middle half Johann Hofstätter. Gernhardt played all other games of the competition and reached the final against FC Schalke 04 with Hütteldorfer. There he saved a ball on the goal line when the score was 1–3 and was finally able to celebrate a 4–3 victory with his team.

He played regularly for the team from that point on. In the first post-war season he won the double with Rapid. He became team captain. He won four more championship titles before he ended his active career in 1954.

International

Gernhardt debuted in the national team in August 1945 in the first international match after the end of the war against Hungary. In the summer of 1948 he was part of the squad for the Olympic Games, but did not play in the Austrians' only competitive game. His last game was a 2-0 win over Belgium in March 1952.He played 27 matches for Austria.

Managing career

When the contract with the coach Viktor Hierländer ended in the spring of 1955, he took over the coaching position on an interim basis until the end of the season. In the fall of 1955 he left Rapid.

After being coach of SC Wacker Wien for a short time in 1958, Gernhardt took over the coaching post at Vienna in September 1960 for two seasons. This was followed by coaching positions at FC Lustenau 07 in the 1962–63 season and at SK Austria Klagenfurt in the 1963–64 season.

In 1965 Gernhardt became part of the support team of the Österreichischer Fußballbund, where he was responsible for the youth selections, and became assistant coach of the national team under Leopold Šťastný. After that he continued to work for the ÖFB.

Honours

• 7 × Austrian Champion: 1940, 1941, 1946, 1948, 1951, 1952, 1954
• 1 × Austrian Cup: 1946
• 1 × German Champion: 1941
• 27 matches for Austria