Franz Binder

Franz "Bimbo" Binder (1 December 1911 – 24 April 1989) was an Austrian football player and coach who played as a centre forward. Internationally he represented the Austria national team and, during the Anschluss, the Germany national team. He played internationally immediately following the Austrian "Wunderteam" of 1931–32.

He is the all time leading scorer of Rapid Wien with 1006 goals in 757 games and regarded as one of the greatest Austrian players of all time. In his whole career he would score 1202 goals in 831 matches. With an average-score of 1.44 goals per match, he is among the most prolific scorers in football history. Binder is one of only a few players to score more than 1200 goals in his professional career alongside Lajos Tichy, Josef Bican, Gerd Müller, Ferenc Puskás, Ferenc Deák, Erwin Helmchen and Pelé.

Club career Binder came from a family of labourers. He had nine siblings. When he was 15 years old he played football for the first team of Sturm 19 St. Pölten. Nicknamed Bimbo, Binder was a prolific goalscorer who played for SK Rapid Wien. He won the national Austrian championship four times and was three times top goalscorer in the Austrian league. In 1941 he also won the German championship with a 4–3 victory against Schalke 04, where he scored three goals. From 1930 to 1937, Binder scored more than 700 goals for Rapid Wien, including the reserves; 1930 − First team − 3 goals in 2 games. Reserve team − 14 goals in 9 games. Total − 17 games 11 goals. 1931 − First team − 19 goals in 14 games. Reserve team 54 goals in 23 games. Total − 73 goals 37 games. 1932 − First team − 62 goals in 48 games. Reserve team − 41 goals in 12 games. Total − 103 goals in 60 games. 1933 − First team − 104 goals in 68 games. 1934 − First team − 93 goals in 56 games. 1935 – First team − 95 goals in 58 games. 1936 − First team − 93 goals in 61 games. 1937 − First team − 122 goals in 72 games. Total Reserve − 109 goals in 44 games. Total First team − 591 goals in 378 games. Total Rapid Wien, 1930−1937 − 700 goals in 422 games with a ratio of 1.65 goals per game.

International career Binder was a very prolific goal scorer for both club and country, scoring 16 goals in 19 international matches for Austria, and later 10 goals in just 9 matches for Germany. In 1934, he scored a goal against both Italy and Czechoslovakia, the 1934 World Cup champions and runner-ups respectively. In January 1936, he scored a goal against both Iberian teams, Spain and Portugal, in 5-4 and 3-2 wins respectively. In 1937, he scored winners against France and Latvia (both 2-1 victories), with the latter being the most important as it assured Austria a ticket to the 1938 World Cup.

His debut with Germany was remarkably similar to Austria's, as he scored against Belgium in a 4-1 win again. He then scored two back-to-back hat-tricks against Bohemia and Moravia and the then World Champions Italy, with the former salvaging his side a 4-4 draw while the latter helped to a 5-2 win. Gauliga Top Goalscorer: 1939, 1940, 1941