Wilhelm Huberts , also Willi or Willy Huberts (I) (born February 22, 1938 in Voitsberg

Voitsberg

Voitsberg is a small city in the district of Voitsberg in Styria, Austria, with a population of c. 9,700 as of 2009. It grew upon the St. Margaret church at the Tregistbach river and was first mentioned in 1220 as Civitas. Remains of the Greisenegg palace and Obervoitsberg castle can be seen...

, Styria) is a former Austria

Austria

Austria , officially the Republic of Austria , is a landlocked country of roughly 8.4 million people in Central Europe. It is bordered by the Czech Republic and Germany to the north, Slovakia and Hungary to the east, Slovenia and Italy to the south, and Switzerland and Liechtenstein to the...

n football

Football (soccer)

Association football, more commonly known as football or soccer, is a sport played between two teams of eleven players with a spherical ball...

 player.

Club career

Huberts began his career in his hometown with ASK Voitsberg. From there he was transferred to Grazer AK

Grazer AK

Grazer AK, founded 18 August 1902 as Grazer Athletik-Sport Klub , is an Austrian sports club, from the city of Graz in the federal state of Styria . The football section is one of the most traditional Austrian clubs, most successful in the decade 1995 – 2005...

, who got him to the Stadion an der Körösistraße in 1955. Through his immense techniqual skills and his scoring qualities he became a supporter's favourite in Graz

Graz

The more recent population figures do not give the whole picture as only people with principal residence status are counted and people with secondary residence status are not. Most of the people with secondary residence status in Graz are students...

.

When GAK

Grazer AK

Grazer AK, founded 18 August 1902 as Grazer Athletik-Sport Klub , is an Austrian sports club, from the city of Graz in the federal state of Styria . The football section is one of the most traditional Austrian clubs, most successful in the decade 1995 – 2005...

 played a couple of friendlies in New York in 1959, two of them against Real Madrid

Real Madrid

Real Madrid Club de Fútbol , commonly known as Real Madrid, is a professional football club based in Madrid, Spain. The club have won a record 31 La Liga titles, the Primera División of the Liga de Fútbol Profesional , 18 Copas del Rey, 8 Spanish Super Cups, 1 Copa Eva Duarte and 1 Copa de la...

, it had causes for Huberts. The midfielder could convince at this tour, and so finally New York Hungarians of the German American Soccer League

German American Soccer League

The German American Soccer League is the previous name of the Cosmopolitan Soccer League, a semi-professional and amateur soccer league which was founded in 1923. The league competes primarily in the New York metropolitan area and northern New Jersey.-History:In 1923, five teams, S.C. New York,...

 signed him in 1960. With this club he won U.S. Open Cup (today Lamar Hunt U.S. Open Cup

Lamar Hunt U.S. Open Cup

The Lamar Hunt U.S. Open Cup is a knockout tournament in American soccer. The tournament is the oldest ongoing American soccer competition and is presently open to all United States Soccer Federation affiliated teams, from amateur adult club teams to the professional clubs of Major League...

) in 1962.

In 1963 he went to Frankfurt

Frankfurt

Frankfurt am Main , commonly known simply as Frankfurt, is the largest city in the German state of Hesse and the fifth-largest city in Germany, with a 2010 population of 688,249. The urban area had an estimated population of 2,300,000 in 2010...

 in Germany. In this year the Bundesliga was founded and the Eagles from Hesse

Hesse

Hesse or Hessia is both a cultural region of Germany and the name of an individual German state.* The cultural region of Hesse includes both the State of Hesse and the area known as Rhenish Hesse in the neighbouring Rhineland-Palatinate state...

 were a founding member. Huberts was one of only four foreign players in German pro football, and the only Austrian. In the 1960s team of Frankfurt he was a key player. With the jersey number 10 he scored 80 times for the boys from Main.

For the 1970-71 season he returned to Austria and joined Austria Wien

FK Austria Wien

Fußballklub Austria Wien is an Austrian association football club from the capital city of Vienna. They are considered the most successful club in Austria, having won the highest Austrian Bundesliga 23 times, the Austrian Cup 27 times and the Austrian Supercup 6 times. They also reached the UEFA...

 and eventually his home club Grazer AK in 1971 and retired in 1975.

International career

The rising star set an unwanted end of his national team career for Austria. He was capped for four times between 1959 and 1960, while netting in his debut against Belgium on the 0-2 away win.
With this club change to New York and the travel opportunities then he longer was eligible for Austria and even when he joined Eintracht Frankfurt

Eintracht Frankfurt

Eintracht Frankfurt is a German sports club, based in Frankfurt, Hesse that is best known for its association football club.- Club origins :...

 he never played again for the national team. The reason was the politics of the clubs not to release foreign players except for big tournaments.

External links

• Player profile - Austria Archive
• German Bundesliga stats - Fussballportal
• Career stats - National Football Teams