Willi Schröder was a German footballer

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...

. He was a member of the 1961 Werder Bremen German Cup

DFB-Pokal

The DFB-Pokal or DFB Cup is a German knockout football cup competition held annually. 64 teams participate in the competition, including all clubs from the Bundesliga and the 2nd Bundesliga. It is considered the second most important national title in German football after the Bundesliga...

 winning squad. That was Bremen's first German Cup win, and earned them a spot as a charter member of the newly reformed Fußball-Bundesliga

Fußball-Bundesliga

The Fußball-Bundesliga is a professional association football league in Germany. At the top of Germany's football league system, it is the country's primary football competition. It is contested by 18 teams and operates on a system of promotion and relegation with the 2. Bundesliga...

.

Willi played 54 games and scored 20 goals as a midfielder

Midfielder

A midfielder is an association football position. Some midfielders play a more defensive role, while others blur the boundaries between midfielders and forwards. The number of midfielders a team uses during a match may vary, depending on the team's formation and each individual player's role...

 for Bremen in the then Oberliga Nord

Oberliga Nord (1947-63)

The Oberliga Nord was the highest level of the German football league system in the north of Germany from 1947 until the formation of the Bundesliga in 1963. It covered the states of Lower Saxony, Bremen, Hamburg and Schleswig-Holstein.-Overview:...

 for three seasons from 1960-1963. He also played 14 games with 3 goals as a striker

Striker

Forwards, also known as strikers, are the players on a team in association football who play nearest to the opposing team's goal, and are therefore principally responsible for scoring goals...

 in the Regionalliga Nord

Regionalliga Nord (1963-74)

The Regionalliga Nord was the second-highest level of the German football league system in the north of Germany from 1963 until the formation of the 2nd Bundesliga in 1974...

 for TuS Bremerhaven 93

OSC Bremerhaven

OSC Bremerhaven is a German sports club based in Bremerhaven, in the federal state of Bremen.-History:The club was founded in 1972 as Olympischer Sport-Club Bremerhaven in a merger of various local football clubs including ATS Bremerhaven, which has roots going back to 1859, Polizei Sportverein,...

 in 1963-64.

Willi Schröder also has 12 career caps in international play for the German National Team

Germany national football team

The Germany national football team is the football team that has represented Germany in international competition since 1908. It is governed by the German Football Association , which was founded in 1900....

, with 3 career goals. He was part of the German football team at the 1952 Summer Olympics

1952 Summer Olympics

The 1952 Summer Olympics, officially known as the Games of the XV Olympiad, were an international multi-sport event held in Helsinki, Finland in 1952. Helsinki had been earlier given the 1940 Summer Olympics, which were cancelled due to World War II...