Josef Bican

Josef Bican was born in Favoriten, Vienna, Austria-Hungary, to parents František Bican and Ludmila Kopecka, at Quellenstrasse 101. He was the second of three children, František, Josef and Vilík. His father was from Sedlice in Southern Bohemia, and his mother was a 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 died at the early age of 30 in 1921 after refusing an operation to treat an infected kidney after an injury sustained during a football match. This was when František was just 10, Josef was 8 and Vilík was 3. Hertha Vienna officials gave František a nice funeral and told Ludmila that they would take care of her sons and would even give them an education. At first they visited the boys every day and would bring something to help out. However this soon changed as they would come every week, once a fortnight and within three months it was as if they had forgotten about the Bican family. Ludmila was stuck in a desperate situation, she sent Vilík to be looked after by his grandparents in Bohemia, until he was 14. Ludmila's life got harder as she had to work twice as hard as before, cleaning crayfish and washing dishes at a nearby restaurant. Most days she would have to get up at four in the morning to come home at ten, but sometimes even later.[11]

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. For entertainment František and Josef would make a football out of old material and sometimes Ludmila would be left without one stocking. On some days they would arrive at school with dirty clothes and foreheads due to playing football before school. They would play matches between classes and between schools, they had no time to study. Josef would play football so much that she had to lock him indoors to try and get him to study. The players at his school would whistle and call to Josef to get him to come to a match that day. He lived one story up, but this didn't stop him. He climbed out the window and played the game. The school team was victorious as the score was 12–2, Josef had scored 8 goals.

His older brother, František, was also a good footballer, as he started playing for Hertha Vienna, aged 11. However, František died tragically at 17. They had brought him home with a knife in his heart. They had told the Bican family that it was a very unfortunate accident that he had taken his own life. In situations like these Ludmila was normally brave, however this time she was scared and she sent Josef to live with Vilík and his grandparents.[12]

Working at Schustek parquet factory, Josef would work around the office and in the warehouse and earnt twenty shillings a week. In the spring of 1931 Farbenlutz attracted Bican to start working for them as he would earn 30 shillings a week.[13]

In 1925, at the age of twelve, Bican was already playing in the youth set-up of Hertha Vienna, his father's beloved club,[7] and also where his idol, Matthias Sindelar had begun his career.[14] At Hertha, he was coached by a former player that had played with his father. The Hertha Vienna pitch was only a few steps away from his house. Bican was the smallest of the boys there, however, his ability to score goals caught the attention of everyone around. One of the club’s officials was so impressed that he told him, “You’ll get a shilling every time you score.”[7] He scored two in his very first match.[12] Thus, football became a vital income to the poor Bican family.[7]

As his career slowed down at Hertha Vienna, due to him not playing for almost half a year, one of his friends invited him to play for Schustek. It was a parquet factory, small but profitable. At the age of 15, in the autumn of 1928, Bican made his debut for Schustek. Josef scored three goals in a 5–2 friendly victory over Nord Vienna.[13] It is said that once his mother, who had come to watch him, was so annoyed about a foul her son received that she ran onto the pitch and beat the opponent with her umbrella.[7][14] In 1931 he would start playing for Farbenlutz and would not even train.[13]

Near to where Bican lived, Roman Schramseis also resided and after seeing Bican play on several occasions, Roman offered him the chance to train at Rapid Wien. “I already told Richard Kuthan about it.” In his first youth game for the club, he scored seven goals, and so he was promoted to the Amateur side, which was typically for 18- and 19-year-olds.[14] Bican was invited to watch a training session with the amateur team, but as soon as he and his friend watched the others play they got scared and headed home. The next Tuesday, Bican was to play a training game between the junior team and the amateur team. He played for the junior team and scored five goals as they won 7–2. On the Sunday of the same week, he was again invited to play for the adult team. Rapid Wien beat their opponents 4–2 with two goals from Bican.[15] After three months, in June 1931, he was promoted to the Reserves.[14]

On 29 November 1933, aged 20 years and 64 days, Bican made his debut for Austria in a 2–2 draw against Scotland.[31] 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 of Austria's 3–2 win over France.[8][32]

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 1938 World Cup. He scored two hat-tricks for Czechoslovakia, including a four-goal haul against Romania in the 1937–38 Eduard Benes Cup in a 6–2 win.[33] He also played for Bohemia & Moravia, playing only one match for them against Nazi Germany on 12 November 1939, and scoring a hat-trick in a 4–4 draw.[34] In total, he scored 29 goals in 34 international matches for three national teams (Austria, Czechoslovakia and Bohemia & Moravia).[31] His final national team appearance was for Czechoslovakia in a 3–1 defeat against Bulgaria on 4 September 1949, a few days short from his 36th birthday.[31][35]

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".[36]

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 and 1949. For the Bohemia-Moravia league team in 1939 he played six games scoring nine goals, for the Bohemia league team in 1940–1944 he played eight games scoring 11 goals, for Prague from 1938 to 1948 he played 12 games scoring 11 goals and Ostrava in 1950–51 he played ten games scoring 10 goals, bringing Bican's total number of official goals outside of club football to 67 goals in 69 games.[2]

Grandfather František and Grandmother Terezie were one of the poorest families of the town. Grandfather František’s second son Josef, died during the war and for financial support they took 50 koruna per month. The start of young Josef’s love for fishing came when Grandfather František took him and Vilík to a nearby river and the boys would fish either side of František.[37] His refusal is described in the book: "I was born in Vienna, but my father was Czech, just like my mother," he finally declared. "I always felt like a Czech, and if I did something else, my dad would turn in his grave!" Although the author was based on contemporary sources, he considers these words to be credible. "When I spoke to him, he always emphasized his Czechness," reveals Zikmund. [38]

Tombstone of Bican at Prague's Vyšehrad cemetery

Bican's grave, plus a headstone for his wife Jarmila, who died exactly ten years after him

Tongeren hired him as a coach in 1968, 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 to have scored over 5000 goals in all competitions.[36] 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 over 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 at least 950 goals.[2] 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 1303 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.[39][40] 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."[8][40][10] Bican further stated: "Everybody would agree that a chance should be a goal. If I got five chances, I scored five goals – if I got seven then it was seven."[6]

"Bican was incredibly unlucky at the height of his career. There was no World Cup in 1942 or 1946 because of the war. If the 1942 edition had taken place, for example, he would surely have become more widely known. Perhaps he might even have been as famous as Pele", Radovan Jelinek, sports historian said about him.[8]

Bican died in Prague on 12 December 2001 at the age of 88.[41]

On 25 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]

After a game for Rapid Vienna against Austria Vienna, an author in the Austrian newspaper Montagblatt, wrote; “Bican is not the conductor with a great concept. His game is excessive, his assists are difficult to achieve due to their unsaved accuracy.[44]

After an Admira Vienna game against Red Star Vienna, in 1936, an author in the Austrian newspaper Montagblatt, wrote: "The most mentioned player on the field was undeniably Bican, not only because of his transfer issues, but also for his truly remarkable performances. His dribbling, fine ball control, and deceiving his opponents were a real feast for the eyes of the spectators. After all, this time Bican was also his team's most successful player, scoring three goals."[45]

Recalling Bican, his former Slavia team-mate Jan Andrejkovič said; "Pepi was a player with all the qualities of a star. Excellent technique with left or right foot, outstanding headers, perfect positional play, precise passing and, above all, an incredible goalscorer".[6]

In 1940, a journalist for Slavia Prague wrote, "Bican is undeniably one of our best footballers. We can boldly say that he is one of the best centre forwards in Europe. What he lacks, in perhaps hardness, he makes up for in his unique ball technique. During his time in Prague, Bican has proven to be world class many times."[46]

Rapid Wien

• Austrian Championship: 1934–35

Admira Wien

• Austrian Championship: 1935–36, 1936–37

Slavia Prague

• Czechoslovak First League: 1939–40, 1940–41, 1941–42, 1942–43, 1946–47, 1948
• Czechoslovak Cup: 1940–41, 1941–42
• Central Bohemian Cup: 1940–41, 1943, 1944
• Liberty Cup: 1945
• Mitropa Cup: 1938

Sokol Vítkovice Železárny

• Czechoslovak Second League: 1949

Individual

• Austrian Championship Top Scorer: 1933–34[47]
• Czechoslovak First League Top Scorer: 1937–38, 1938–39, 1939–40, 1940–41, 1941–42, 1942–43, 1943–44, 1945–46, 1946–47, 1948, 1950
• Czechoslovak Second League Top Scorer: 1949, 1952
• Top scorer in European leagues: 1939–40, 1940–41, 1941–42, 1942–43, 1943–44

• List of men's footballers with 500 or more goals
• List of world association football records

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Josef Bican.

• Josef Bican at FAČR (also at old FAČR website) (in Czech)