Leon Sperling

Leon Sperling (7 August 1900 – 15 December 1941) was a Polish Olympic footballer.[1][2][3]

Leon Sperling
Sperling (fourth from right) with the Cracovia Kraków team (1921).
Personal information
Date of birth 7 August 1900
Place of birth Kraków, Austria-Hungary
Date of death 15 December 1941(1941-12-15) (aged 41)
Place of death Lwów Ghetto, Poland
Height 1.65 m (5 ft 5 in)
Position(s) Forward
Senior career*
Years Team Apps (Gls)
<1921–1932> Cracovia
International career
Poland 16 (?)
*Club domestic league appearances and goals

Sperling was born in Kraków, and was Jewish.[4] He was a football forward, playing on the left wing. Sperling represented Cracovia,[5] the team he led in 1921, 1930, and 1932 to the Championship of Poland.[6] He also played in 16 games for the Poland National Team,[7] including Poland's lone game at the 1924 Paris Olympic Games.[8][9][10] He was regarded as a highly skilled dribbler.[11] He also coached in Lviv.[11] Sperling is one of Cracovia Kraków's legends.

Sperling was shot to death by the Nazis in the Lwów Ghetto in December 1941.[10][12][2][13] His Jewish teammate, Józef Klotz, was also killed in the Holocaust.[2]

See also

References
  1. "Тридцать лучших еврейских футболистов в мире за всю историю футбола". Archived from the original on 2 March 2014. Retrieved 22 August 2014.
  2. Grunwald-Spier, Agnes (7 January 2016). Who Betrayed the Jews?: The Realities of Nazi Persecution in the Holocaust. The History Press. ISBN 9780750958011 – via Google Books.
  3. "Leon Sperling". Olympedia. Retrieved 26 August 2021.
  4. Std, Associate Curator for Jewish History Sean Martin; Martin, Sean (7 September 2004). Jewish Life in Cracow 1918-1939. Vallentine Mitchell. ISBN 9780853035077 – via Google Books.
  5. Ezra Mendelsohn (2009). Jews and the Sporting Life: Studies in Contemporary Jewry XXIII. Oxford University Press US. p. 384. ISBN 978-0-19-538291-4.
  6. "Football and Murder: The Deadly Game". 12 November 2014.
  7. Mendelsohn, Ezra (31 March 2009). Jews and the Sporting Life: Studies in Contemporary Jewry XXIII. Oxford University Press. ISBN 9780199724796 – via Google Books.
  8. Leon Sperling
  9. Schaffer, Kay; Smith, Sidonie (7 September 2000). The Olympics at the Millennium: Power, Politics, and the Games. Rutgers University Press. ISBN 9780813528205 – via Google Books.
  10. "Leon Sperling Bio, Stats, and Results | Olympics at Sports-Reference.com". 18 April 2020. Archived from the original on 18 April 2020.
  11. Bolchover, David (6 May 2019). "Remembering the cream of Jewish footballing talent killed in the Holocaust". The Guardian – via www.theguardian.com.
  12. Kay Schaffer & Sidonie Smith (2000). The Olympics at the Millennium: Power, Politics, and the Games. Rutgers University Press. p. 61. ISBN 0-8135-2820-8.
  13. "Olympians Who Were Killed or Missing in Action or Died as a Result of War". Sports Reference. Archived from the original on 17 April 2020. Retrieved 24 July 2018.
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