Quick Facts
Biography
Otto Haftl (* 1903; † unknown) was an Austrian footballer who played his club career in Austria, Czechoslovakia and Switzerland. He also played for the Austria national team. He played mainly in the position of striker.
Club career
Haftl started his football career in Austria for SC Wacker Wien and also played one season for Wiener AC. In 1929 he moved to Czechoslovakia and played first for Teplitzer FK and then for AC Sparta Prague.
He then moved to Switzerland, becoming Basel's first ever professional football player. Between the years 1931 and 1935 Haftl played a total of 144 games for Basel, scoring a total of 130 goals. 88 of these games were in the Swiss Serie A, 20 in the Swiss Cup and 36 were friendly games. He scored 75 goal in the domestic league, 21 in the Swiss Cup and the other 28 were scored during the test games. During his first season at the club he acted as player-manager after Gustav Putzendopler laid down the job as trainer. The following season (1932–33), with the fellow Austrian Karl Kurz as trainer, Basel won the Swiss Cup. The final was played in the Hardturm stadium against Grasshopper Club on Sunday 9 April 1933. Basel won 4–3 and it was the club's first ever national title. Haftl scored two goals in the final and there were two other fellow Austrians in the team, Ferdinand Wesely and Josef Chloupek.
Haftl ended his football career playing two seasons for Young Fellows Zürich from 1935 to 1937. In the season 1938–39 he joined SC Wacker Wien as trainer and remained there until December 1941,
International
Haftl played three times for his country. His first international appearance for Austria came in May 1925 against Hungary. In this home fixture in Wien, he scored his two international goals, the first in the 38th minute and the second in the 88th. Austria won 3–1. His second international game was an away game against the same opponents. His last game for Austria was against Italy on 7 April 1929.
Honours
Basel
- Swiss Cup winner: 1933
Sources
- Rotblau: Jahrbuch Saison 2017/2018. Publisher: FC Basel Marketing AG. ISBN 978-3-7245-2189-1
- Die ersten 125 Jahre. Publisher: Josef Zindel im Friedrich Reinhardt Verlag, Basel. ISBN 978-3-7245-2305-5
- Verein "Basler Fussballarchiv" Homepage