Ludwig Drescher

Ludwig Drescher was a four-time Danish international as a goalkeeper. He played his entire senior career at Kjøbenhavns Boldklub winning the Danish football championship in 1913.

Drescher was born in Sønderborg, which belonged to German until 1920. Although his family moved to Denmark when he was a child, he was still a German citizen when he represented Denmark at the 1908 Olympic Games in London.

Drescher had already been nominated for the 1906 Intercalated Games but was eventually suspended after conflicts between some players, his club and the Danish federation. Therefore, Drescher’s international début only came at the 1908 Olympics. After two hands-down victories against the two French teams, Denmark was defeated in the final by Great Britain (England) by 2-0 winning silver. Drescher tended the goal in all three matches. After the London Olympics, he played just one more international match, when Denmark beat England 2-1, the team’s first international match on home soil in 1910. In the same year, he also finally became a Danish citizen.

Drescher was again selected for the Danish national football team to participate in the 1912 Olympics in Stockholm. But with Sophus Hansen as the new first goalkeeper he had to content with the role of a reserve player, when Denmark won his second silver. Drescher was also a keen skater, ice hockey and cricket player. He worked as a machine operator and later as a manufacturer but died of pneumonia at the age of only 35.