Hans Andres

Hans Andres was one of the first crowd favourites of Austrian football. He was often in the mood for jokes and entertained the audience with tricks. He earned his nickname “Cricketer Hansl“, because he liked to act as a ballboy for the cricketers. His football career started with the small clubs Schüttler Regatta, Transvaal and Olympia. Due to his obvious talents as a striker he was lured by the Wiener AC for the price of five pairs of football boots. He played for the club’s first team from 1905-10 finding his future position of a left winger. Andres reached the zenith of his career in 1909 and 1910 when he was one of the players who formed the top-class WAC attack. Andres was a member of the team that sensationally defeated the professional English team from Sunderland in 1909.

In 1910, he founded together with other discontent players the new club Wiener AF and immediately placed third in the 1912 Austrian championship. Andres was only 24 years old at the start of the first Austrian football championship, but already suffered a severe meniscal injury and therefore had to end his career soon after. Between 1908 and 1912, he was called up six times for selection matches for the national team and scored two goals. In 1908, he scored the opening goal for Austria (actually a Wien (Vienna) city team) in his début against Hungary (Budapest). In the same year he scored the winning goal in an international friendly against Germany. Andres also played seven games for the Wien city team. Disputes with the Austrian Football Federation (ÖFV) ultimately prevented all WAF players from traveling to Stockholm and playing at the Olympic Games.

After World War I, Andres was hired by Hugo Meisl for the Wiener Amateur-Sportverein (later FK Austria Wien) and he coached the team for two years (1919-21). Later, he was also active as a referee for some time.