14 Facts About Karl Rappan

Karl Rappan was an Austrian footballer and coach.

Karl Rappan played and managed mostly in Switzerland, where he won multiple titles.

Karl Rappan had four tenures as coach of the Switzerland national team, which he managed in three World Cups, and is the all-time leader in matches won as coach of the Swiss team.

Karl Rappan introduced a major football strategy known as the "bolt", which gave origin to the catenaccio system.

Karl Rappan was selected to the Austria national team in while at Wacker.

Karl Rappan then moved to Switzerland, where he started playing for Servette FC in 1931, becoming a player-coach until his retirement as a player in 1935, and winning the Swiss league twice with the club, in 1933 and 1934.

Karl Rappan remained there until 1957, adding one more league title and one cup to his palmares.

Reportedly, Karl Rappan looked for a system that was less rigid and less dependent on individual talent than the WM.

Karl Rappan's system was never fully understood by many people at the time, and the coach himself never discussed it, keeping a certain mystery around it.

Karl Rappan had four different tenures as head coach of the Switzerland national team: 1937 to 1938,1942 to 1949,1953 to 1954, and 1960 to 1963.

Karl Rappan managed Switzerland in 77 international matches, the most ever by any Swiss team coach.

Karl Rappan won 29 matches, a record, and lost 36 times, second-most all-time.

Karl Rappan recorded three wins, one draw, and six losses as a coach in World Cup finals tournaments.

Karl Rappan, who had the idea of creating a European league, helped Ernst Thommen, the Managing Director for the Swiss Football Pool, conceive the UEFA Intertoto Cup, which started in 1961.