Sport
The Styrian football legend Wilhelm “Willi” Huberts is dead. The former GAK player was the first Austrian in the German Bundesliga in the 1960s and has now died at the age of 85.
The West Styrian started his career at ASK Voitsberg, from where GAK brought him to the stadium on Körösistraße in 1955. Due to his outstanding technical skills and goalscoring qualities, he was soon admired and revered by the Graz public.
From GAK to New York
When GAK played a series of friendlies in New York in 1959 (including two against Real Madrid), the midfielder impressed so much that he was signed by the New York Hungarians the following year.
He also won four international matches in 1959 and 1960, scoring the second goal in a debut against Belgium in a 2-0 away win. The move to New York put an abrupt end to his team career, however, since the transport options at the time no longer made it possible to be drafted.
First Austrian in the German Bundesliga
In 1962 he returned to Europe and played for AS Roma from 1962 to 1963. In 1963 he moved to Eintracht Frankfurt, a founding member of the newly created Bundesliga: With Huberts, Eintracht provided one of only four legionnaires in German professional football in the first season and was the only Austrian.
Huberts was a central figure in the Frankfurt team in the 1960s: he played a total of 247 competitive games, scoring 80 goals. Even during his time in Frankfurt, he was no longer able to play for the national team, since at that time the legionnaires were only released by the clubs for major tournaments.
Member of the GAK Centenary Team
In the 1970/71 season he moved back to Austria, first for a year at Austria in Vienna, to finally end his playing career from 1971 to 1975 at his parent club GAK; Huberts was also a member of the GAK century team. Huberts then worked as a trainer at Kapfenberg, Donawitz and LASK. Huberts was 84 years old.
