Austria Klagenfurt is in mourning. Hans Isopp, the oldest member of the Legends Club, has closed his eyes forever. The Austria legend passed away peacefully in his 94th year. We look back on an outstanding man and footballer: after the end of the Second World War, Hans Isopp was one of the first players of the newly revived Austria. He was also the first Carinthian to make the step up to the junior national team. He remained loyal to his Austria right to the very end.
Hard to believe: Hans Isopp was already playing in Austria's academy back in the 1940s – even though, on paper, Austria did not even exist at the time. The club had been officially "banned" during the Nazi era, like so many others. But Hans Isopp told us the true story of those years, because he wanted to make sure that this episode would never be forgotten: "A certain Ferdinand Lube looked after all the schoolboy and youth teams back then. And he said: he wanted Austria's youth set-up to be kept going until the club was reinstated. So we met up at the sports ground on Mießtalerstraße. Mr Lube said: strictly speaking, we aren't allowed to play at all. Even so, he found us an opponent every single week. The only thing was, we weren't allowed to call ourselves Austria during that time. That's how I remember it, and that's the truth."
When Austria was officially allowed to exist again in April 1946, Hans Isopp was one of the first to join the club. "It had always been my great wish to play for Austria. I started out with the Schüler II, and later I was allowed to move up to the first schoolboy team," he recalled in one of the many conversations we had as part of documenting Austria's history. And the young man from Kühnsdorf went to great lengths to be able to play for Austria. "Once I cycled to an away game in Friesach – 42 kilometres there and back. Because back then there was no bus."
At just 18, Hans Isopp was already playing for the first team – and the Austrian Football Association soon took notice of him, calling him up to the U18 national team for the first time in 1952. It wasn't exactly easy for the lad from Kühnsdorf. "In the entire national team there were only two players from the federal states. When I got on the team bus, the Viennese lads immediately called me a 'G'scherter'. But I hit straight back verbally. After that there was no more fuss." At his first FIFA youth tournament with the national team in Barcelona, Isopp promptly finished third with Austria's U18s.
He also celebrated considerable success with Austria: above all the championship title in what was then the Tauernliga in the 1954/55 season. And Isopp was never too proud for any job: "I really played every position there is. As a schoolboy I was a right-sided defender, then I became a striker. One day I was even put in goal, because our goalkeeper – Pepe Podschlepp – was sent off in a game in the Rosental. So I had to go in goal and I didn't let a single ball in," he laughed.
In the 1959/60 season, Isopp won the Kärntner Liga title with Austria and was promoted to the Regionalliga for the first time. Even today, the Kühnsdorf man can be seen on many black-and-white archive photos among that first team. Back then, Isopp played alongside legendary footballers such as Rudi Vavpot, Freddy Hohenberger, Emil Filzwieser, Klaus Sackmann, Kurt Lorber, Norbert Lorber, Gert Bahr, Alfred Umgeher and Gerhard Moser.
In the 1961/62 season, Hans Isopp and his team-mates finally achieved the greatest success in the club's history up to that point: promotion to the Staatsliga (today's Bundesliga) for the very first time. Afterwards he withdrew to his home in Kühnsdorf at his own request, but he remained closely connected to Austria until his very last day and attended many Legends Club events. Also unforgettable is his appearance at an Austria home game in autumn 2020, when he picked up the microphone and began to sing the old club anthem, the one he had once sung with the first team on the way into the dressing room. The one that ended with: "Hipp, hipp, hurra, die Austria."
Dear Hans, we cannot thank you enough. With your unshakeable loyalty and your devotion to Austria, you will forever have a firm place in the club's history and in our hearts. We will miss you dearly and would like to express our deepest sympathy to your family and all your loved ones. Hans Isopp, one of us forever.
Your Austria Klagenfurt and your Austria Klagenfurt Legends Club
