👓⚽ There are players who overcame injuries, poverty, or wars to reach a World Cup. Leopold Kielholz arrived with something different: vision so deficient that his own contemporaries wrote that “he had very poor eyesight”. And even so, he became the only footballer in history to wear glasses during a World Cup.
He was born on June 9, 1911, in Basel, Switzerland. To play in Italy 1934, he had to adapt special frames with reinforced safety lenses, because ordinary glasses could not withstand the impact of the game. No one expected that man with glasses to be a real threat. Then came Switzerland’s first match in World Cup history, at San Siro Stadium against the Netherlands. In the 7th minute, Kielholz scored. The first for his national team. Forever. He finished the match with a brace and Switzerland won 3-2. 🇨🇭🔥
In the next round he scored his third goal of the tournament against Czechoslovakia, although Switzerland was eliminated in a 3-2 defeat. In 17 matches with the national team he scored 12 goals and won three Swiss league titles with Servette of Geneva. How many players do you know who did all that… while wearing glasses? 👇