JOSEF BICAN
Slavia Prague, 1937-1948
“If I got five chances, I scored five goals; if I got seven, then it was seven.” Josef Bican wasn’t known for being modest, but then he had a lot to boast about. Today’s goal machines – Lionel Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo – look goal-shy compared to Bican. In 274 matches for Slavia Prague between 1937-48, he scored 534 goals – a ridiculous rate of 1.95 goals per game.
Bican was born in Vienna to Czech parents. His dad, Frantisek, was a footballer for Hertha Vienna, but his death from a football-related kidney injury left Josef to be raised in poverty. Bican Jr later insisted that street football had inspired his extraordinary ball control. As ex-slavia player Jan Andrejkovic remembered: “He had all the qualities of a star: excellent technique, perfect positional play, outstanding headers, precise passing, and he was also an incredible goalscorer.”
Bican was powerfully built, yet he could run 100m in 10.8 seconds. His shots were often placed rather than blasted and struck with swing, spin and dip. He liked to entertain the crowds with a mazy dribble or some ball-juggling before scoring and was a part of Hugo Meisl’s Austrian ‘Wunderteam’, which progressed to the semi-finals of the 1934 World Cup before losing to hosts Italy. The Swedish referee Ivan Eklind dined with Benito Mussolini prior to the tie and seemingly favoured the Azzurri; Josef later alleged that he even headed a cross towards an Italian player.
Having lifted the Austrian league three times with Rapid and Admira Vienna, Bican joined Slavia Prague in 1937. He enthralled Slavia fans by shooting bottles off the crossbar during training sessions. On a bad day, fans said, he would miss one in 10.
Unlike many mavericks, Bican worked very hard and scored quality goals in large quantities. Leading scorer in the Czech league 12 times – he scored seven goals in a match on three separate occasions – he was also Europe’s most prolific striker between 1939-44, a feat slightly undermined by the fact that many of Josef’s great rivals were at war, while he was playing in a Nazi protectorate. His goals and the fame that came with them alienated some Slavia players, who referred to Bican only as “the Austrian bastard”.
The question that irritated him in later life is whether he would have scored as frequently in one of Europe’s top leagues. Following the Second World War, Juventus made him a lucrative offer but, afraid that the country might be taken over by the Communists, he stayed in Prague and ended up on the wrong side of history, as Czechoslovakia fell under Soviet rule.
Bican’s popularity almost undid him. In 1953, when he took part in the official May Day parade to hail the triumph of Czech Communism, the loudspeaker’s cries of “Long live President Zapotocky” were drowned out by the crowd yelling “Long live Bican!”
Upstaging the head of state was not a good career move, and the player was soon on his way. When he retired in 1955, at the age of 42, the unforgiving state offered him a job sweeping the roads.