NAZI MURDER MYSTERY
IN 1934 centre forward Matthias Sindelar, known for his brilliant dribbling, captained Austria’s “Wunderteam” to a World Cup semifinal in Italy.
He was preparing to lead them at the 1938 World Cup in France too, until Adolf Hitler’s Germany marched into Austria and annexed it.
The Nazis then unified the two countries’ football teams.
They staged a “final” game between the nations, which was supposed to end in a prearranged draw.
But Sindelar went off-script and scored a stunner to help Austria win, before dancing in celebration in front of Third Reich dignitaries.
He then refused to play for the new German side.
Ten months later Sindelar and his girlfriend were found dead in bed in her flat. He was aged 36.
An official investigation blamed carbon monoxide poisoning from a faulty chimney, but many believe the footballer was secretly murdered by the Gestapo.