Franz Benjamin Sedlacek or Sedlaceck was born in Vienna on September 4, 1892.
His early youth footballing years were spent at DFC Prague and then Viktoria Vienna.
He then played professionally for Wiener AC and Wiener AF between 1909 and 1920. He won a league title with Wiener AF in 1914. He was then forced to retire early due to a serious knee injury. He also won 11 caps for Austria.
His first coaching experience was in Germany in 1922 with Pirmasens in the lower divisions.
In 1922-23 he started his Italian spell. His first club was Vicenza. The "Lane" were in the Seconda Divisione but were relegated to the Terza Divisione after a playoff with Grion Pola.
He then had a brief spell with Padova before joining Venezia in October 1924. The Venetians were in the Seconda Divisione and finished 3rd.
In 1925-26 they won the league but were not promoted due to the block on promotions decided by the Federal Assembly of Genova in 1925.
In 1926 however the "Carta di Viareggio" changed the name into Prima Divisione Nord (still 2nd tier) and the "Leoni Alati" (The Winged Lions) played in the new format league. Sedlacek however had already left.
He returned to Austria and from December took over at Austria Wien. "Die Veilchen" finished 7th in the top league.
In 1927 though, he came back to Italy and joined Lazio. He succeeded another Austro-Hungarian, Jenő Löwy who had acted as player-manager in 1926-27 with the Biancocelesti finishing top in their First Division (second tier) group.
Lazio were in the Divisione Nazionale (top flight) Group A. In the summer some new players had arrived: defender Renato Bottacini (SPAL), Dino Canestri (Prato), midfielders Luigi Bodrato (Sampierdarenese), Paolo Paganini (SPAL), forwards Carlo Cevenini V (Milan), Camillo Fenili (Juventus) and Gino Lamon I (Treviso) plus Renato Sanero (Juventus- on loan).
Leaving were defender Augusto Parboni (retiring), midfielders Olindo Galli (Foligno), Jenő Löwy (Maccabi Bratislava) and forward Aldo Fraschetti (retiring after 9 seasons with Lazio).
Lazio lost the first four games (Cremonese, Padova, Genoa and Alessandria) before finally winning a game against Brescia 2-1, drawing in Naples and beating Milan 3-1. After that however, Lazio only won two more games all season and finished 10th. The Biancocelesti won 4, drew 3 and lost 13. They were initially supposed to be relegated but then fortunately the following year's league format was enlarged so both Lazio and Reggiana stayed up. Top scorer was Renato Sanero with 4 goals.
In the Coppa CONI (from April to mid-July) they finished second in their group after 6 wins, 1 draw and 3 defeats. The Coppa CONI was a tournament for the teams who had not qualified for the final Divisione Nazionale group. Top scorer was Odoacre Pardini with 3 goals.
In 1928-29 Sedlacek stayed on but was replaced after three games. The Biancocelesti lost 2-6 away to Bologna, 0-1 at home to Brescia and 2-4 away at Cremonese, at this point the president Riccardo Barisonzo decided it was time for a change and brought in Fernando Saraceni.
Sedlacek then coached in Poland for two years, between February 1929 and 1931 he was manager of newly promoted Garbarnia Cracovia. His best result was a 2nd place in his first season.
In 1931-32 he was manager of Karlsruher FV. He won the Baden regional title but then lost in the national title games.
In 1933 he returned to Austria as manager of Wiener AC but in his first training session, on July 18, he collapsed and died from a heart attack. He was only 40.
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