Karl Stürmer was born in Vienna on October 8, 1882. He started playing football for First Vienna in 1898 as full back and then from 1901 he played for Wiener AC as midfielder. He also played a couple of games for the National team. In 1914 he retired from active football and after the first world war he became a manager.
After being head coach for Wiener in the 1918-19 season he was then manager for Rudolfshugel before leaving for Italy in 1920. Here he had a very long career as manager first with Reggiana, whom he coached on and off for four seasons, and with Torino where he basically set up the youth sector. He was manager for Prato between 1926 and 1929, then back in Turin with the Granata for the 1929-30 season. In 1931-32 he coached Alessandria before coming to Rome in 1932.
In July 1932, as Lazio manager he organised a draft for the under 14s. This was something unheard of at the time in Italy. The Microbes, as they were called, kids born in 1920 and 1921, trained twice a week, had tactical and behavioural lessons, and started playing and winning around Italy. They became so famous that they were invited to play in Vienna, on June 11, 1933, for a game against Wacker. The match was played in front of a 45,000-crowd gathered to watch the national Wunderteam play against Romania. It was a 40-minute game. The Microbes managed to draw and with a bit of luck might have even won it. The small little Biancocelesti, up against the much bigger Austrian youngsters, left the stadium with the crowd enthusiastic. For the Italian media it was a triumph and when the kids arrived in Rome they were overwhelmed by fans, relatives and the entire Lazio first team.
In both years he coached Lazio, the Biancocelesti came 10th. It was not a strong team but they managed OK and his work with the youth teams allowed the club to have a strong bunch of young players who in time all became mainstays for the Biancocelesti.
After leaving Lazio he coached Angelo Belloni (now called Massese), Alessandria (reaching the Coppa Italia final), Juventus (one year as youth manager and another as assistant to Virginio Rosetta), then Cremonese, Verona and Cesena.
He was considered a very tough coach, well prepared from a tactical point of view. His tactics were tried out obsessively and repeatedly in training, so they could be played out on match days.
He died in Faenza in 1943, shot by a German soldier during the Nazi occupation of Northern Italy.
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