Life in pictures

Helmut Köglberger: Graphic novel about soccer star

Match in 1965 LASK against Admira: Köglberger in (striped) kit - and a look inside the book(Bild: Krone KREATIV/APA-PictureDesk, Votava; Bahoe Books)

Soccer legend and man of the heart: Helmut Köglberger becomes the hero of a graphic novel that will be published in March. A Viennese trio - an illustrator and two authors - bring the great goalscorer and coach back to life. The book will also be presented at the Nextcomic Festival, which takes place from March 21 to 28 in Linz, Traun and Steyr.

Fatherless, illegitimate, dark-skinned: Helmut Köglberger (1946 - 2018) grew up on an Upper Austrian farm in Sierning, in the district of Steyr-Land, as a child of the occupying forces. He did not have an easy start in conservative, Nazi-influenced post-war Austria. But he blossomed from a "football-mad snot" to a "footballer of the century", who became Austrian champion with LASK and Austria Vienna.

He led the national team onto the pitch as captain and his supporters dedicated chants to him: "We don't need a Müller, we don't need a hero, we have our Heli, the best in the world."

More than 140 pictures on 120 pages
"I find it exciting to tell Köglberger's story because I myself - I am 40 years old - knew nothing about him, yet he was a central figure in Austrian soccer in the 60s and 70s," says Anatol Vitouch (Vienna). Together with illustrator Eugenio Belgrado and co-author Philip Bauer, he is publishing the graphic novel "Köglberger. Vom Besatzungskind zur Fußballikone" (Bahoe books).

(Bild: Bahoe Books)

Illustrator Eugenio Belgrado: "The comic tells the life story of Helmut Köglberger, an Austrian soccer star who made it from a country boy to a career at LASK to captain of the national team."(Bild: Belgrado)

More than just "sports stuff"
"Not just a sports story," says Vitouch, but "we try to do justice to Köglberger as a character." They show his tough path from outsider to soccer icon, from SV Sierning to shaking hands with Franz Beckenbauer. He spent a lifetime searching for his father, and a soccer academy in Kenya became a matter close to his heart: "His life - simply Hollywood-worthy!"

The trio will present the graphic novel at the Nextcomic Festival from March 21 to 28 in Linz. The book can already be ordered in bookstores and will be published by mid-March.

Info: Bauer, Belgrado, Vitouch: Köglberger. Vom Besatzungskind zur Fußballikone, bahoe Books, 27€ in bookstores; will be published on March 16.