Walter Bechtold
Walter Bechtold is a former German professional footballer.
Career
Bechtold began his professional career in 1965 with Eintracht Frankfurt. On November 20, 1965, in a 6–1 away victory against Borussia Neunkirchen, he became the youngest Bundesliga player to score a hat-trick, aged 18 years and 118 days. The midfielder scored 33 goals in his four years with the club, but was never a first-team regular.In 1969, he transferred to local rivals Kickers Offenbach in the Regionalliga. With Kickers he had his most successful season; the club being promoted to the top flight as champions and winning the DFB Cup against 1. FC Köln. This saw the team qualify for the next season's European [Cup Winners' Cup], where they were knocked out in the first round by Belgian side Club Brugge K.V. Bechtold played for a year in the Bundesliga with Offenbach before being relegated back to the regional league. After one season back in the lower division, he moved to SV [Darmstadt 98]. He returned once again to the Bundesliga in 1978 with Darmstadt, before being relegated once more a year later. He retired from playing in 1980. During his professional career, Bechtold played in 131 Bundesliga matches, scoring 45 goals.