Camillo Ugi


Camillo Ugi was a German footballer who played as a forward, competing in the 1912 Summer Olympics. In the main he played for his hometown club VfB Leipzig with which he won a national championship, but had numerous stints with other clubs in three countries on two continents. He was born in Leipzig and died in Markkleeberg, south of Leipzig.

Football career

Between 1908 and 1912 Ugi was called up 15 times to play for Germany during his time with VfB Leipzig, Vereinigte Breslauer Sportfreunde in today's Wroclaw and FSV Frankfurt and captained the team on nine occasions. He scored one goal. Ugi was a member of the German Olympic squad 1912. The midfielder also was part of the side that defeated Russia in the consolation tournament 16-0, which still is the record win for Germany.
Ugi started participating in the German gymnastics movement aged 14, but soon found interest in the then new game of football. In 1902 he joined Leipziger Ballspielclub 1893, one of the first football clubs in Leipzig. In 1905 the trained electrical mechanic, specialising in cinema equipment, was lured by career prospects to join Sport Club Germânia, today's EC Pinheiros in São Paulo, Brazil. After a few months he returned to Germany, as his language skills proved insufficient to meet his vocational ambitions.
Back in Germany he joined VfB Leipzig for the first time, a club he should be with for the majority of his years, albeit with several interruptions. He won with the VfB the German Championship of 1906, which should remain his sole title. With the VfB he reached another championship final in 1911, losing it to Viktoria Berlin. In his long career he played amongst others also for Dresdner SC, FSV Frankfurt, Vereinigte Breslauer Sportfreunde. In 1911 he played briefly for the now extinct club Stade Helvétique Marseille in France, where he was taken aback by the conditions; a wooden cabin to change was all on offer. Often he changed clubs in order to follow career prospects. He ended his playing career in the mid-1920s in Leipzig.

Life after football

After this his attempts to attain paid positions as coach or sports teacher remained unsuccessful. On the other side, with the cinematographic equipment manufacturer he worked, her swiftly obtained promotion to operations manager. After World War II he worked for a medical equipment manufacturer in the then East Germany. Ugi, who married in 1921 had three daughters. Already in the early 1950s he suffered a heart attack. After retirement in 1954 he continued to attend matches of 1. FC Lokomotive Leipzig, the successor to VfB after the war, and eagerly followed the matches of both German national sides. He died in 1970 aged 85.

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