The Golden Shoe. That no striker playing in Italy, England, Spain, or USSR had a chance to win the award was certain for years – the best scorers were coming from middle-range championships, where strikers actually had chances to score… the top three cane from such championships, but they were recognized as great and regular scorers already. Ruud Geels (Ajax) was third with 32 goals. The Argentine striker of Paris Saint Germain, Carlos Bianchi, ended second with 37 goals. The Golden Shoe went to the Austrian Hans Krankl. He scored 41 goals – a record still unbeaten in Austria.
Hans Krankl in dark shirt getting ahead of the defender once again.
Already a familiar name around Europe, Krankl had his best season so far – at the end of the season he had scored 160 goals in 205 championship matches played for Rapid (Vienna) since 1970. Add the 27 goals he scored in 26 matches in 1971-72, when loaned to Wiener AC (Vienna). Add that he was vital part of the revival of the Austrian national team, constituting with Bruno Pezzey and Herbert Prohaska the backbone of the strong and exciting Austrian team if the late 1970s. Krankl was at the age considered the best for footballers – 25 years old, with plenty of experience, yet, with many years to play and refine his skills. He was the top scorer of Austria for a third time, after 1974 and 1977, and already was voted Austrian player of the year 3 times (1973, 1974, and 1977). Perhaps curiously, Krankl lacked trophies – with Rapid he won a single one: the Austrian Cup in 1976 – but he was still young. A really outstanding season, capped by Krankl’s wonderful performance at the World Cup finals in the summer of 1978. And prolific scorer like him was not to be missed by the big clubs – Barcelona got him fresh from the World Cup to replace no other but Johan Cruyff.