ARMLESS INTERNATIONAL PLAYERS
Armless players in international games
Danish player Marius Kryger Lindh (Picture), born with only one arm, became this year the unique active one-armed footballer that took part in the major international competition.
In July, he appeared for B36 Tórshavn (Faroe Islands) in two Conference League 2024-25 qualifiers vs Latvia’s Auda (0-2, 0-1). Moreover, Kryger Lindh was elected as B36’s Player of the Year.
In the past, we can find few similar cases. In particular, two one-arm players more have featured in the European club tournaments.
*Guy Thill (Luxembourg) was a part of small third-division Jeunesse Hautcharage who strangely earned in 1971 a berth in Cup Winners’ Cup and were thrashed by Chelsea with 0-21 aggregate score (0-8 and 0-13). Thill – born without a forearm like Lindh – played full 90 minutes in both legs of the tie.
*Jimmy Hasty (Northern Ireland), who lost at 14 years his left arm in an industrial accident on his very first working day at a mill in Belfast, was certainly more heroic. Although his Dundalk lost a tie to Zürich in the first round of European Cup in 1963, he scored a goal and assisted for another in a brave Dundalk’s 2-1 away win that followed a larger home defeat (0-3).
It was the first away victory by an Irish side in European competition – in which Hasty has played the crucial role. His goal and his assist are still the unique ones made by an armless player in UEFA competitions.
What is probably even more amazing, Hasty has finished the 1963-64 season as the joint top-scorer in the league of Ireland. The supporters nicknamed him “the One-Armed Wonder”.
Sadly, just around 10 years after his feats, Hasty was shot dead in Belfast while he was walking to work. No one was ever charged with his murder.
Two players from this category featured for national teams.
*Héctor Castro has played for Uruguay 25 times, scoring 18 goals; won a gold medal at the 1928 Olympic Games and then became the world champion 1930, scoring a goal in the final vs Argentina. He is also famous as a scorer of the first ever goal at Estadio Centenario in Montevideo (against Peru, at World Cup).
Castro, nicknamed “El Manco” ("the one-armed") lost his right forearm when he was 13, following an accident while using an electric saw.
*Robert Schlienz was at his 24 a Stuttgart’s prolific striker when his car overturned after hitting a pothole in August 1948. He lost a left forearm (amputated) but made his comeback to the pitch already in less than 4 month.
In 1955 and 1956, Schlienz earned 3 caps for Germany under Sepp Herberger who used him on defensive position.
Besides the named players, there were also several others featuring without an arm on top domestic level, such as Håkan Söderstjerna (Sweden) and Julio González (Paraguay).
In women’s football, the most known is Carson Pickett (2 cups for United States), born without a left forearm.
| ARMLESS | PLAYERS | ||||
| INTERNATIONAL | GAMES | ||||
| Player | Country | Games | Period | ||
| NT | ICC | ||||
| 1 | Héctor Castro | Uruguay | 25 | 1926-1935 | |
| 2 | Robert Schlienz | Germany | 3 | 1955-1956 | |
| 3 | Jimmy Hasty | Northern Ireland | 2 | 1963 | |
| 4 | Guy Thill | Luxembourg | 2 | 1971 | |
| 5 | Marius Kryger Lindh | Denmark | 2 | 2024- |