Leon Sperling

{{short description|Polish footballer}}

{{Use dmy dates|date=August 2024}}

{{Infobox football biography

| embed =

| name = Leon Sperling

| image = Cracovia 1921.jpg

| image_size =

| alt =

| caption = Sperling (fourth from right) with Cracovia in 1921

| fullname =

| birth_date = {{birth date|1900|8|7|df=yes}}

| birth_place = Kraków, Austria-Hungary

| death_date = {{circa}} {{death date and age|1941|12|15|1900|8|7|df=yes}}

| death_place = Lwów Ghetto, Poland

| height = 1.64 m

| position = Forward

| youthyears1 =

| youthclubs1 =

| years1 = 1914–1916

| clubs1 = Jutrzenka Kraków

| caps1 =

| goals1 =

| years2 = 1917

| clubs2 = Cracovia

| caps2 =

| goals2 =

| years3 = 1918–1920

| clubs3 = Jutrzenka Kraków

| caps3 =

| goals3 =

| years4 = 1920–1934

| clubs4 = Cracovia

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| goals4 =

| totalcaps =

| totalgoals =

| nationalyears1 = 1921–1930

| nationalteam1 = Poland

| nationalcaps1 = 16

| nationalgoals1 = 2

| medaltemplates =

}}

Leon Sperling (7 August 1900 – {{circa}} 15 December 1941) was a Polish footballer.{{cite web |title=SPERLING Leon |url=https://polska-pilka.pl/reprezentanci/s/sperling-leon |website=polska-pilka.pl |access-date=7 August 2024 |language=pl |date=14 April 2021}}{{cite web|url=http://www.sem40.ru/sport/24907/ |title=Тридцать лучших еврейских футболистов в мире за всю историю футбола. |accessdate=22 August 2014 |url-status=dead |archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20140302165122/http://www.sem40.ru/sport/24907/ |archivedate=2 March 2014 }}{{Cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=tUoTDQAAQBAJ&q=Leon+Sperling&pg=PT623|title=Who Betrayed the Jews?: The Realities of Nazi Persecution in the Holocaust|first=Agnes|last=Grunwald-Spier|date=7 January 2016|publisher=The History Press|isbn=9780750958011|via=Google Books}}{{cite web|url=https://www.olympedia.org/athletes/26977 |title=Leon Sperling |work=Olympedia |access-date=26 August 2021}}

Sperling was born in Kraków, and was Jewish.{{Cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=pbltAAAAMAAJ&q=Leon+Sperling|title=Jewish Life in Cracow 1918-1939|first1=Associate Curator for Jewish History Sean Martin|last1=Std|first2=Sean|last2=Martin|date=7 September 2004|publisher=Vallentine Mitchell|isbn=9780853035077|via=Google Books}} He was a forward, playing on the left wing. Sperling represented Cracovia,{{cite book|author=Ezra Mendelsohn|title=Jews and the Sporting Life: Studies in Contemporary Jewry XXIII|publisher=Oxford University Press US|year=2009|pages=384|isbn=978-0-19-538291-4|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=l-9PAnwdMHwC&q=sperling+leon+jewish+sport&pg=PA17}} the team he led in 1921, 1930, and 1932 to the Championship of Poland.{{Cite web|url=https://www.headstuff.org/culture/history/football-murder-deadly-game/|title=Football and Murder: The Deadly Game|date=12 November 2014}} He also played in 16 games for the Poland national team,{{Cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=-_Si5OP6cjkC&q=Leon+Sperling&pg=PA17|title=Jews and the Sporting Life: Studies in Contemporary Jewry XXIII|first=Ezra|last=Mendelsohn|date=31 March 2009|publisher=Oxford University Press|isbn=9780199724796|via=Google Books}} including Poland's lone game at the 1924 Paris Olympic Games.[http://www.soccer-db.info/index.php?option=com_joomsport&task=player&id=7920 Leon Sperling]{{Cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=nMzYdZpk8qMC&q=Leon+Sperling+soccer&pg=PA61|title=The Olympics at the Millennium: Power, Politics, and the Games|first1=Kay|last1=Schaffer|first2=Sidonie|last2=Smith|date=7 September 2000|publisher=Rutgers University Press|isbn=9780813528205|via=Google Books}}{{Cite web|url=https://www.sports-reference.com/olympics/athletes/sp/leon-sperling-1.html|title=Leon Sperling Bio, Stats, and Results | Olympics at Sports-Reference.com|date=18 April 2020|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200418102816/https://www.sports-reference.com/olympics/athletes/sp/leon-sperling-1.html|archive-date=18 April 2020}} He was regarded as a highly skilled dribbler.{{Cite news|url=https://www.theguardian.com/football/blog/2019/may/06/remembering-the-cream-of-jewish-footballing-talent-killed-in-the-holocaust|title=Remembering the cream of Jewish footballing talent killed in the Holocaust|first=David|last=Bolchover|newspaper=The Guardian |date=6 May 2019|via=www.theguardian.com}} He also coached in Lviv. Sperling is one of Cracovia Kraków's legends.

Sperling was shot to death by the German Nazis in the Lwów Ghetto in December 1941.{{cite book|author=Kay Schaffer & Sidonie Smith|title=The Olympics at the Millennium: Power, Politics, and the Games|publisher=Rutgers University Press|page=61|year=2000|isbn=0-8135-2820-8|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=nMzYdZpk8qMC&q=sperling+leon+jewish+sport&pg=PA61}}{{cite web |url=https://www.sports-reference.com/olympics/friv/lists.cgi?id=65 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200417055433/https://www.sports-reference.com/olympics/friv/lists.cgi?id=65 |url-status=dead |archive-date=17 April 2020 |title=Olympians Who Were Killed or Missing in Action or Died as a Result of War |accessdate=24 July 2018 |work=Sports Reference}} His Jewish teammate, Józef Klotz, was also killed in the Holocaust.