[2] During the latter half of the 1930s, Germany possessed one of the strongest full back pairings in European football with Paul Janes on the right and Reinhold Münzenberg on the left side.

Sepp Herberger said about Janes’ characteristics: "He rarely was caught off-guard on the pitch, as he had the ability to anticipate what the opponent was planning and he interpreted defensive play always as the first step in building up the next attack.

"[3] Despite his calmness and overall cleverness, Janes was renowned for an extravaganza that he had imported from South America: He was the first German footballer to specialize in the acrobatic bicycle kick.

Despite his age of 38, Janes almost would have had a comeback for Germany in the first international game after World War II in 1950, but he broke his foot shortly before and thus had to finish his career for good.

He was gifted with a simply phenomenal spin kick; he scored countless goals with freekicks from 30 or 40 meters with his glass-hard shot."