BARÓTI, LAJOS

born: 19. august 1914
died: 23. december 2005
clubs as player: Szeged, Győr
NT caps: 2
clubs as coach: Győr, Bp Postás, Vasas (1953-57, 1972-74), Újpest, Wacker Innsbruck, Benfica
coach of Hungary NT: 121 games
coach of Peru NT (??? matches)
champ with Vasas: 1x (1957)
champ with Újpest: 3x (1969, 1970, 1971)
champ with Benfica: 1x (1981)
other: nobody had more games as coach of Hungary NT than him, he lead us to 4 (!!!) world cups within 20 years, he also had our most succesful EC appearance in 1964
anecdote: he ended his players career very early due to a broken leg so he became coach accidentally.

 

BENE, FERENC

born: 17.december 1944
died: 27. februar 2006
clubs: Balatonkeresztúr, Marcali, Kaposvár, Újpest (418 match, 303 goal), Volán, Sepsi Seinejoki
champ with Újpest: 8x (1969, 1970, 1971, 1972, 1973, 1974, 1975, 1978)
top scorer: 5x (1963, 1969, 1972, 1973, 1975)
uefa cup runner-up: 1969
euro champions cup semi-final: 1974
cup winners cup semi-final: 1962
NT caps: 76, 36 goals
EC 3rd place: 1964
EC 4th: 1972
olympic gold medal: 1964 (with 12 goals he also was top scorer)
position: forward
other: his most unfortunate match was the EC semi-final against Spain although he scored our goal but in the extratime he was 3 times alone in front of the spanish goalie and screwed it up each time

 

BOZSIK, JÓZSEF

born: 28. november 1925
died: 31. may 1978
clubs as players: Kispesti AC / Honvéd (447 matches)
champ: 5x (1950, 1950 II - they had half-year championship system in this year - 1952, 1954, 1955)
position: center-half
NT caps: 101 , 11 goals
olympic gold: 1952
NT european cup winner: 1953
WC runner-up: 1954
clubs as coach: Honvéd
NT coach: 1974
trivia: he was the Beckenbauer of magyarfoci unless Beckenbauer was the Bozsik of germanfoci; both were the great minds on the pitch; on the other hand he wasnt that much a born genious, he earned his skills and greatness by a lot of hard work. he was put into the house of Parliament in 1953 but after the famous Brazil trip 1956 he was dismissed as representant although he refused a 100,000 $ offer by Atlético Madrid. he died much too young on the day before the 1978 wc started, but will always stay in our memories, after all it's "Bozsik, immer wieder Bozsik......"

 

BUZÁNSZKY, JENŐ

born: 4. may 1925
clubs as player: PVSK, Dorog (247 match for the latter)
NT caps: 49
position: right-back
olympic gold: 1952
european cup winner: 1953
world cup runner-up: 1954
clubs as coach: Dorog, Esztergom, Szállítók
vice-president of Hungarian FA: 1994-98
trivia: he actually started his career as striker but lucky for us the coach of Dorog once due to injuries put him on right-back where he shined, otherwise he would never become NT player back then. he also was part of 2 Golden Teams because as coach he lead Dorog to a 4th place in the championship their best result ever obviously.

 

CZIBOR, ZOLTÁN

born: 23. august 1929
died: 1. september 1997
clubs: Ferencváros, Csepel, Honvéd, FC Barcelona, Espanyol, FC Basel, Austria Wien
matches/goals: Ferencváros 70/33, Honvéd 81/58, Barcelona 38/17
top scorer: 1955
champ with Fradi: 1949
champ with Honvéd: 1954, 1955
champ with Barcelona: 1959, 1960
euro champions cup runner-up: 1961
uefa cup winner: 1958, 1960
position: left wing forward (although being right footed)
NT caps: 43, 17 goals
olympic gold medal: 1952
european cup winner: 1953
world cup runner-up: 1954
trivia: he was nick named the "Bolond" the "Crazy One" beacuse he was both unpredictable on the pitch as well as in private life. he also got several bans from the NT due to anti-communist remarks. he didnt want to go to army club Honvéd either so instead he joined factory club Csepel but got capped by the army anyway so was kind of forced to play for Honvéd eventually. he was one of the first to decide not to go back to Hungary from the famous Brazil journey in november 1956.

 

DEÁK, FERENC

born: 16. january 1922
died: 18. april 1998
clubs: Szentlőrinci AC, Ferencváros, Újpest
matches/goals: Szentlőrinc 72 / 128, Ferencváros 83 /121, Újpest 77 / 53
champ with Fradi: 1949
top scorer: 1946, 1947, 1949
world top scorer: 1946 with 66 goals which is world record until today
NT caps: 20, 29 goals
nick name: Bamba
position: striker, obviously
trivia: the reason why he only played 20 NT games is the fact that he in 1950 once beat up 2 secret police men in a café house
after this he had 2 chances, prison or join Újpest - the Dynamo of Hungary i.e. the Belügyminiszerium's club after all - obvioiusly he chose the latter

 

DÉTÁRI, LAJOS

born: 24. april 1963
clubs as player: Honvéd, Eintracht Frankfurt, Olympiakos, Bologna, Ancona, Ferencváros, Genoa, Neuchatel Xamax, St. Pölten, BVSC,
matches/goals: Honvéd 134/72, Eintracht 33/11, Olympiakos 55/33, Bologna 42/14, Ancona 32/9, Xamax 38/12
champ with Honvéd: 3x (1984, 1985, 1986)
german cup winner: 1988
top scorer: 3x (1985, 1986, 1987)
NT caps: 61, 13 goals
clubs as coach: FC Bihor, Csepel, Honvéd, Hanoi, Haladás, Tatabánya, Diósgyőr, Nyíregyháza, Sopron, Siófok
nick name: blond cyclon
trivia: he is considered the "Last Mohikan" of maygarfoci, after all he was the last superstar we had. he caused a lot of media uproar when he signed for 18 million DM to Olympiakos which was a record sum back in the days. many said he ruined his career with this step, should have stayed at Frankfurt. anyway, at least he lead us to the 1986 wc with his winning goals in the quali away against Holland with Rijkaard, van Basten and Gullit and Austria. he scored the last wc goal for Hungary so far at the 2-0 win against Canada.

 

FARKAS, JÁNOS

born: 27. march 1942
died: 29. september 1989
clubs: Vasas ( 290 match, 169 goals)
champ: 4x (1961, 1962, 1965, 1966)
top scorer: 1966
NT caps: 33, 19 goals
EC 3rd place: 1964
olympic gold medal: 1964
position: striker
nick name: Brazilian
trivia: he probably was the greatest gypsy player we ever had. he will always be remembered for one of the greatest goals ever in WC history, i.e. his goal in the 3-1 win against Brazil in the 1966 world cup. BBC put it on 7th place in their "most beautiful goals of all times" ranking. in Chile he had quite many fans so they named a club after him, Farkas FC which still exists in the city Concepción. Vasas beat Colo Colo 9-3 in the Hexagonal cup in 1967 eventually they won the cup beating Santos and Penarol as well and of course our Farkas became top scorer. France Football put his foto once on their title page with the words "Monsieur But" i. e. "Mister Goal". that was because we beat France 4-2 and he scored all the 4 goals in that match.

 

FAZEKAS, LÁSZLÓ

born: 15. october 1947
clubs as player: Újpest, RFC Antwerp, Sint Truiden
matches/goals: with Újpest 410 / 252, with Antwerp 111 /38
champ with Újpest: 9x (1969, 1970, 1971, 1972, 1973, 1974, 1975, 1978, 1979)
top scorer: 1976, 1978, 1980
uefa cup finalist: 1969
champions cup semi-final: 1974
europa 2nd top scorer: 1980 with 36 goals
NT caps: 92, 24 goals
EC 4th place: 1972
olympic golad medal: 1968
clubs as coach: Racing Jet, Aalst, Harelbeke, Royal Union, RFC Antwerp
trivia: he was part of that generation that (could) have achieved a lot of major success but eventually did not. the 1970 wc qualifier play-offs and the 1974 wc qualifier agsint Sweden are just examples. also the arguably fixed 1978 argentina world cup match or the 1982 wc match against Belgium where Pfaff kicked down Fazekas in the penalty box and it should have been penalty for us and red card for Jean-Marie. then the Belgians scored a very silly goal to 1-1 and advanced.

 

FOGL, KÁROLY

born: 19. january 1895
died: 12. january 1969
clubs: Mezei TC, Törekvés, Újpest
position: central defender
champ: 2x (1930, 1931)
Mitropa Cup winner: 1929
Champions Cup winner: 1930
player of the year: 1920
NT caps: 51, 2 goals
clubs as coach: SK Sofia, Juventus Bucarest, ETO Győr, Warta Poznan
NT coach of Bulgaria: 1934
champ as coach: 1935 with Sofia, 1947 with Poznan
trivia: together with his younger brother József they were the famous Fogl-Gát (Fogl-Dam) since it was very difficult to get past them.

 

FELDMANN, GYULA

born: 16. november 1890
died: 31. october 1955
clubs: Nemzeti SC, Ferencváros, MTK, Makkabi Brno
position: defender
champ with MTK: 3x (1918, 1919, 1920)
NT caps: 10, 0 goals
clubs as coach: MTK, Juventus Bucarest, Fiorentina, Inter Milan, FC Torino
NT coach Hungary: 1934
Mitropa Cup semi-final with MTK as coach 1927
trivia: well nothing much to tell about him except that he was one of those pre-war football philosophers who brought the Hungary style to other countries as coach.

 

BRAUN, JÓZSEF

born: 26. february 1901
died: ?? february 1943
clubs: MTK
position: right wing
champion: 8x (1918, 1919, 1920, 1921, 1922, 1923, 1924, 1925)
NT caps: 28, 11 goals
clubs as coach: 1. CsSK Bratislava, MTK
trivia: played at age of 15 already in MTK first team, with 18 he made his debut in the NT. un fortunately at 21 he suffered a severe injury so as consequence of which he had to end his career with 25 years. he was consdidered one of the world best footballers of his time. he died in 1943 in a nationalsocialist working camp.

 

GARABA, IMRE

born: 29. july 1958
clubs: Vác, Honvéd, Rennes, Charleroi, BVSC
matches: 243 with Honvéd
position: defender
champ: 4x (1980, 1984, 1985, 1986)
NT caps: 82, 3 goals
clubs as coach: BVSC, REAC, MTK

 

GÖRÖCS, JÁNOS

born: 8. may 1939
clubs: Újpest (339 matches, 109 goals), Tatabánya (23 match)
champ: 5x (1960, 1969, 1970, 1971, 1972)
cup wiiners cup semi-final: 1962
cup winners cup top scorer: 1962
uefa cup finalist: 1969
NT caps: 62, 19 goals
EC 3rd place: 1964
position: attacking midfielder, play maker
nickname: Titi
clubs as coach: Újpest, Sulejvihat (Kuvait), Tadhamon (Kuvait), some ???club in Iran
trivia: after he lead Újpest to beat Aris Saloniki 9-1 in a uefa cup match, the greeks didnt want to join the bankett after the match because they would not "sit down at the same table with those who just humiliated us"; he was one of the less luckier guys when it comes to the NT, he suffered injury in the 2nd match of the 1962 wc, he could nt play in the last 2 games of the 1964 EC either due to another injury. 1966 wc, the coach would nominate him only a squad player so he decided not to travel to England. in the 1968 EC quarter finals he scored a goal in the 2-0 win against the CCCP but in vain because in the 2nd leg the coach put him on the bench and let Komora Imre play instead, needless to say we lost 0-3 and the Sovjets advanced.

 

BUKOVI, MÁRTON

born: 10. december 1910
died: 11. february 1985
clubs as player: Ékszerészek, Alba Roma, Ferencváros (86 matches, 2 goals), FC Séte
position: central midfielder
player of the year: 1929
champ with Fradi: 4x (1926, 1927, 1928, 1932)
french champ with Séte: 1x (1934)
Mitropa Cup winner: 1928
NT caps: 12, 0 goal
clubs as coach: Građanski Zagreb, Dinamo Zagreb, MTK, Újpest, Diósgyőr, Olympiakos
NT coach Hungary: 1956-1957
champ with MTK: 3x (1951, 1953, 1958)
champ with Olympiakos: 2x (1966, 1967)
champ with Građanski: 2x (1937, 1940, 1943)
trivia: during his NT coach time they played against CCCP in Luzhniki stadion in front of 100,000 spectators, and legend says always when he was nervous he went down to the dressing room and smoked one cigarette after the other, so was it in that given match too when it was still 0-0, so he missed Czibor's winning goal. back home he asked a friend "quite a good result the draw we achieved at Moskva, isn't it?" - the friend replied: "draw, wth are you talking? you won 1-0!" - "impossible" he said.

 

GROSICS, GYULA

born: 4. february 1926
clubs: Dorog (61 matches), MATEOSZ (85), Honvéd (125), Tatabánya (123)
champ: 3x (1950, 1952, 1954)
NT caps: 86
position: goal keeper
nickname: black panther
olympic gold medal: 1952
WC runner-up: 1954
clubs as coach: Tatabánya, Salgótarján
clubs as president: Volán
trivia: maybe the best goalkeeper we ever had. one can argue about that. but surely one of those who can't sleep since one certain match, like the brazilian goalie of the 1950 WC final. other points in his career are his several bannings from the NT - one due to dissidation, other due to accusation of espionage.

 

GUTTMANN, BÉLA

born: 13. march 1900
died: 28. august 1981
clubs as player: Törekvés, MTK, Hakoah Wien, Brooklyn Wanderers, New York Giants, New York Hakoah, New York SC
Hun champ: 2x (1921, 1922)
Austrian champ: 1x (1925)
NT caps: 4, 1 goal
clubs as coach: Hakoah Wien, SC Enschede, Újpest, Vasas, Chinezul Temesvár, Kispest, Padova, Triestina, Quilmes, Apoel Nikosia, AC Milan, Lanerossi Vicenza, FC Sao Paulo, FC Porto, Benfica, Penarol, Servette, Panathinaikos, Austria Wien
champ with Újpest: 2x (1939, 1947)
champ with Porto: 1x (1959)
champ with Benfica: 2x (1960, 1961)
champ with Penarol: 1x (1962)
SP state champ with FC Sao Paulo: 1957
champions cup winner with Benfica: 2x (1961, 1962)
Mitropa cup winner with Újpest: 1939
NT coach Austria: 1964
trivia: one of the greatest ever hungarian football coaches if not the best. he was the one who brought the Magic Magyar 4-2-4 to Brasil with which they won the WC 1958. the coach of Brazil at the 1958 WC was Guttmann's assistant at Sao Paulo after all. The Times voted him 8th best football coach of all times. he survived the Holocaust because legend says he could escape with some mates shortly before they would have been put on one of those infamous trains. Guttmann discovered Eusébio and made a superstar out of him. the fact that Benfica never won the champions cup since he left is called the Guttmann curse.

 

HIDEGKUTI, NÁNDOR

born: 3. march 1922
died: 14. february 2002
clubs: Újlaki FC, Gázművek, Elektromos, Herminamező, MTK ( for MTK 302 match, 202 goals)
champ with MTK: 3x (1951, 1953, 1958)
WC runner-up: 1954
olympic gold medal: 1952
european cup winner: 1953
NT caps: 69, 39 goals
position: forward
nickname: Öreg, Maestro
player of the year: 1953
clubs as coach: MTK, Fiorentina, Mantova, Győr, Tatabánya, Bp. Spartacus, Stal Rzeszów, Eger, Al-Ahly Cairo, Al-Ahly Dubai
italian cup winner with Fiorentina: 1961
cup winners cup winner with Fiorentina: 1961
cup winners cup final with Fiorentina: 1962
Hun champ with Győr: 1963
champions cup semi-final with Győr: 1965
Egypt champ with Al-Ahly: 5x (1975, 1976, 1977, 1978, 1980)
trivia: MTK stadium is anmed after him. NT coach Sebes only found his real position when he was already past 30 years. he was MOM in the so-called match of the century when we beat England 6-3 in Wembley, he scored a hattrick and was at the peak of his career. legend says he was already on the way to sign with Fradi but on the entrance to the stadium he heard a supporter say "wtf do you want with this Hidegkuti" so he just turned around and went the 1 km over to Hungaria Körút to sign for rivals MTK. he was called the Old one as player but was quite young as coach with his major successes, his second job already brought him 2 major titles but maybe the biggest achievement was the championship with outsiders Győr who he also lead to the semi-final of champions cup. now imagine a semi-final today with a line-up of Liverpool, Inter, Benfica, Győr

 

HOGAN, JIMMY

born: 16. october 1882 (England)
died: 30. january 1974 (England)
clubs as player: Rochdale Town, Burnley, Nelson, Fulham, Swindon Town, Bolton Wanderers
clubs as coach: Holland NT, Austria Wien, MTK Budapest (1914-21, 1925-27), Young Boys Bern, Switzerland NT, Lausanne Sports, Dresdner SC, RC Paris, Fulham, Aston Villa
hun champ with MTK: 7x (1914, 1917, 1918, 1919, 1920, 1921, 1925)
olympic silver medal with Switzerland: 1924
olympic silver medal with Austria: 1936
swiss champ with Young Boys: 1x (1920)
trivia: englishman Hogan is the only non-hugarian in my list. he is one of the football pioneers in continental Europa. especially in Hungary, Austria and Switzerland he made major impact basically teaching these 3 countries the sport. Suisse had their biggest success ever under him (and together with Izidor Kürschner btw) in the 1924 olympics. he also started the 10x championship titles in a row series with MTK, might even be called best coach ever of this club. afther the legendary 6-3 in Wembley Hungarys FA president said: "Jimmy Hogan taught us everything we know about football." coach Gusztáv Sebes said: "We played football as Jimmy Hogan taught us. When our football history is told, his name should be written in gold letters." in England he was called a traitor once because he spent the WWI in Europe, Hungary to be more precise.

 

ILLOVSZKY, RUDOLF

born: 21. february 1922
died: 23. september 2008
clubs as player: Vasas (270 match, 87 goals)
position: left winger
nickname: Rudi bácsi
NT caps: 3
clubs as coach: Vasas, Hungary NT, Pierikos, Admira Wacker,
champ with Vasas: 4x (1961, 1962, 1965, 1977)
olympic silver and EC 4th place with Hungary, both 1972
trivia: both these last mentioned NT results were considered major defeats back then. he said one day we will honour such results. how right he was. these were our last EC appearance and olympic medal ever since.

 

KOCSIS, SÁNDOR

born: 21. september 1929
died: 22. july 1979
position: striker
nickname: Kocka
clubs: Ferencváros (89 match, 70 goals), Honvéd (160 match, 177 goals), FC Barcelona (75 match, 42 goals)
champ with Fradi: 1x (1949)
champ with Honvéd: 4x (1950, 1952, 1954, 1955)
top scorer: 3x (1951, 1952, 1954)
champ with Barca: 2x (1959, 1960)
champions cup finalist: 1961
uefa cup winner: 2x (1958, 1960)
NT caps: 68, 75 goals (1,103 goals per game hungarian record until tolday)
olympic gold medal: 1952
euopean cup winner: 1953
world cup runner-up: 1954
world cup top scorer: 1954 (11 goals)
trivia: he and Puskás had a special rivalry within the NT - not so much at Honvéd -, Puskás was the boss and captain while Kocsis was more the quiet type. he handled it hardly that the media and everyone praised always only Puskás and Bozsik and not him but never said a word. interesting sidenote is that arguably his two best games were against Brasil and Uruguay where he scored 2 goals in each and quasi single-handedly lead us to the final. in both games Puskás didn't play. then come the final and Puskás came back - although still injured. final was the only match in the WC where he didn't score......
his end was more than sad. first he suffered an accident as consequence of which his leg had to be amputated, then came a stomach cancer. finally he fell from the window of the hospital in Barcelona at merely 50 year.

 

KUBALA, LÁSZLÓ

born: 10. june 1927
died: 17. may 2002
position: midfielder
nicknames: Kuksi (Hungary), Lasi (Spain)
clubs: Ganz TE (9 match, 2 goals), Ferencváros (49/33), Slovan Bratislava (36/15), Vasas (20/10), FC Barcelona (186/133), Espanyol (29/7), FC Zürich
champ with Barcelona: 4x (1952, 1953, 1959, 1960)
uefa cup winner: 2x (1958, 1960)
champions cup finalist: 1961
NT caps Czechoslovakia: 6, 4 goals
NT caps Hungary: 3
NT caps Spain: 19, 11 goals
clubs as coach: FC Zürich, Toronto Falcons, Cordoba, Barcelona, Al Hilal, Murcia, Malaga, Elche, Spain NT, Paraguay NT
saudi-arabian champ with Al-Hilal: 2x (1985, 1986)
olympic gold medal with Spain: 1992
trivia: he was voted best Barcelona player ever, even before such names as Cruyff, Maradona, Romário etc. he is the only player in the world ever to play for 3 different NTs. he never played a WC though because he injured shortly before the 1962 cup.

 

KÜRSCHNER, IZIDOR

born: ??? 1885 (Budapest)
died: ??? 1941 (Rio de Janeiro)
position: right defender
clubs as player: MTK
NT caps: 5
champ with MTK: 2x (1904, 1908)
clubs as coach: MTK, Stuttgarter Kickers, 1. FC Nürnberg, Bayern München, Eintracht Frankfurt, Nordstern Basel, Switzerland NT (together with Jimmy Hogan), SW Essen, Grasshoppers Zürich, Young Boys Bern, Flamengo RJ, Botafogo RJ
hun champ with MTK: 1x (1918)
german champ with Nürnberg: 1x (1921)
olympic silver medal with Swiss NT: 1924
swiss champ with Grasshoppers: 3x (1927, 1928, 1931)
trivia: one of the great football pioneers. he was one of the 3 first european coaches who brought european football philosophy and tactics to Brasil, all of which were jewish Hungarians, all of them played for MTK. (Kürschner, Mándi, Guttmann) he was the first to try to naturalise the WM formation in Brasil. nobody less than Leonidas da Silva played under him at Flamengo in 1937-38.

 

LAKAT, KÁROLY dr.

born: 27. november 1920
died: 3. december 1988
position: midfielder
clubs: Győri AC, Szeged, Ferencváros (228 matches, 4 goals)
champ: 1x (1949)
NT caps: 13
clubs as coach: Gödöllői Dózsa, Vörös Meteor, Szegedi Haladás, Tatabánya, MTK, Ferencváros, Honvéd, Salgótarján, Volán, Debrecen, HUngary NT
champ with Fradi: 2x (1967, 1968)
uefa cup final with Fradi: 1968
olympic gold medal with Hungary: 2x (1964, 1968)
Mitropa Cup winner with Tatabánya: 2x (1973, 1974)
trivia: he holds the record of 625 games as coach of Hungary Div 1 teams. his dr. title comes from the fact he was teacher for Hungarian Literature. as player one coach said of him "With 11 Lakats you can win a world cup." little known, but apart from winning 2 Mitropa Cups, he also beat Real Madrid once in the Uefa Cup with Tatabánya, in 1981. so there derived the bonmot "With 11 Tatabányans you can beat Real Madrid."

 

LÓRÁNT, GYULA

born: 6. february 1923
died: 31. may 1981
position: central defender
clubs as player: Szombathely, Nagyváradi AC, Vasas, Nagyváradi Szabadság, IT Arad, Honvéd, Spartacus, Vác
champ with Honvéd: 3x (1952, 1954, 1955)
champ with Nagyváradi AC: 1x (1944)
NT caps: 37
world cup runner-up: 1954
european cup winner: 1953
olympic gold: 1952
clubs as coach: Honvéd, Debrecen, Kaiserslautern, Duisburg, Köln, Kickers Offenbach, Freiburger FC, PAOK Saloniki, Eintracht Frankfurt, Bayern München, Schalke
champ with PAOK: 1976
trivia: he suffered a heart attack as coach of PAOK during a match against Olympiakos and died right after it in the hospital. two famous quotes of him during his Bundesliga time: "the ball is round. if he wasn't that he would be a dice." "Bundesliga matches are not like russian elections where they always win."