Ștefan Kovács ( ro, Ştefan Covaci; hu, Kovács István; 2 October 1920 – 12 May 1995) was a

Romania Romania ( ; ro, România ) is a country located at the crossroads of Central Europe, Central, Eastern Europe, Eastern, and Southeast Europe, Southeastern Europe. It borders Bulgaria to the south, Ukraine to the north, Hungary to the west, S ...

football Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kicking a ball to score a goal. Unqualified, the word ''football'' normally means the form of football that is the most popular where the word is used. Sports commonly c ...

player and coach. By winning 15 major titles he is one of the most successful

association football Association football, more commonly known as football or soccer, is a team sport played between two teams of 11 players who primarily use their feet to propel the ball around a rectangular field called a pitch. The objective of the game is ...

coaches in the history of the game. In 2019,

France Football ''France Football'' is a French weekly magazine containing football news from all over the world. It is considered to be one of the most reputable sports publications in Europe, mostly because of its photographic reports, in-depth and exclusiv ...

ranked him at No. 43 on their list of the Top 50 football managers of all time.

Career

Born into an ethnic Hungarian family in

Timișoara ), City of Roses ( ro, Orașul florilor), City of Parks ( ro, Orașul parcurilor) , image_map = Timisoara jud Timis.svg , map_caption = Location in Timiș County , pushpin_map = Romania#Europe , pushpin_ ...

, Romania, Kovács was an average midfielder, although having both individual technique and tactical intuition. He was never selected to play for

unlike his older brother

Nicolae Kovács Nicolae Kovács ( hu, Kovács Miklós, sometimes rendered as ''Nicolae Covaci'', 29 December 1911 – 7 July 1977) was a Romanian-Hungarian football player and coach. He was a dual international football player and played both for Romania and H ...

, who was one of the five players who participated at all three

World Cups A world cup is a global sporting competition in which the participant entities – usually international teams or individuals representing their countries – compete for the title of world champion. The event most associated with the concept i ...

before the Second World War. Kovács had his first major coaching successes at the helm of Steaua București, where he won between 1967 and 1971 once the championship and three times the cup of Romania. After this he succeeded

Rinus Michels Marinus Jacobus Hendricus Michels (; 9 February 1928 – 3 March 2005) was a Dutch football player and coach. He played his entire career for AFC Ajax, which he later managed, and played for and later managed the Netherlands national team ...

as the head of

Ajax Ajax may refer to: Greek mythology and tragedy * Ajax the Great, a Greek mythological hero, son of King Telamon and Periboea * Ajax the Lesser, a Greek mythological hero, son of Oileus, the king of Locris * ''Ajax'' (play), by the ancient Greek ...

in 1971, continuing and expanding on his " total football" philosophy. With Ajax he achieved in 1972 and 1973, two consecutive European Champions Cups. In 1972, he even won the Intercontinental Cup and also the first edition of European Supercup (1973). Further to that he led Ajax to the double of cup and championship in 1972 and another national championship in 1973. After he left Ajax in 1973, he was called up by the

French football federation The French Football Federation ( FFF; french: Fédération Française de Football) is the governing body of football in France. It also includes the overseas departments ( Guadeloupe, French Guiana, Martinique, Mayotte and Réunion), the over ...

to take the reins of the national side. In this position he raised the young generations of French talents. Journalists of ''

'' asked him when he arrived how long it would take to make the France team a great team, he replied visionary ''with structures in eight years, ten years, we can make a good national team.''

Michel Hidalgo Michel François Hidalgo (22 March 1933 – 26 March 2020) was a French professional football player, footballer and Manager (association football), manager. He was the head coach of the France national football team, French national team from 1 ...

, his deputy and successor, took advantage of this work and continued to lead the team of France to its victory at Euro 84. Kovács remains the only foreign manager of the French national side. After this episode, he returned to Romania becoming its national team coach. Later he had further successes with

Panathinaikos Panathinaikos Athlitikos Omilos ( el, Παναθηναϊκός Αθλητικός Όμιλος, literally in English: "Panathenaic Athletic Club" or Panathinaikos A.C.), also known simply as Panathinaikós , is a major Greek multi-sport club ba ...

and

Monaco Monaco (; ), officially the Principality of Monaco (french: Principauté de Monaco; Ligurian: ; oc, Principat de Mónegue), is a sovereign city-state and microstate on the French Riviera a few kilometres west of the Italian region of Lig ...

. He died on 12 May 1995, twelve days before Ajax won their fourth European Cup.

Managerial honours

Club

*Universitatea Cluj **

Divizia B The Liga 2, most often spelled as Liga II, is the second level of the Romanian football league system. The league changed its name from Divizia B just before the start of the 2006–07. It is currently sponsored by Casa Pariurilor, a betting c ...

: 1957–58 *Steaua București **

Divizia A The Liga I (; ''First League''), also spelled as Liga 1, is a Romanian professional league for men's association football clubs. Currently sponsored by betting company Superbet, it is officially known as the SuperLiga. It is the country's top ...

: 1967–68 **

Romanian Cup Romanian may refer to: *anything of, from, or related to the country and nation of Romania **Romanians, an ethnic group **Romanian language, a Romance language *** Romanian dialects, variants of the Romanian language ** Romanian cuisine, tradition ...

: 1968–69, 1969–70 *Ajax **

Eredivisie The Eredivisie (; ''"Honour Division"'' or ''"Premier Division"'') is the highest level of professional football in the Netherlands. The league was founded in 1956, two years after the start of professional football in the Netherlands. It is c ...

: 1971–72, 1972–73 **

KNVB Cup The KNVB Beker (; en, KNVB Cup), branded as the TOTO KNVB Beker for sponsorship reasons, is a competition in the Netherlands organized by the Royal Dutch Football Association (KNVB) since 1898. It was based on the format of the English FA Cup. Ou ...

: 1971–72 **

European Cup The UEFA Champions League (abbreviated as UCL, or sometimes, UEFA CL) is an annual club football competition organised by the Union of European Football Associations (UEFA) and contested by top-division European clubs, deciding the competit ...

: 1971–72, 1972–73 ** European Super Cup:

1972 Within the context of Coordinated Universal Time (UTC) it was the longest year ever, as two leap seconds were added during this 366-day year, an event which has not since been repeated. (If its start and end are defined using Solar time, me ...

** Intercontinental Cup:

*Panathinaikos **

Greek Cup The Greek Football Cup ( el, Κύπελλο Ελλάδος Ποδοσφαίρου), commonly known as the Greek Cup or Kypello Elladas is a Greek football competition, run by the Hellenic Football Federation. The Greek Cup is the second most ...

: 1981–82

Individual

* World Soccer 36th Greatest Manager of All Time: 2013 *

43rd Greatest Manager of All Time: 2019

Bibliography

Notes

References

External links

French Football Federation Profile

Stefan Kovacs
at WeAreFootball
Stefan Kovacs
at Labtof {{DEFAULTSORT:Kovacs, Stefan 1920 births 1995 deaths Romanian sportspeople of Hungarian descent Sportspeople from Timișoara Romanian footballers Association football midfielders CA Timișoara players CA Oradea players R. Olympic Charleroi Châtelet Farciennes players FC Ripensia Timișoara players CFR Cluj players FC Universitatea Cluj players Liga I players Liga II players Liga III players Belgian First Division A players Romanian expatriate footballers Romanian expatriate sportspeople in Belgium Expatriate footballers in Belgium Romanian football managers FC Universitatea Cluj managers CFR Cluj managers FC Steaua București managers AFC Ajax managers France national football team managers Romania national football team managers Panathinaikos F.C. managers AS Monaco FC managers Eredivisie managers Super League Greece managers Ligue 1 managers UEFA Champions League winning managers Romanian expatriate football managers Romanian expatriate sportspeople in the Netherlands Romanian expatriate sportspeople in France Romanian expatriate sportspeople in Monaco Romanian expatriate sportspeople in Greece Expatriate football managers in the Netherlands Expatriate football managers in France Expatriate football managers in Monaco Expatriate football managers in Greece