Attila Abonyi (born 16 August 1946 in

Budapest Budapest (, ; ) is the capital and most populous city of Hungary. It is the ninth-largest city in the European Union by population within city limits and the second-largest city on the Danube river; the city has an estimated population ...

) is a former Hungarian-born Australian soccer manager and player and played for the Australia national team. Abonyi made his senior international debut for Australia in 1967 at age 20, and had earned 61 caps, including appearing in the

1974 World Cup The 1974 FIFA World Cup was the tenth FIFA World Cup, a quadrennial football tournament for men's senior national teams, and was played in West Germany (and West Berlin) between 13 June and 7 July. The tournament marked the first time that the ...

; Australia's first entry into the

World Cup 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 ...

. In his first nine matches for Australia, he scored eleven goals all coming from the 1967 South Vietnam Independence Cup. He scored his first of three international goals against

New Zealand New Zealand ( mi, Aotearoa ) is an island country in the southwestern Pacific Ocean. It consists of two main landmasses—the North Island () and the South Island ()—and over 700 smaller islands. It is the sixth-largest island count ...

in November 1967.

Early life

Attila Abonyi was born and raised in

Hungary Hungary ( hu, Magyarország ) is a landlocked country in Central Europe. Spanning of the Pannonian Basin, Carpathian Basin, it is bordered by Slovakia to the north, Ukraine to the northeast, Romania to the east and southeast, Serbia to the ...

. Abonyi did not play regular football in Hungary, as he could not play junior competitive football until the age of twelve. He migrated from Budapest to

Melbourne Melbourne ( ; Boonwurrung/Woiwurrung: ''Narrm'' or ''Naarm'') is the capital and most populous city of the Australian state of Victoria, and the second-most populous city in both Australia and Oceania. Its name generally refers to a met ...

at age 10 after the

Hungarian Revolution of 1956 The Hungarian Revolution of 1956 (23 October – 10 November 1956; hu, 1956-os forradalom), also known as the Hungarian Uprising, was a countrywide revolution against the government of the Hungarian People's Republic (1949–1989) and the Hunga ...

.Forward Thinking
He started playing for the St Kilda junior club when he turned 11 years old. He moved to his home club

Melbourne Hungaria Melbourne Hungaria Soccer Club was an Australian association football club that was based in Melbourne, Victoria. The club was founded by Hungarian migrants in 1957 and quickly became one of the strongest football clubs in Australia in the 1960s ...

at age 14 until he made the senior team in 1962.

Club career

Born in Hungary, he took up football after emigrating to Australia at age 10 in 1957. Attila played his senior debut for

in 1962 at 15 years of age in the old Victorian State League. In 1967 Abonyi was a key player in helping the club achieve their first ever State League title. He was the top goalscorer for that season with 31 goals in 29 games, and he scored the goal that won them the title. In that same year Abonyi was man of the match in helping Melbourne Hungaria win the Australian Cup, with a hat-trick, to defeat the favoured

APIA Leichhardt APIA Leichhardt Football Club, also known simply as APIA (Associazione Poli-sportiva Italo Australiana), is a semi-professional soccer club based in the suburb of Leichhardt, New South Wales, Leichhardt in Sydney, Australia. The club was formed ...

4-3 in extra-time. This turned out to be his final season with Melbourne Hungaria. He moved to Sydney and joined St. George-Budapest between 1969 and 1976 where he was part of three NSW State League titles, before finishing his career with Sydney Croatia between 1977 and 1979. In June 1975, Abonyi made a guest appearance for a touring Manchester United side, coming on as a substitute for

David McCreery David McCreery (born 16 September 1957) is a Northern Irish former international footballer who played professionally for Newcastle United and many other clubs during his long career. He mostly played in midfield, but was very versatile, and ...

against

Queensland ) , nickname = Sunshine State , image_map = Queensland in Australia.svg , map_caption = Location of Queensland in Australia , subdivision_type = Country , subdivision_name = Australia , established_title = Before federation , establishe ...

. He scored United's third goal in a 3–0 win.

International career

Abonyi made his debut for Australia in May 1967 when he played against

Scotland Scotland (, ) is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. Covering the northern third of the island of Great Britain, mainland Scotland has a Anglo-Scottish border, border with England to the southeast ...

. The national team traveled to Vietnam for a friendship tournament where scored a hat-trick on debut against

, and then scored another hat-trick in his second match against

Singapore Singapore (), officially the Republic of Singapore, is a sovereign island country and city-state in maritime Southeast Asia. It lies about one degree of latitude () north of the equator, off the southern tip of the Malay Peninsula, bor ...

a few days later. He is well known for being a member of the

Australian Australian(s) may refer to: Australia * Australia, a country * Australians, citizens of the Commonwealth of Australia ** European Australians ** Anglo-Celtic Australians, Australians descended principally from British colonists ** Aboriginal A ...

squad in

West Germany West Germany is the colloquial term used to indicate the Federal Republic of Germany (FRG; german: Bundesrepublik Deutschland , BRD) between its formation on 23 May 1949 and the German reunification through the accession of East Germany on 3 O ...

and also represented

New South Wales ) , nickname = , image_map = New South Wales in Australia.svg , map_caption = Location of New South Wales in AustraliaCoordinates: , subdivision_type = Country , subdivision_name = Australia , established_title = Before federation , es ...

and

Victoria Victoria most commonly refers to: * Victoria (Australia), a state of the Commonwealth of Australia * Victoria, British Columbia, provincial capital of British Columbia, Canada * Victoria (mythology), Roman goddess of Victory * Victoria, Seychelle ...

. He scored 25 international goals for Australia in 61 games between 1967 and 1977 making him tied as the fifth highest goal scorer for Australia. He made a total of 88 appearances for Australia and scored 36 goals.

Managerial career

After retiring in 1979 Abonyi switched to coaching at the state level after taking on the player-coach for the 1978 and 1979 seasons. Sydney Croatia won the minor premierships in those two years. Abonyi then moved to Melita as a coach only, where they won the minor premiership and lost the grand final. He was then offered a full-time job with Riverwood, the only full-time coaching position in the state league at the time. In his first season they finished seventh and then runners-up in 1982 on goal difference to Sydney Croatia. He moved to Canberra in 1983 and coached Canberra City in the National Soccer League (NSL). For the 1984 season Sydney Croatia in their first season in the NSL offered Abonyi the head coach position, which he accepted (as his family had remained in Sydney). He was sacked halfway through the season because of poor results and high expectations by the board. In 1987 and 1988 and assisted

Frank Arok Ferenc "Frank" Arok ( hu, Árok Ferenc; 20 January 1932 – 12 January 2021) was a Yugoslavian-Australian ethnic Hungarian association football player and coach. Career Arok played for FK Jedinstvo in Yugoslavia during the 1950s before coach ...

at St. George who were in the NSL. After the 1988 season, Abonyi moved away from Sydney and football (soccer).

Honours

; Melbourne Hungaria *

Victorian State League The National Premier Leagues Victoria, commonly known as NPL Victoria, is a semi-professional soccer league in Victoria, Australia. The league is a part of the National Premier Leagues, and is the highest level within the Victorian soccer leagu ...

Championship: 1967 * Australia Cup:

1967 Events January * January 1 – Canada begins a year-long celebration of the 100th anniversary of Confederation, featuring the Expo 67 World's Fair. * January 5 ** Spain and Romania sign an agreement in Paris, establishing full consular and ...

; St George-Budapest *

NSW State League The NSW League Three Men is a defunct regional Australian semi-professional association football league comprising teams from New South Wales. The league was sits at Level 4 on the New South Wales league system (Level 5 of the overall Australian ...

Premiership: 1972, 1976 *

Championship: 1971, 1974, 1975 ; Sydney Croatia *

Premiership: 1977, 1978, 1989 *

Championship: 1977 Abonyi Place in the Sydney suburb of Glenwood is named for him. Abonyi made a lap of honour on the MCG at half time of the 1998 World Cup qualifier against

Iran Iran, officially the Islamic Republic of Iran, and also called Persia, is a country located in Western Asia. It is bordered by Iraq and Turkey to the west, by Azerbaijan and Armenia to the northwest, by the Caspian Sea and Turkmeni ...

Personal life

Abonyi now lives in Coffs Harbour on the north coast of New South Wales.

Career statistics

Club

International

References

External links

Australian Players Database
at Ozfootball. {{DEFAULTSORT:Abonyi, Attila 1946 births Living people Footballers from Budapest Hungarian emigrants to Australia Australian soccer players Australia international soccer players 1974 FIFA World Cup players Parramatta FC managers Sydney United 58 FC players Parramatta FC players Association football wingers Australian soccer coaches Sydney United 58 FC managers