Csaba László (born 13 February 1964) is a Romanian–Hungarian professional football

manager Management (or managing) is the administration of an organization, whether it is a business, a nonprofit organization, or a government body. It is the art and science of managing resources of the business. Management includes the activities ...

and a former midfielder who last worked as the head coach of

Indian Super League The Indian Super League (ISL) is an Indian professional league for men's association football clubs. At the top of the Indian football league system, it is the country's primary football competition. Organised by the All India Football Federat ...

club

Chennaiyin FC Chennaiyin Football Club is an Indian professional football club based in Chennai, Tamil Nadu. The club competes in the Indian Super League, the top flight of Indian football. The club was founded in August 2014 during the inaugural season o ...

. He worked as the manager of Hungarian

Nemzeti Bajnokság I The Nemzeti Bajnokság (, "National Championship"), also known as NB I, is the top level of the Hungarian football league system. The league is officially named OTP Bank Liga after its title sponsor OTP Bank. UEFA currently ranks the league 28th ...

club

MTK Budapest Magyar Testgyakorlók Köre is a multi-sports club from Budapest, founded in 1888. It has sections for football, handball, basketball, volleyball, futsal, ice hockey, water polo, cycling, gymnastics, athletics, fencing, canoeing, boxing, wrestlin ...

Belgian Pro League The Belgian Pro League,(officially the Jupiler Pro League due to sponsorship reasons with Jupiler), is the top league competition for association football clubs in Belgium. Contested by 18 clubs since the 2020–21 season and reduced to 16 tea ...

club Charleroi SC and of Scottish Premier League club Heart of Midlothian. Previously, he spent his time in managing career at

Ferencvárosi TC Ferencvárosi Torna Club, known as Ferencváros (), Fradi, or simply FTC, is a professional football club based in Ferencváros, Budapest, Hungary, that competes in the Nemzeti Bajnokság I, the top flight of Hungarian football. Ferencváros ...

FC Sopron FC Sopron was a Hungarian football club from the town of Sopron, near the Austrian border. It was founded in 1921 as ''Soproni Postás''. The club's home stadium is Stadion Városi with a capacity of 5,300. With the beginning of the season 200 ...

and the

Uganda }), is a landlocked country in East Africa. The country is bordered to the east by Kenya, to the north by South Sudan, to the west by the Democratic Republic of the Congo, to the south-west by Rwanda, and to the south by Tanzania. The sou ...

and Lithuania national teams and Slovak First Division club

Dunajská Streda Dunajská Streda (; hu, Dunaszerdahely; german: Niedermarkt; he, דונהסרדהיי) is a town located in southern Slovakia ( Trnavský kraj). Dunajská Streda is the most culturally significant town in the Žitný ostrov area. The town has a ...

Playing career

László played for a number of clubs in Romania, Hungary and

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 ...

including

Bayer 05 Uerdingen KFC Uerdingen 05 is a Football in Germany, German football club in the Uerdingen district of the city of Krefeld, North Rhine-Westphalia. The former Bundesliga side enjoyed its greatest successes in the 1980s but now plays in the fifth-level Obe ...

, Volán FC and

BVSC Budapest Budapesti Vasutas Sport Club-Zugló is a professional football club based in Zugló, Budapest, Hungary, that competes in the Nemzeti Bajnokság III. The club was founded in 1911. Its football section became closed in 2001, but has now reopened, ...

but has never played at the highest level. He was forced to retire at age 27 due to a knee injury.

Managerial career

László started coaching in Germany with BW Kerpen. He then coached at Tus Grevenbroich and Borussia Mönchengladbach's B team. He discovered players of the calibre of Marcell Jansen, Eugen Polanski and Tobias Levels during his spell as Borussia's Youth Coach.

Hungary national team

László joined the coaching staff at the Hungary national team, where he was assistant coach to

Lothar Matthäus Lothar Herbert Matthäus (; born 21 March 1961) is a German football pundit and former professional player and manager. After captaining West Germany to victory in the 1990 FIFA World Cup where he lifted the World Cup trophy, he was awarded the ...

in January 2004. He was instrumental for Matthäus as he did not have any knowledge of Hungarian football. The Hungary national team played the World Cup qualifications games for Germany 2006. During his time, the national team achieved good results and showed signs of improvement.

Ferencváros

In June 2004 László was appointed as the manager of

Hungarian league Hungarian may refer to: * Hungary, a country in Central Europe * Kingdom of Hungary, state of Hungary, existing between 1000 and 1946 * Hungarians, ethnic groups in Hungary * Hungarian algorithm, a polynomial time algorithm for solving the assignm ...

side

where he defeated Albanian Superliga side KF Tirana in the Champions League in 2004 before being eliminated by

Sparta Prague ) but refer to Spartans as "''Rudí''" ( en, The Dark Reds/The Maroons).'' Letenští'' , ground = Generali Česká pojišťovna Arena , capacity = 19,416 , clubname = Sparta Prague , image = Sparta Praha logo.png , image_size = 160px , fu ...

. Ferencváros were then dropped into the

UEFA Cup A cup is an open-top used to hold hot or cold liquids for pouring or drinking; while mainly used for drinking, it also can be used to store solids for pouring (e.g., sugar, flour, grains, salt). Cups may be made of glass, metal, china, clay ...

, where they defeated

Millwall Millwall is a district on the western and southern side of the Isle of Dogs, in east London, England, in the London Borough of Tower Hamlets. It lies to the immediate south of Canary Wharf and Limehouse, north of Greenwich and Deptford, eas ...

and Heart of Midlothian, and earned a 1–1 draw with

Feyenoord Feyenoord Rotterdam () is a Dutch professional football club (association football), football club in Rotterdam, which plays in the Eredivisie, the top tier in Dutch football. Founded as Wilhelmina in 1908, the club changed to various names bef ...

. His success in Europe earned him the 2005 ''Hungarian Coach of the Year'' award. When Ferencváros ran into financial trouble in 2006, he left to join

. He lasted only a matter of months at Sopron and left to become manager of the Uganda national squad later that year.

Uganda

After László's appointment as a head coach of

, they missed out on qualification for the African Cup of Nations in Ghana 2008, on goal difference, in favour of Sudan. Under his guidance, Uganda jumped from 181 to 91 in the FIFA ranking, after a year in charge. Uganda beat rivals

Nigeria Nigeria ( ), , ig, Naìjíríyà, yo, Nàìjíríà, pcm, Naijá , ff, Naajeeriya, kcg, Naijeriya officially the Federal Republic of Nigeria, is a country in West Africa. It is situated between the Sahel to the north and the Gulf o ...

and

Angola , national_anthem = " Angola Avante"() , image_map = , map_caption = , capital = Luanda , religion = , religion_year = 2020 , religion_ref = , coordina ...

for the first time in history and in December 2007, they finished third in the

CECAFA Cup The CECAFA Cup, is the oldest football tournament in Africa. It is organized by the Council for East and Central Africa Football Associations ( CECAFA). A FIFA competition, it includes participants of football playing national teams from the East ...

. During his reign as Uganda national coach, players such Ibrahim Sekagya, Noah Kasule and David Obua managed to sign lucrative contracts abroad. László became a cult hero in Uganda. He was nicknamed "The Miracle Man" by the African press.

Hearts

He was appointed as manager of Scottish Premier League side Heart of Midlothian on 11 July 2008. His first signing came on 20 July 2008 when he signed David Obua, who was a vital member of his Uganda side, on a free transfer from South African club Kaizer Chiefs. In his first season with Hearts, Laszlo guided the team to a third-place finish in the Scottish Premier League and qualification for the inaugural

UEFA Europa League The UEFA Europa League (abbreviated as UEL, or sometimes, UEFA EL), formerly the UEFA Cup, is an annual football club competition organised since 1971 by the Union of European Football Associations (UEFA) for eligible European football clubs. ...

. Laszlo was subsequently named 'Manager of the Year' by both the

Scottish Football Writers' Association The Scottish Football Writers' Association (SFWA) is an association of Scottish football journalists and correspondents writing for newspapers and agencies. It was founded in 1965. Awards __NOTOC__ Every year the SFWA presents awards to outsta ...

and the Scottish Premier League itself. Surprisingly, László was sacked as Hearts manager on 29 January 2010. Even though he was Hearts manager for only 18 months, László held the position longer than any other coach during

Vladimir Romanov Vladimir Nikolayevich Romanov ( rus, Владимир Николаевич Романов, p=vlɐˈdʲimʲɪr nʲɪkɐˈlaɪvʲɪtɕ rɐˈmanəf, lt, Vladimiras Romanovas; born 15 June 1947)

's ownership of the club. On 23 September 2010, Laszlo was confirmed as coach of

team R. Charleroi S.C. In 2012 he was appointed as head coach of the Lithuania national team. In September 2013, László resigned after poor results.

MTK Budapest

appointed László as head coach in 2015. Under his guidance, MTK led the Hungarian league for several weeks despite having one of the lowest budgets and youngest squads in the league. During the winter break in Turkey, several disagreements about the transfer policy with the club's board led to László being let go by the club. MTK went on to qualify for European competition at the end of the season.

Dunajská Streda

On 20 October 2016, László was appointed as a head coach of

Slovak Super Liga The Slovak Super Liga is the top level football league in Slovakia, currently known as the Fortuna Liga due to a sponsorship arrangement. It was formed in 1993 following the dissolution of Czechoslovakia. The record for most titles is eleven, he ...

team

When László took over at the Slovak club, they were bottom of the league. He transformed Dunajská Streda into a winning team and managed to take them out of the relegation zone, in an incredible come back that saw them narrowly miss a place in the Europa League. He guided his team to a record-breaking 16 unbeaten games, which is a new record in the Slovak Super Liga.

Dundee United

László returned to Scottish football in November 2017 as

Dundee United Dundee United Football Club is a Scottish professional football club based in the city of Dundee. The club name is usually abbreviated to Dundee United. Formed in 1909, originally as Dundee Hibernian, the club changed to the present name in 1 ...

manager. United finished third in the

2017–18 Scottish Championship The 2017–18 Scottish Championship (known as the Ladbrokes Championship for sponsorship reasons) was the 24th season in the current format of 10 teams in the second tier of Scottish football. The fixtures were published on 23 June 2017. Ten tea ...

, but then lost in the promotion playoffs to Livingston. Following a 5–1 home defeat to Ross County, László left Dundee United on 30 September 2018.

Sepsi OSK

On 29 May 2019, László was appointed new head coach of Sepsi OSK. Under his leadership, Sepsi was able to win only two of the 16 league matches, which led to his dismissal on 12 November 2019.

Chennaiyin FC

On 29 August 2020, László was appointed manager of

side

for 2020–21 season. On He won his first game as manager of Chennaiyin FC against

Jamshedpur FC Jamshedpur Football Club (, ) is an Indian professional football club based in Jamshedpur, Jharkhand, that competes in the Indian Super League, the top flight of Indian Football. Founded in 2017, the club debuted in Indian Super League during ...

. He was sacked by the club on 10 April 2021 for the poor run.

FK Csíkszereda

On 19 September 2022, László was appointed professional director of

Liga II 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 ...

side FK Csíkszereda for the 2022–23 season with an optional extension.

Personal life

László is of Székely origin. He is married with two children and studied in the Public Secondary School in

Odorheiu Secuiesc Odorheiu Secuiesc (; hu, Székelyudvarhely, ; german: Odorhellen) is the second largest municipality in Harghita County, Transylvania, Romania. In its short form, it is also known as ''Odorhei'' in Romanian and ''Udvarhely'' in Hungarian. The Hun ...

, Romania and in the university extension in Hoghia, Romania. He speaks four languages:

English English usually refers to: * English language * English people English may also refer to: Peoples, culture, and language * ''English'', an adjective for something of, from, or related to England ** English national ide ...

German German(s) may refer to: * Germany (of or related to) ** Germania (historical use) * Germans, citizens of Germany, people of German ancestry, or native speakers of the German language ** For citizens of Germany, see also German nationality law **Ge ...

, Hungarian and

Romanian 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 ...

. Being part of an ethnic minority while growing up in Communist Romania, he was forced to listen to Hungarian football matches on the radio in secret as foreign radio broadcasts were banned. He said, about this: "''Life under the regime was brutal. It was especially hard on us Hungarians living there. We used to secretly listen to

Ferencváros Ferencváros () is the 9th district of Budapest ( hu, Budapest IX. kerülete), Hungary. Name The southern suburb of Pest was named after King Francis I on 4 December 1792 when he was crowned king of Hungary. History The development of Fe ...

matches on the radio''". László started working at

Ford Ford commonly refers to: * Ford Motor Company, an automobile manufacturer founded by Henry Ford * Ford (crossing), a shallow crossing on a river Ford may also refer to: Ford Motor Company * Henry Ford, founder of the Ford Motor Company * Ford F ...

in Germany in 1987. He was still working there during his time as assistant coach to

at the Hungary national team.

Managerial statistics

Honours

*Manager of the Year in Hungary: 2003–04. by the Hungarian Football Association *Manager of the Year in Scotland: 2008–09. by the Scottish Football Writers' Association and the Scottish Premier League

References

External links