Illés Spitz (
Serbo-Croatian
Serbo-Croatian () – also called Serbo-Croat (), Serbo-Croat-Bosnian (SCB), Bosnian-Croatian-Serbian (BCS), and Bosnian-Croatian-Montenegrin-Serbian (BCMS) – is a South Slavic language and the primary language of Serbia, Croatia, Bosnia an ...
: Ilješ Špic / Иљeш Шпиц,
Bulgarian
Bulgarian may refer to:
* Something of, from, or related to the country of Bulgaria
* Bulgarians, a South Slavic ethnic group
* Bulgarian language, a Slavic language
* Bulgarian alphabet
* A citizen of Bulgaria, see Demographics of Bulgaria
* Bul ...
and
Macedonian: Илеш Шпиц); 2 February 1902 – 1 October 1961) was a
Hungarian Jew
The history of the Jews in Hungary dates back to at least the Kingdom of Hungary, with some records even predating the Hungarian conquest of the Carpathian Basin in 895 CE by over 600 years. Written sources prove that Jewish communities lived ...
ish international
football player and manager, best known for his work in Yugoslav football in the 1940s and 1950s. Spitz is among the few survivors of the Holocaust from Macedonia, after being saved by the Bulgarian authorities.
Playing career
Illés was part of the
Újpest FC
Újpest Football Club () is a Hungarian professional football club, based in Újpest, Budapest, that competes in Nemzeti Bajnokság I.
Formed in 1885, Újpest reached the first division of the Hungarian League in 1905 and has been relegat ...
's first "golden era" helping the club win the
Coupe des Nations 1930
Coupe des Nations 1930 ( en, Cup of Nations) was a football tournament in the summer of 1930 in Geneva, Switzerland, organized by local club Servette FC. Servette had just won the Swiss championship, and organized this event as a counterpoint to ...
and three championships.
[Illés Spitz](_blank)
at nela.hu In 1935 he moved to Switzerland where he played one season in
FC St. Gallen
Fussballclub St. Gallen 1879, commonly known as St. Gallen, is a Swiss professional football club based in the city of St. Gallen, Canton of St. Gallen. As of the 2022–23 season, the team competes in the Swiss Super League.
History
Founde ...
and another in
FC Zürich
Fussballclub Zürich, commonly abbreviated to FC Zürich or simply FCZ, is a Swiss football club based in Zürich. The club was founded in 1896 and has won the Swiss Super League 13 times and the Swiss Cup 10 times. The most recent titles a ...
. During his playing career he played over 1,000 matches and scored over 600 goals.
Spitz also played a total of six matches for the
Hungary national football team
The Hungary national football team ( hu, magyar labdarúgó-válogatott) represents Hungary in men's international Association football, football and is controlled by the Hungarian Football Federation. The team has made 9 appearances in the FIF ...
, having scored three goals.
Managerial career
After finishing his playing career in Switzerland, Illés moved to Yugoslavia where he had a long managerial career. In 1937 he took charge of
HNK Hajduk Split, one of the dominant clubs of the
Yugoslav Championship. Despite not winning any titles during his two-year spell there, he is remembered in Split for having formed the generation that wwould later win the Croatian League in the
1940–41 season and end the years of disappointment the club had during the 1930s.
[Biography](_blank)
in HNK Hajduk Split official website
In 1939 he moved to
Gragjanski Skopje
Gragjanski Skopje ( mk, Гpaѓaнcки Скопје, en, FC Citizens Skopje, sh, Građanski Skoplje) was a football club from Skoplje, Yugoslavia (now Skopje, North Macedonia). The club's major achievements were the two participations in the Ro ...
, the top
Macedonian club at the time, which played in the regional
Serbian League
The Serbian League () is the third level football league in Serbia. It consists of four groups, namely Belgrade, East, Vojvodina, and West. The winner of each group earns promotion to the Serbian First League.
History
1992–1995
In the summer of ...
, which served as a qualifier for the final stage of the Yugoslav national championship.
In 1941 with the beginning of the
Second World War
World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposi ...
, the region of
Vardarska Banovina
The Vardar Banovina, or Vardar Banate ( mk, Вардарска бановина, Vardarska banovina; sr, Вардарска бановина, translit=Vardarska Banovina; al, Banovina e Vardarit, italics=no), was a province (banate) of the King ...
where Gragjanski was located, was annexed by
Bulgaria
Bulgaria (; bg, България, Bǎlgariya), officially the Republic of Bulgaria,, ) is a country in Southeast Europe. It is situated on the eastern flank of the Balkans, and is bordered by Romania to the north, Serbia and North Macedo ...
, and the club was merged with other city clubs to form
Macedonia Skopje. Spitz remained at the helm at the reformed club, along with most of players of Gragjanski, some even going on to become Bulgarian internationals. The club competed in the
Bulgarian Championship
The First Professional Football League ( bg, Първа професионална футболна лига, Parva Profesionalna Futbolna Liga), also known as the Bulgarian First League or Parva Liga, currently known as the efbet League for spon ...
, which was played in a knockout tournament format. In the
1942 season Spitz managed to take Macedonia Skopje club to the league final, where they lost to
Levski Sofia
Levski Sofia ( bg, Левски София) is a Bulgarian professional association football club based in Sofia, which competes in the First League, the top division of the Bulgarian football league system. The club was founded on 24 May 1914 ...
in October that year.
In March 1943, Spitz was arrested by Bulgarian authorities and because of his Jewish descent was put on a train to
Treblinka extermination camp
Treblinka () was an extermination camp, built and operated by Nazi Germany in occupied Poland during World War II. It was in a forest north-east of Warsaw, south of the village of Treblinka in what is now the Masovian Voivodeship. The camp ...
in eastern Poland. However, he was rescued by the club's executives
Dimitar Chkatrov
Dimitar Chkatrov was Bulgarian activist in Vardar Macedonia. He was born in Prilep, then in the Ottoman Empire in 1900. Chkatrov began to study at the Bulgarian primary school in his hometown, but after the establishment of Serbian rule following ...
and
Dimitar Gyuzelov
Dimitar Gyuzelov ( bg, Димитър Гюзелов, ) was a Macedonian Bulgarians, Macedonian Bulgarian revolutionary and philosopher.''National Liberation Struggle in Macedonia, 1919 - 1941,'' the Collective IC "Knowledge", Sofia (1998), p 166- ...
. They took immediate actions after his arrest and succeeded in having Spitz taken down from the train near
Surdulica
Surdulica ( sr-cyr, Сурдулица) is a town and municipality located in the Pčinja District of southern Serbia. As of 2011, the population of the town is 11,400, while the municipality has 20,319 inhabitants.
History
Historically, the tow ...
in southern Serbia.
[A report in the Macedonian newspaper ''Dnevnik'' from 18 April 2008, says that the chairman of FC Macedonia, Dimitar Chkatrov, and a member of managinf board, Dimitar Gyuzelov, "took immediate action for the rescuing of Spitz after his arrest." He reportedly "never complained about the thing that happened to him" in later years, but was sincerely and lastingly thankful to the people from Skopje, who saved his life. "He kept silent, because he probably knew who rescued his life and under what circumstances." ''Dnevnik'' reports that "the saviors of Spitz, the chairman of the club Dimitar Chkatrov and the member of the board of the directors Dimitar Gyuzelev were later proclaimed national traitors in 1945 in SR Macedonia, and were sentenced to death by the Yugoslav communist authorities as Bulgarian collaborators.]
At the end of the war, the region returned to Yugoslavia. However, the country was no longer a monarchy, and the new communist authorities disbanded most existing clubs to create new ones. Spitz stayed in Skopje until 1946, but then the newly formed
FK Partizan
Fudbalski klub Partizan ( sr-Cyrl, Фудбалски клуб Партизан, ; en, Partizan Football Club), sometimes known as Partizan Belgrade in English, is a Serbia, Serbian professional football club (association football), football ...
in
Belgrade - officially established as the club sponsored by the
Yugoslav People's Army
The Yugoslav People's Army (abbreviated as JNA/; Macedonian and sr-Cyrl-Latn, Југословенска народна армија, Jugoslovenska narodna armija; Croatian and bs, Jugoslavenska narodna armija; sl, Jugoslovanska ljudska ar ...
(JNA) - was recruiting the best players from all over the country, and Spitz was brought in from Skopje, along with the star player
Kiril Simonovski
Kiril Simonovski (Macedonian: Кирил Симоновски; 19 October 1915 – 12 June 1984) was a Macedonian footballer. He played top league football for Gragjanski Skopje, Macedonia Skopje, FK Vardar and FK Partizan.
Playing career Clu ...
.
Spitz was successful in his job as the first manager of Partizan in the 1940s, winning two
Yugoslav First League
The Yugoslav First Federal Football League ( Serbian: Прва савезна лига у фудбалу / ''Prva savezna liga u fudbalu'', hr, Prva savezna liga u nogometu, sl, Prva zvezna nogometna liga, mk, Прва сојузна лига, ...
titles and three
Yugoslav Cup
The Yugoslav Cup ( hr, Pokal Jugoslavije; sr, Куп Југославије; sl, Pokal Jugoslavije, mk, Куп на Југославија), officially known between 1923 and 1940 as the King Alexander Cup ( sh-Latn-Cyrl, Kup kralja Aleksandra, ...
s.
He later manager a smaller Belgrade side,
FK Radnički Beograd
FK Radnički Beograd (Serbian Cyrillic: ФК Раднички Београд) is a Serbian football club based in New Belgrade.
The club is often referred to as FK Radnički Novi Beograd, although the club is officially named simply as FK Radn ...
and took them to the Yugoslav cup final in 1957.
By 1960 Spitz led his teams in the Yugoslav cup final a total of seven times, more than
any other manager.
In 1960, he returned to Skopje to coach the city's new top-flight team,
FK Vardar, and it was in the dressing room, after a league match, that he suddenly died from a heart attack on 1 October 1961.
Honours
As player:
* Újpest FC
**
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 ...
:
1929-30,
1930-31
**
Coupe des Nations 1930
Coupe des Nations 1930 ( en, Cup of Nations) was a football tournament in the summer of 1930 in Geneva, Switzerland, organized by local club Servette FC. Servette had just won the Swiss championship, and organized this event as a counterpoint to ...
**
Mitropa Cup
The Mitropa Cup, officially called the La Coupe de l'Europe Centrale or Central European Cup, was one of the first international major European football cups for club sides. It was conducted among the successor states of the former Austria-Hunga ...
:
1929
This year marked the end of a period known in American history as the Roaring Twenties after the Wall Street Crash of 1929 ushered in a worldwide Great Depression. In the Americas, an agreement was brokered to end the Cristero War, a Catholic ...
As manager:
* Partizan
**
Yugoslav First Federal League winner:
1946–47,
1948–49
**
Yugoslav Football Cup winner: 1947,
1952
Events January–February
* January 26 – Black Saturday in Egypt: Rioters burn Cairo's central business district, targeting British and upper-class Egyptian businesses.
* February 6
** Princess Elizabeth, Duchess of Edinburgh, becomes m ...
,
1954
* Vardar Skopje
**
Yugoslav Cup
The Yugoslav Cup ( hr, Pokal Jugoslavije; sr, Куп Југославије; sl, Pokal Jugoslavije, mk, Куп на Југославија), officially known between 1923 and 1940 as the King Alexander Cup ( sh-Latn-Cyrl, Kup kralja Aleksandra, ...
:
1961
Events January
* January 3
** United States President Dwight D. Eisenhower announces that the United States has severed diplomatic and consular relations with Cuba (Cuba–United States relations are restored in 2015).
** Aero Flight 311 (K ...
References
External sources
Short career storyat Nogometni leksikon
{{DEFAULTSORT:Spitz, Illes
1902 births
1961 deaths
Hungarian men's footballers
Hungary men's international footballers
Hungarian football managers
Men's association football forwards
Újpest FC players
FC St. Gallen players
FC Zürich players
Expatriate men's footballers in Switzerland
Hungarian expatriate sportspeople in Switzerland
Expatriate football managers in Croatia
Hungarian expatriate sportspeople in Yugoslavia
HNK Hajduk Split managers
FK Partizan managers
FK Vardar managers
Expatriate football managers in Yugoslavia
Hungarian Jews
Hungarian expatriates in Bulgaria
Expatriate football managers in Bulgaria
Footballers from Budapest