István Nyers (; 25 May 1924 – 9 March 2005), also known as Stefano Nyers, was a Hungarian

footballer A football player or footballer is a sportsperson who plays one of the different types of football. The main types of football are association football, American football, Canadian football, Australian rules football, Gaelic football, rugby le ...

who played as a

forward Forward is a relative direction, the opposite of backward. Forward may also refer to: People * Forward (surname) Sports * Forward (association football) * Forward (basketball), including: ** Point forward ** Power forward (basketball) ** Sm ...

or as a winger. Although he played in only two international matches for

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

, he is considered one of the greatest football legends of his country, reaching the peak of his career in the 1940s and 1950s.

Career

Nyers was born in

Freyming-Merlebach Freyming-Merlebach (; german: Freimingen-Merlenbach) is a commune in the Moselle department in Grand Est in north-eastern France. It is part of the agglomeration of Saarbrücken and Forbach.Moselle The Moselle ( , ; german: Mosel ; lb, Musel ) is a river that rises in the Vosges mountains and flows through north-eastern France and Luxembourg to western Germany. It is a bank (geography), left bank tributary of the Rhine, which it jo ...

France France (), officially the French Republic ( ), is a country primarily located in Western Europe. It also comprises of Overseas France, overseas regions and territories in the Americas and the Atlantic Ocean, Atlantic, Pacific Ocean, Pac ...

into an immigrant Hungarian mining family; his younger brother was

Ferenc Nyers Ferenc Nyers (also known as ''Étienne Nyers''; born 3 March 1927) is a retired French professional footballer who played as a forward. He was active in France, Italy, Hungary and Colombia. Early life Nyers was born in Freyming-Merlebach, Mo ...

. When he was 14 he moved with his family to

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 ...

where he started playing with III. Kerületi TUE. He will have his first official debut aged 17 and playing with Szabadkai VAC which was a Yugoslav club from

Subotica Subotica ( sr-cyrl, Суботица, ; hu, Szabadka) is a List of cities in Serbia, city and the administrative center of the North Bačka District in the autonomous province of Vojvodina, Serbia. Formerly the largest city of Vojvodina region, ...

that played in the Hungarian league system after the Hungarian annexation of

Bačka Bačka ( sr-cyrl, Бачка, ) or Bácska () is a geographical and historical area within the Pannonian Plain bordered by the river Danube to the west and south, and by the river Tisza to the east. It is divided between Serbia and Hungary ...

during

World War II 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 opposin ...

(1941–1944). When Yugoslavs retook Subotica, Nyers moved to Budapest where he had a short spell with Ganz-MÁVAG SE where he played along

László Kubala László Kubala ( sk, Ladislav Kubala, es, Ladislao Kubala, 10 June 1927 – 17 May 2002) was a Hungarian-Slovak professional footballer who also had Spanish citizenship. He played as a forward for Ferencváros, Slovan Bratislava, Barcelona, ...

. Still that year, he returns Szabadkai VAC, known as ŽAK Subotica in Serbo-Croatian. In April 1945, ŽAK is disbanded by new Yugoslav authorities, but players stay together and they make a tour throughout Serbia as a representing team of Subotica.Istorija FK Spartak
at FK Spartak Subotica official website, retrieved 21-8-2018 (indicated as ''Njerš'' in Serbian) In this tour they archive many large-margin wins. By scoring in all important games, Nyers confirms himself as prolific goalscorer. Upon their return to Subotica, the new authorities merge the team with some minor clubs, and the team becomes Spartak Subotica. However, later that year, Nyers leaves Yugoslavia and returns to Budapest, where he joins 1945

Újpest FC Újpest Football Club () is a Hungarian professional association football, 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 Nemzeti ...

, winning two league titles. In 1946, he transferred briefly to the

Czechoslovakia , rue, Чеськословеньско, , yi, טשעכאסלאוואקיי, , common_name = Czechoslovakia , life_span = 1918–19391945–1992 , p1 = Austria-Hungary , image_p1 ...

n team

FK Viktoria Žižkov FK Viktoria Žižkov is one of the oldest football clubs in the Czech Republic, from Žižkov (since 1922 part of Prague). It plays in the Bohemian Football League, the third tier of football in the country. The club won the Czechoslovak First ...

and then to the French club Stade Français. After two years in Paris he was recruited by the

Italian Italian(s) may refer to: * Anything of, from, or related to the people of Italy over the centuries ** Italians, an ethnic group or simply a citizen of the Italian Republic or Italian Kingdom ** Italian language, a Romance language *** Regional Ita ...

side

Inter Inter may refer to: Association football clubs * Inter Milan, an Italian club * SC Internacional, a Brazilian club * Inter Miami CF, an American club * FC Inter Sibiu, a Romanian club * FC Inter Turku, a Finnish club * FK Inter Bratislava, a forme ...

. Here he developed to one of the strongest forwards in the history of

Serie A The Serie A (), also called Serie A TIM for national sponsorship with TIM, is a professional league competition for football clubs located at the top of the Italian football league system and the winner is awarded the Scudetto and the Coppa ...

. With 26 goals in his first season he became the top scorer of the league. In 182 games for Inter he scored a total of 133 goals. Twice, in 1953 and 1954, he became Italian champion with Inter. After winning the championship for the second time Nyers left Milan and changed via

Servette FC Servette FC is a Swiss football club based in Geneva, founded in March 1890 with rugby as its first sporting activity, and named after the Geneva district of the same name. The football section was created on 17 January 1900. They play in the S ...

Geneva Geneva ( ; french: Genève ) frp, Genèva ; german: link=no, Genf ; it, Ginevra ; rm, Genevra is the List of cities in Switzerland, second-most populous city in Switzerland (after Zürich) and the most populous city of Romandy, the French-speaki ...

A.S. Roma ' (''Rome Sport Association''), commonly referred to as Roma (), is a professional football club based in Rome, Italy. Founded by a merger in 1927, Roma has participated in the top tier of Italian football for all of its existence, except for ...

, where he remained for two years. A season with the

Catalan Catalan may refer to: Catalonia From, or related to Catalonia: * Catalan language, a Romance language * Catalans, an ethnic group formed by the people from, or with origins in, Northern or southern Catalonia Places * 13178 Catalan, asteroid #1 ...

sides

CF Barcelona Futbol Club Barcelona (), commonly referred to as Barcelona and colloquially known as Barça (), is a professional football club based in Barcelona, Catalonia, Spain, that competes in La Liga, the top flight of Spanish football. Founded i ...

Terrassa FC Terrassa Futbol Club is a Spanish football team based in Terrassa, Barcelona, in the autonomous community of Catalonia. Founded in 1906 it currently plays in Segunda División RFEF – Group 3, holding home matches at ''Estadi Olímpic de Terras ...

and CD Sabadell followed before he played out the remainder of his career with minor league Italian clubs. Nyers retired from the professional game in 1961. During his retirement he lived for several years in

Milan Milan ( , , Lombard: ; it, Milano ) is a city in northern Italy, capital of Lombardy, and the second-most populous city proper in Italy after Rome. The city proper has a population of about 1.4 million, while its metropolitan city h ...

before settling in

Serbia Serbia (, ; Serbian language, Serbian: , , ), officially the Republic of Serbia (Serbian language, Serbian: , , ), is a landlocked country in Southeast Europe, Southeastern and Central Europe, situated at the crossroads of the Pannonian Bas ...

until his death in 2005 at the age of 80.

Honours

Club

;

Újpest Újpest (; german: Neu-Pest, en, New Pest) is the 4th District in Budapest, Hungary. It is located on the left bank of the Danube River. The name Újpest means "New Pest" because the city was formed on the border of the city of Pest, Hungary i ...

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 ...

1945 1945 marked the end of World War II and the fall of Nazi Germany and the Empire of Japan. It is also the only year in which nuclear weapons have been used in combat. Events Below, the events of World War II have the "WWII" prefix. Januar ...

, 1945–46 ;

Internazionale Football Club Internazionale Milano, commonly referred to as Internazionale () or simply Inter, and colloquially known as Inter Milan in English-speaking countries, is an Italian professional football club based in Milan, Lombardy. Inter is ...

: 1952–53, 1953–54 ;

Barcelona Barcelona ( , , ) is a city on the coast of northeastern Spain. It is the capital and largest city of the autonomous community of Catalonia, as well as the second most populous municipality of Spain. With a population of 1.6 million within ci ...

Copa del Rey The Campeonato de España–Copa de Su Majestad el Rey, commonly known as Copa del Rey or simply La Copa and formerly known as Copa del Presidente de la República (1932–36) and Copa del Generalísimo (1939–76), is an annual knockout footbal ...

1957 1957 ( MCMLVII) was a common year starting on Tuesday of the Gregorian calendar, the 1957th year of the Common Era (CE) and ''Anno Domini'' (AD) designations, the 957th year of the 2nd millennium, the 57th year of the 20th century, and the 8th y ...

Notes

External links

István Nyers
at magyarfutball.hu

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Nyers, Istvan 1924 births 2005 deaths People from Freyming-Merlebach French people of Hungarian descent Hungarian footballers Hungary international footballers Hungarian expatriate footballers Stade Français (association football) players Ligue 1 players Inter Milan players Servette FC players A.S. Roma players Calcio Lecco 1912 players Budapest Honvéd FC players Újpest FC players La Liga players FC Barcelona players CE Sabadell FC footballers Terrassa FC footballers FK Viktoria Žižkov players ŽAK Subotica players Nemzeti Bajnokság I players Serie A players Serie B players Expatriate footballers in Yugoslavia Expatriate footballers in Czechoslovakia Footballers from Grand Est Expatriate footballers in Italy Expatriate footballers in Spain Expatriate footballers in Switzerland Association football forwards Sportspeople from Moselle (department) French expatriate footballers Hungarian expatriate sportspeople in Italy Hungarian expatriate sportspeople in Spain Hungarian expatriate sportspeople in Yugoslavia French expatriate sportspeople in Italy French expatriate sportspeople in Spain French expatriate sportspeople in Yugoslavia