Sándor Péter Kocsis (; ; 21 September 1929 – 22 July 1979) 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 lea ...

who played for

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

, Budapest Honvéd,

Young Fellows Zürich Sportclub Young Fellows Juventus is a professional Swiss football club based in Zürich. It was founded in 1992 following a merger between Young Fellows Zürich (established in 1903) and Società Calcistica Italiana Juventus Zurigo (1922). The ...

FC Barcelona Futbol Club Barcelona (), commonly known as FC Barcelona and colloquially as Barça (), is a professional Football club (association football), football club based in Barcelona, Catalonia, Spain, that competes in La Liga, the top flight of ...

and

Hungary Hungary is a landlocked country in Central Europe. Spanning much 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 south, Croatia and ...

as a striker. During the 1950s, along with

Ferenc Puskás Ferenc Puskás (, ; né Purczeld; 1 April 1927 – 17 November 2006) was a Hungarian footballer and manager, widely regarded as one of the greatest players of all time and the sport's first international superstar. A forward and an attacking ...

Zoltán Czibor Zoltán Czibor (23 August 1929 – 1 September 1997) was a Hungarian footballer who played for several Hungarian clubs, including Ferencváros and Budapest Honvéd, and the Hungary national team before joining CF Barcelona. Czibor played as ...

József Bozsik József Bozsik (; 28 November 1925 – 31 May 1978) was a Hungarian footballer who played as a central midfielder. He spent his entire club career at his hometown club, Budapest Honvéd. Bozsik was a key member of the legendary Golden Team ...

and

Nándor Hidegkuti Nándor Hidegkuti (3 March 1922 – 14 February 2002) was a Hungarian football player and manager. He played as a forward or attacking midfielder and spent the majority of his playing career at MTK Hungária FC. During the 1950s he was also a ...

, he was a member of the ''Mighty Magyars''. After the

1956 Hungarian Revolution The Hungarian Revolution of 1956 (23 October – 4 November 1956; ), also known as the Hungarian Uprising, was an attempted countrywide revolution against the government of the Hungarian People's Republic (1949–1989) and the policies caused by ...

, he moved to Spain where he became a member of the

team of the late 1950s. Kocsis was a prolific goalscorer for both Budapest Honvéd and

. While playing for Honvéd, he was the top goalscorer in any European league in both 1952 and 1954. He also scored 75 goals in 68 appearances for Hungary – a 1.10 goal/game average at the game's highest level. Kocsis was the top goalscorer in the 1954 World Cup with 11 goals, a record at the time for goals in a single World Cup. That year he scored 23 goals with his national team, the most by any player during a calendar year. He was also the first player to score two

hat-trick A hat-trick or hat trick is the achievement of a generally positive feat three times in a match, or another achievement based on the number three. Origin The term first appeared in 1858 in cricket, to describe H. H. Stephenson taking three Wick ...

s in a World Cup. His 2.2 goal/game average in the World Cup finals is second only to that of

Ernst Wilimowski Ernest Otton Wilimowski (, born Ernst Otto Prandella; 23 June 1916 – 30 August 1997), nicknamed "Ezi", was a footballer who played as a forward. He ranks among the best goalscorers in the history of both the Poland national team and Polish c ...

(

Poland Poland, officially the Republic of Poland, is a country in Central Europe. It extends from the Baltic Sea in the north to the Sudetes and Carpathian Mountains in the south, bordered by Lithuania and Russia to the northeast, Belarus and Ukrai ...

) who scored four goals in his only World Cup match, and only

Just Fontaine Just Louis Fontaine (18 August 193328 February 2023) was a French professional footballer who played as a striker. He scored the most goals ever in a single edition of the FIFA World Cup, with thirteen in six matches in the 1958 tournament. In ...

has scored more goals than Kocsis in a single World Cup. He is the joint second most prolific goalscorer in national team matches in all levels in recorded history according to the Rec.Sport.Soccer Statistics Foundation (

RSSSF The Rec.Sport.Soccer Statistics Foundation (''RSSSF'') is an international organisation dedicated to collecting statistics about association football. The foundation aims to build an exhaustive archive of football-related information from around ...

) with 124 goals scored. Kocsis was particularly known for scoring headers. His 1.103 goals/game average is ranked No.1 for players past 43 caps in

FIFA The Fédération Internationale de Football Association (), more commonly known by its acronym FIFA ( ), is the international self-regulatory governing body of association football, beach soccer, and futsal. It was founded on 21 May 1904 to o ...

class-A competition, closely followed by

Gerd Müller Gerhard "Gerd" Müller (; 3 November 1945 – 15 August 2021) was a German professional association football, footballer. A prolific Forward (association football)#Striker, striker, especially in and around the six-yard box, he is widely regarde ...

with 1.097 goals/game (68 goals in 62 games). They are the only two players in history above a +1.0 goals/game average encompassing over 43 internationals. Ferenc Puskás with .99 goals/game (84 goals in 85 matches) is currently ranked 3rd. Sándor Kocsis registered a national record of seven hat tricks for Hungary, including a four-goal haul against

West Germany West Germany was the common English name for the Federal Republic of Germany (FRG) from its formation on 23 May 1949 until German reunification, its reunification with East Germany on 3 October 1990. It is sometimes known as the Bonn Republi ...

at the 1954 World Cup.

Career

Early years

Kocsis was born in

Budapest Budapest is the Capital city, capital and List of cities and towns of Hungary, most populous city of Hungary. It is the List of cities in the European Union by population within city limits, tenth-largest city in the European Union by popul ...

. He began his career as a junior with Kőbányai TC, before joining

Ferencváros Ferencváros (, ) is the 9th district of Budapest (), Hungary. Name The southern suburb of Pest was named after King Francis II, Holy Roman Emperor, Francis I on 4 December 1792 when he was crowned king of Hungary. History The developmen ...

in 1946. There, he won his first

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

title in 1949. He was then conscripted into the army and joined the army club, Honvéd. His teammates at Honvéd included

and

. During his time at the club he won three more Hungarian League titles in 1952, 1954 and 1955. He finished as top goalscorer in the league on three occasions in 1951, 1952 and 1954 scoring 30, 36 and 33 goals respectively. On the latter two occasions he was also the top goalscorer in any European league. During the 1952 season at Honvéd, Kocsis was the world's top goalscorer in world 1st division football with 36 goals. He repeated that feat in 1954 with 33 goals.

1952 Olympics & 1948–53 Central European International Cup

Kocsis made his debut for the senior

team in 1948. Together with

and

, he formed the offensive nucleus of the

Golden Team The Golden Team (, ) refers to the Hungary national football team of the 1950s. It is associated with several notable matches, including the quarter-final (" Battle of Berne") against Brazil, semi-final (against Uruguay) and final of the 1954 F ...

that went unbeaten for 32 consecutive games. The Hungarian national team suffered no defeats in Class-A international matches between 4 June 1950 and 4 July 1954, in the 1954 FIFA World Cup Final. Kocsis scored his first international hat trick in a game against

Sweden Sweden, formally the Kingdom of Sweden, is a Nordic countries, Nordic country located on the Scandinavian Peninsula in Northern Europe. It borders Norway to the west and north, and Finland to the east. At , Sweden is the largest Nordic count ...

on 20 November 1949, and he scored a further one on 22 June 1952 against

Finland Finland, officially the Republic of Finland, is a Nordic country in Northern Europe. It borders Sweden to the northwest, Norway to the north, and Russia to the east, with the Gulf of Bothnia to the west and the Gulf of Finland to the south, ...

. Kocsis also scored six goals at the Olympics in

Helsinki Helsinki () is the Capital city, capital and most populous List of cities and towns in Finland, city in Finland. It is on the shore of the Gulf of Finland and is the seat of southern Finland's Uusimaa region. About people live in the municipali ...

as Hungary became

Olympic Champions This article includes lists of all Olympic medalists since 1896, organized by each Olympic sport or discipline, and also by Olympiad. Medalist with most medals by sport Summer Olympic sports Sports that will appear in the 2028 Summer Olympics ar ...

in 1952. On 19 October 1952, he scored his third international hat trick in a game against

Czechoslovakia Czechoslovakia ( ; Czech language, Czech and , ''Česko-Slovensko'') was a landlocked country in Central Europe, created in 1918, when it declared its independence from Austria-Hungary. In 1938, after the Munich Agreement, the Sudetenland beca ...

. In 1953, Hungary defeated England 6–3 at

Wembley Stadium Wembley Stadium, currently branded as Wembley Stadium connected by EE Limited, EE for sponsorship reasons, is an association football stadium in Wembley, London. It opened in 2007 on the site of the Wembley Stadium (1923), original Wembley Sta ...

and then in 1954 by 7–1 in

. During the latter game, Kocsis added a further two goals. Hungary also won the 1948–53 Central European International Cup with

as top scorer.

1954 World Cup & 1955–60 Central European International Cup

He finished the 1954 World Cup as top goalscorer, scoring 11 goals including two hat tricks, the first of the three players that achieved this. In the opening game he scored his first hat trick of the tournament against

South Korea South Korea, officially the Republic of Korea (ROK), is a country in East Asia. It constitutes the southern half of the Korea, Korean Peninsula and borders North Korea along the Korean Demilitarized Zone, with the Yellow Sea to the west and t ...

as Hungary cruised to a 9–0 win. In the next game against

Germany Germany, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It lies between the Baltic Sea and the North Sea to the north and the Alps to the south. Its sixteen States of Germany, constituent states have a total popu ...

, he went one further and scored four of the goals in an 8–3 win against the understrength team of coach

Sepp Herberger Josef "Sepp" Herberger (28 March 1897 – 28 April 1977) was a German football player and manager. He is most famous for being the manager of the West Germany national team that won the 1954 FIFA World Cup final, a match later dubbed '' The Mir ...

. In the quarter-finals Hungary played

Brazil Brazil, officially the Federative Republic of Brazil, is the largest country in South America. It is the world's List of countries and dependencies by area, fifth-largest country by area and the List of countries and dependencies by population ...

in a game referred to as the '' Battle of Berne'': Kocsis scored twice in an encounter which saw Hungary win 4–2. Hungary then reached the final after they defeated reigning World champions

Uruguay Uruguay, officially the Oriental Republic of Uruguay, is a country in South America. It shares borders with Argentina to its west and southwest and Brazil to its north and northeast, while bordering the Río de la Plata to the south and the A ...

in the semi-finals. The game was 2–2 in extra time until Kocsis scored twice to seal another 4–2 win. In the

final Final, Finals or The Final may refer to: *Final examination or finals, a test given at the end of a course of study or training *Final (competition), the last or championship round of a sporting competition, match, game, or other contest which d ...

they met Germany once again. However, for the first time in the competition Kocsis failed to score and the Germans won 3–2. On 24 October 1954, he scored his sixth international hat trick and second against

. He completed his seventh and last hat trick for Hungary on 5 November 1955 in a game against the same opponents,

, that he had scored his first. Ending the Golden years with a silver medal at the 1955-60 Central European International Cup, making it a grand total of 2 gold/titles and 2 silver for the Mighty Magyars.

Honvéd World Tour

In 1956 Honvéd entered the

European Cup The UEFA Champions League (UCL) is an annual club association football competition organised by the Union of European Football Associations (UEFA) that is contested by top-division European clubs. The competition begins with a round robi ...

and in the first round they were drawn against

Athletic Bilbao Athletic Club (; ), commonly known as Athletic Bilbao (), or simply Athletic, is a professional Football club (association football), football club based in the city of Bilbao in the Southern Basque Country, Basque Country, Spain. They are known ...

. Honvéd lost the away leg 3–2, but before the home leg could be played, the Hungarian Revolution had erupted back in

. The players decided against going back to Hungary and arranged for the return with Athletic to be played at the ''Heysel Stadium'' in

Brussels Brussels, officially the Brussels-Capital Region, (All text and all but one graphic show the English name as Brussels-Capital Region.) is a Communities, regions and language areas of Belgium#Regions, region of Belgium comprising #Municipalit ...

. Despite drawing 3–3 they went out on 6–5 on aggregate. Elimination left Honvéd in limbo. The players summoned their families from Budapest and, despite opposition from

and the Hungarian football authorities, they organised a fundraising tour of Italy, Portugal, Spain and Brazil. After returning to Europe, the players parted ways. Some, including Bozsik, returned to Hungary while others, including Czibor, Kocsis and Puskás, found new clubs in Western Europe.

FC Barcelona and coaching career

Kocsis spent one season with

before another Hungarian refugee,

László Kubala László Kubala (10 June 1927 – 17 May 2002) was a Hungarian professional association football, footballer. He played as a forward (association football), forward for Ferencvárosi TC, Ferencváros, ŠK Slovan Bratislava, Slovan Bratislava, F ...

, persuaded him and

to join him at

where he became a vital member of the team. He subsequently scored on his

La Liga The Campeonato Nacional de Liga de Primera División, commonly known as the Primera División or La Liga, and officially known as LaLiga EA Sports for sponsorship reasons, is a professional association football league in Spain and the highest ...

debut in a 4–1 win over

Real Betis Real Betis Balompié, known as Real Betis () is a Spanish professional association football, football club based in Seville, Andalusia, Spain. It plays in La Liga, the Spanish football league system, top flight of Spanish football. It plays home ...

and as part of a team that also included Ramallets,

Evaristo Evaristo is both a given name and a surname. Notable people with the name include: Given name: * Evaristo Avalos (born 1933), Mexican equestrian * Evaristo Barrera (1911–1982), Argentine football striker * Evaristo Baschenis (1617–1677), Ital ...

and

Luis Suárez Luis Alberto Suárez Díaz (; born 24 January 1987) is a Uruguayan professional Association football, footballer who plays as a Striker (association football), striker for Major League Soccer club Inter Miami CF, Inter Miami. Known for his go ...

, Kocsis won a

Copa del Generalísimo The , commonly known as , or (in English) the Spanish Cup or King's Cup, and formerly known as Copa del Presidente de la República (1932–1936) and Copa del Generalísimo (1939–1976), is an annual knockout football competition in Spanish f ...

and

double in 1959 and a La Liga and

Fairs Cup The Inter-Cities Fairs Cup, most commonly referred to as the Fairs Cup and sometimes as the European Fairs Cup or Fairs Cities' Cup, was a European football competition played between 1955 and 1971. The Fairs Cup was the idea of FIFA vice-presid ...

double in 1960. FC Barcelona also reached the final of the

in 1961 and this saw Czibor and Kocsis return to the

Wankdorf Stadium Wankdorf Stadium (, ) was a football stadium in Bern, Switzerland, and the home of Swiss club BSC Young Boys. Built in 1925, it hosted the finals of the 1954 FIFA World Cup, the 1960–61 European Cup, and the 1988–89 European Cup Winners' C ...

Bern Bern (), or Berne (), ; ; ; . is the ''de facto'' Capital city, capital of Switzerland, referred to as the "federal city".; ; ; . According to the Swiss constitution, the Swiss Confederation intentionally has no "capital", but Bern has gov ...

, where in 1954, while playing for

, they had lost the World Cup Final and where, on 23 February 1958, Kocsis had lost 5–1 to

BSC Young Boys Berner Sport Club Young Boys (YB by short abbreviation, ) is a Swiss professional sports club based in Bern, Switzerland. Its first team has won 17 Swiss league championships and eight Swiss Cups. YB is one of the most successful Swiss footbal ...

while playing for

. Despite both Kocsis and Czibor scoring, they finished on the losing side once again. They also lost by the same 3–2 score again, this time to

S.L. Benfica (), commonly known as Benfica, is a professional football club based in Lisbon, Portugal, that competes in the Primeira Liga, the top flight of Portuguese football. Founded on 28 February 1904, as ''Sport Lisboa'', Benfica is one of the " ...

. He scored twice in the 1959

final as FC Barcelona defeated

Granada CF Granada Club de Fútbol (), known simply as Granada or ''"Graná"'', is a professional List of football clubs in Spain, Spanish football club based in the city of Granada, in the autonomous community of Andalusia, that currently plays in Segunda ...

4–1. In the 1960

he scored four of the goals in a 5–2 quarter-final win over

Wolves The wolf (''Canis lupus''; : wolves), also known as the grey wolf or gray wolf, is a canine native to Eurasia and North America. More than thirty subspecies of ''Canis lupus'' have been recognized, including the dog and dingo, though gr ...

. He also scored a hat trick against

Real Sociedad Real Sociedad de Fútbol, more commonly referred to as Real Sociedad ( ; ''Royal Society'') in English, and Erreala or Reala in Basque language, Basque, is a Spanish professional sports club in the city of San Sebastián, Donostia / San Sebastián, ...

in a

game in 1961 and scored all three goals in the 1962

final that they lost to

Valencia CF Valencia Club de Fútbol, S. A. D. (; ), commonly referred to as Valencia CF or simply Valencia, is a Spanish professional Association football, football club based in Valencia, Spain, that currently plays in La Liga, the top tier of the Spani ...

7–3 on aggregate. In 1961, he also played as a guest for

and helped them win their own summer trophy, the ''Trofeo Naranja''. He scored in both games as Valencia beat

Botafogo Botafogo (local/standard alternative Brazilian Portuguese pronunciation: ) is a beachfront neighborhood (''bairro'') in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. It is a mostly upper middle class and small commerce community, and is located between the hills of M ...

and FC Barcelona. Kocsis also scored in the 1963

final held at the

Camp Nou Camp Nou (), meaning ''New Field'' and often referred to in English as the Nou Camp, is a stadium in Barcelona and the home of La Liga club FC Barcelona since its opening in 1957. It is currently undergoing renovation, and with a planned increa ...

. FC Barcelona beat

Real Zaragoza Real Zaragoza, S.A.D. (), commonly referred to as Zaragoza, is a football club based in Zaragoza, Aragon, Spain, that currently competes in the Segunda División, the second tier of the Spanish football league system, Spanish league system. Zarag ...

3–1.

Later life and death

Kocsis retired as a player in 1966 and opened a restaurant in

Barcelona Barcelona ( ; ; ) is a city on the northeastern coast of 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 c ...

called ''Tete D’ Or''. He also worked as a coach with

and managed

Hércules CF Hércules de Alicante Club de Fútbol, S.A.D. () is a List of football clubs in Spain, Spanish football team in Alicante, in the Valencian Community. Founded on 25 October 1922, it currently plays in Primera Federación and plays its home games ...

between 1972 and 1974. However his coaching career was cut short when he was diagnosed with

leukemia Leukemia ( also spelled leukaemia; pronounced ) is a group of blood cancers that usually begin in the bone marrow and produce high numbers of abnormal blood cells. These blood cells are not fully developed and are called ''blasts'' or '' ...

and then

stomach cancer Stomach cancer, also known as gastric cancer, is a malignant tumor of the stomach. It is a cancer that develops in the Gastric mucosa, lining of the stomach. Most cases of stomach cancers are gastric carcinomas, which can be divided into a numb ...

. On 22 July 1979, aged 49, he fell to his death from the fourth floor of a hospital in Barcelona. It has been alleged that he died of suicide, though it may have been only an accident.

Career statistics

Club

International

Honours

Ferencváros *

Nemzeti Bajnokság I The Nemzeti Bajnokság (, ), also known as NB I or Fizz Liga after its title sponsor, OTP Bank's webshop subsidiary, is a professional association football league in Hungary and the highest level of the Hungarian football league system. Twelve ...

: 1949 Honvéd *Nemzeti Bajnokság I: 1952, 1954, 1955 Barcelona *

: 1958–59, 1959–60 *

: 1958–59, 1962–63 *

Inter-Cities Fairs Cup The Inter-Cities Fairs Cup, most commonly referred to as the Fairs Cup and sometimes as the European Fairs Cup or Fairs Cities' Cup, was a European football competition played between 1955 and 1971. The Fairs Cup was the idea of FIFA vice-presid ...

: 1958–60 *

runner-up: 1960-61 Hungary *

Summer Olympics The Summer Olympic Games, also known as the Summer Olympics or the Games of the Olympiad, is a major international multi-sport event normally held once every four years. The inaugural Games took place in 1896 in Athens, then part of the King ...

1952 Events January–February * January 26 – Cairo Fire, Black Saturday in Kingdom of Egypt, Egypt: Rioters burn Cairo's central business district, targeting British and upper-class Egyptian businesses. * February 6 ** Princess Elizabeth, ...

Central European International Cup The European International Cup of Nations was an international football competition held by certain national teams from Central Europe & South Europe between 1927 and 1960.Leo Schidrowitz "Internationaler Cup", Vienna 1954 There were competitions ...

: 1948–53 *

FIFA World Cup The FIFA World Cup, often called the World Cup, is an international association football competition among the senior List of men's national association football teams, men's national teams of the members of the FIFA, Fédération Internatio ...

runner-up:

1954 Events January * January 3 – The Italian broadcaster RAI officially begins transmitting. * January 7 – Georgetown–IBM experiment: The first public demonstration of a machine translation system is held in New York, at the head ...

: Runner-up: 1955–60 Individual *

Hungarian Football Federation The Hungarian Football Federation (HFF) (, ) is the governing body of football and futsal in Hungary. It organizes the Hungarian league and the Hungary national team. The MLSZ is responsible for the Hungarian football league system, the men's a ...

Player of the Year Several sports leagues honour their best player with an award called Player of the Year. In the United States, this type of award is usually called a Most Valuable Player award. Association football In association football, this award is held on b ...

: 1954 * FIFA World Cup Golden Boot:

* FIFA World Cup All-Star Team:

* World Soccer: The 100 Greatest Footballers of All Time *

Ballon d'Or The Ballon d'Or (; ) is an annual association football, football award presented by French magazine ''France Football'' since 1956 Ballon d'Or, 1956 to honour the player deemed to have performed the best over the previous season. Conceived ...

: 8th place

1956 Events January * January 1 – The Anglo-Egyptian Sudan, Anglo-Egyptian Condominium ends in Sudan after 57 years. * January 8 – Operation Auca: Five U.S. evangelical Christian Missionary, missionaries, Nate Saint, Roger Youderian, E ...

* Top 11 hungary player all time: #2 * IFFHS men's all time Hungary dream team * IFFHS World Player of the Century: #39 * IFFHS European Player of the Century: #23

Sources

*''Behind The Curtain — Travels in Eastern European Football'': Jonathan Wilson (2006) *''The World Cup — The Complete History'': Terry Crouch (2002) *''50 Years of the European Cup and Champions League'': Keir Radnedge (2005)

Notes

References

External links

La Liga stats
(archived)

at

Hungary stats
at Sportmuzeum (archived)

(archived) {{DEFAULTSORT:Kocsis, Sandor 1929 births 1979 deaths Footballers from Budapest Men's association football forwards Hungarian men's footballers Budapest Honvéd FC players Footballers at the 1952 Summer Olympics Olympic footballers for Hungary Olympic gold medalists for Hungary Hungary men's international footballers La Liga players Nemzeti Bajnokság I players Swiss Super League players Ferencvárosi TC footballers FC Barcelona players Valencia CF players 1954 FIFA World Cup players SC Young Fellows Juventus players Hungarian refugees Hungarian defectors Hércules CF managers Olympic medalists in football Medalists at the 1952 Summer Olympics Hungarian football managers Hungarian expatriate sportspeople in Spain Expatriate men's footballers in Spain Hungarian expatriate sportspeople in Switzerland Expatriate men's footballers in Switzerland Expatriate football managers in Spain Hungarian expatriate men's footballers Hungarian expatriate football managers Accidental deaths from falls FC Barcelona non-playing staff 20th-century Hungarian sportsmen