Tibor Molnar (born June 6, 1952) is a Hungarian former

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

midfielder A midfielder is an outfield position in association football. Midfielders may play an exclusively defensive role, breaking up attacks, and are in that case known as defensive midfielders. As central midfielders often go across boundarie ...

in the

North American Soccer League The North American Soccer League may refer to: *North American Soccer League (1968–1984), a former Division I league *North American Soccer League (2011–2017) The North American Soccer League (NASL) was a professional men's soccer league b ...

, the

Canadian National Soccer League The National Soccer League was a soccer league in Canada that existed from 1926 to 1997. Teams were primarily based in the provinces of Ontario and Quebec. The league was renamed to Canadian National Soccer League in 1993 following the folding ...

, and the Major Indoor Soccer League in the 1970s and early 1980s.

Early life

Born in Budapest, he grew up in the same neighborhood as indoor soccer hall-of-famer,

Juli Veee Juli Veee (born Gyula Visnyei; February 22, 1950) is a Hungarian-American retired soccer forward. Announced as "Double-deuce, triple-E, the one and only Juli Veee", Veee experienced his greatest success as an indoor player with the San Diego Sock ...

. Like many, he disliked how the

totalitarian Totalitarianism is a form of government and a political system that prohibits all opposition parties, outlaws individual and group opposition to the state and its claims, and exercises an extremely high if not complete degree of control and regul ...

communist Communism (from Latin la, communis, lit=common, universal, label=none) is a far-left sociopolitical, philosophical, and economic ideology and current within the socialist movement whose goal is the establishment of a communist society, a s ...

government controlled nearly every aspect of a Hungarian's life, and dreamed of life in a free society like the U.S. By his own accounts, he and a friend were always trying to sneak away to the west, posing as tourists, but were regularly stopped at the border. Rather than place him in jail and put him on trial, as would likely happen to adults at that time, the border guards would merely put him and his friend on a bus back home.

Career

He played for second division side

Vasas SC Vasas may refer to: *Vasas SC, Hungarian sports club *Győri Vasas, former name of Hungarian sports club Győri ETO (1950-65) *Mihály Vasas (born 1933), Hungarian footballer and manager *Zoltán Vasas Zoltán Vasas (born 5 November 1977) is a ...

at age 15 and quit school because of soccer. Two years later in 1970 he sneaked out of the country, presumably as a tourist visiting Vienna on his 18th birthday. He trained with

FK Austria Wien Fußballklub Austria Wien AG (; known in English as Austria Vienna, and usually shortened to Austria (German: Österreich) in German-speaking countries, is an Austrian association football club from the capital city of Vienna. It has won the mo ...

, and friends arranged for him to travel to the U.S. In 1971 Molnar joined the

Dallas Tornado The Dallas Tornado was a soccer team based in Dallas, Texas that played in the North American Soccer League (NASL) from 1967 to 1981. Of the twelve teams that comprised the U.S. in 1967, the Tornado franchise played the longest–15 seasons. ...

of NASL and scored his only NASL goal in Game 1 of the NASL Championship Final. After the 1971 season Molnar returned first to Austria, and then attempted to play for

Beerschot A.C. Koninklijke Beerschot Antwerpen Club (), simply known as Beerschot AC, was a Belgian football club based in southern Antwerp. Beerschot played in the Belgian Pro League from 1999–2000 (as Germinal Beerschot) until 2012–13, when they were ...

, a Belgian side from Antwerp, but instead was forced to serve a two-year

European European, or Europeans, or Europeneans, may refer to: In general * ''European'', an adjective referring to something of, from, or related to Europe ** Ethnic groups in Europe ** Demographics of Europe ** European cuisine, the cuisines of Europe ...

suspension for playing outside Hungary without permission. In 1973 and 1974 he played in the

National Soccer League The National Soccer League (NSL) was the top-level soccer league in Australia, run by Soccer Australia and later the Australian Soccer Association. The NSL, the A-League's predecessor, spanned 28 seasons from its inception in 1977 until its d ...

to play with Toronto Hungaria. The second portion of the 1974 NSL season he played with

Toronto Italia The National Soccer League was a soccer league in Canada that existed from 1926 to 1997. Teams were primarily based in the provinces of Ontario and Quebec. The league was renamed to Canadian National Soccer League in 1993 following the folding ...

. In 1976, he returned to the NASL to play with the Rochester Lancers. Primarily a playmaker, he became unhappy with the defense-first role that Lancers coach

Don Popovic Don, don or DON and variants may refer to: Places *County Donegal, Ireland, Chapman code DON *Don (river), a river in European Russia *Don River (disambiguation), several other rivers with the name *Don, Benin, a town in Benin *Don, Dang, a vill ...

wanted him to play. After playing in only four of the first seven matches of the season, he requested a trade. The team obliged, and on June 8, 1976, he was transferred for cash to the

San Jose Earthquakes The San Jose Earthquakes are an American professional soccer team based in San Jose, California. The Earthquakes compete as a member club of the Western Conference of Major League Soccer (MLS). Originally as the San Jose Clash, the franchise ...

, where he played two seasons before being dealt to the

Tulsa Roughnecks Tulsa Roughnecks may refer to any of four distinct professional soccer teams: *Tulsa Roughnecks (1978–1984), the original top-flight team that played in the North American Soccer League from 1978 to 1984. *Tulsa Roughnecks (1993–2000), the team ...

in exchange for

Victor Kodelja Victor Kodelja (born November 26, 1951) is a former member of the Canadian national soccer team and North American Soccer League. Professional Prior to playing professionally, Kodelja played in the Pacific Coast Soccer League, playing at least th ...

. Later in 1978 he returned to the National Soccer League to play with

Montreal Castors Montreal Castors was a Canadian Association football, soccer team, founded in 1975. The team played in the Canadian National Soccer League, National Soccer League, winning the championship in 1978 and 1979 before withdrawing from the league in 197 ...

Indoor career

Molnar played

indoor soccer Indoor soccer or arena soccer (known internationally as indoor football, fast football, or showball) is five-a-side version of minifootball, derived from association football and adapted to be played in walled hardcourt indoor arena. Indoor socc ...

in both the NASL and MISL. He was a member of the 1971 indoor tournament champion Dallas Tornado, recording one assist in 2 games. In the 1976 tournament he was a runner-up with Rochester scoring three goals in four games. In the winter of 1978, Molnar returned to the indoor scene to play with

. He was named co-MVP of the Skelly Invitational, won by Tulsa. When the

MISL The Misls (derived from an Arabic word wikt:مثل#Etymology_3, مِثْل meaning 'equal') were the twelve sovereign states of the Sikh Confederacy, which rose during the 18th century in the Punjab region in the northern part of the Indian ...

began play in 1978 he joined Coach Popovic's

New York Arrows The New York Arrows were an indoor soccer team that played in the original Major Indoor Soccer League (MISL) from 1978 to 1984. They won the first four MISL championships. History Preparing for the first season In 1978, the New York Arrows beg ...

, winning titles in 1978–79 and 1979–80. From there he had injury-plagued stops with the

Hartford Hellions The Hartford Hellions were a soccer team based out of Hartford, Connecticut that played in the Major Indoor Soccer League. They played from 1979 to 1981. The Hellions played their first season in the New Haven Coliseum before moving to the remo ...

Baltimore Blast The Baltimore Blast is an American professional indoor soccer team based in Baltimore, Maryland, United States. The team is a part of the Major Arena Soccer League. The team has won 10 championships since it was founded in 1980. Beginning with t ...

and

Pittsburgh Spirit Pittsburgh Spirit were an indoor soccer team based in Pittsburgh and were one of the original six teams that played in the Major Indoor Soccer League (MISL). The Spirit were founded in 1978, suspended operation for the 1980–81 season, then ret ...

before retiring.

Honors

* Dallas Tornado ** NASL: 1971 ** NASL indoor: 1971 * Toronto Italia ** CNSL: 1975 * Rochester Lancers ** NASL indoor: Runner up 1976 * Tulsa Roughnecks ** NASL indoor: 1978 * New York Arrows **

: 1978–79 **

: 1979–80 ;Individual honors * Tournament MVP ** NASL indoor: 1978

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Molnar, Tibor 1952 births Living people Men's association football midfielders Hungarian men's footballers Footballers from Budapest Vasas SC players Hungarian expatriate men's footballers Dallas Tornado players Toronto Italia players Rochester Lancers (1967–1980) players San Jose Earthquakes (1974–1988) players Tulsa Roughnecks (1978–1984) players Montreal Castors players New York Arrows players Hartford Hellions players Baltimore Blast (1980–1992) players Pittsburgh Spirit players North American Soccer League (1968–1984) players North American Soccer League (1968–1984) indoor players Canadian National Soccer League players Major Indoor Soccer League (1978–1992) players