Géza Toldi (11 February 1909 – 16 August 1985) was a Hungarian footballer. He played for

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 ...

, and from 1934 to 1938 for the Hungarian national team, serving as captain in 1936. He scored a goal in the

1938 FIFA World Cup The 1938 FIFA World Cup was the third edition of the World Cup, the quadrennial international football championship for senior men's national teams and was held in France from 4 June until 19 June 1938. Italy defended its title in the final, bea ...

Club career

He grew up in the railway houses of Avar Street in Buda, Németvölgy. He began playing football in his place of residence, featuring for one of the local teams, ITE, in the fourth division of the youth championship, and he was pivotal in helping the club climb one division at a time almost every year, and in 1928 they also won the first division championship. In 1928, he was noticed at the youth federation's Christmas round-robin tournament. He received offers from several teams, including Oradea and Ferencvárosi, and in the end, he chose the latter, staying with them for more than a decade, until 1939, and again from 1942 to 1943. He played in a total of 324

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 ...

matches, scoring 270 goals. In 1939, Ferencvárosi lost 1-3 at the home of

Bologna Bologna (, , ; egl, label=Emilian language, Emilian, Bulåggna ; lat, Bononia) is the capital and largest city of the Emilia-Romagna region in Northern Italy. It is the seventh most populous city in Italy with about 400,000 inhabitants and 1 ...

. In the second leg, the player, who was already considered "old," was added to the team due to injury. Ferencváros won 4-1, and the goals were all scored by Géza Toldi.

International career

Between 1929 and 1940, he earned 46 caps for

Hungary Hungary ( hu, Magyarország ) is a landlocked country in Central Europe. Spanning 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 ...

and scored a total of 25 goals. The highlight of his international career came in the 1936-38 edition, where he scored 5 goals, a tally that includes a

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 wic ...

s against

Austria Austria, , bar, Östareich officially the Republic of Austria, is a country in the southern part of Central Europe, lying in the Eastern Alps. It is a federation of nine states, one of which is the capital, Vienna, the most populous ...

in a 5-3 win on 27 September 1936. With 10 goals in the Central European Cup, he is among the top goal scorers in the competition's history. Toldi was also part of the Hungary team that played in two

World Cup A world cup is a global sporting competition in which the participant entities – usually international teams or individuals representing their countries – compete for the title of world champion. The event most associated with the concept i ...

s in the 1930s, in

1934 Events January–February * January 1 – The International Telecommunication Union, a specialist agency of the League of Nations, is established. * January 15 – The 8.0 Nepal–Bihar earthquake strikes Nepal and Bihar with a maxi ...

and in 1938, helping his nation reach the final of the latter, which they lost 2-4 to

Italy Italy ( it, Italia ), officially the Italian Republic, ) or the Republic of Italy, is a country in Southern Europe. It is located in the middle of the Mediterranean Sea, and its territory largely coincides with the homonymous geographical ...

Managerial career

Between 1950 and 1954 he coached Danish top-flight side

Odense Boldklub Odense Boldklub (; also known as Odense BK or the more commonly used OB) is a Danish professional football club based in the city Odense. The club has won three Danish championships and five Danish Cup trophies. OB play in the Danish Superliga ...

, before he became head coach for AGF Aarhus from 1954 to 1956, where he became the first coach to win the Danish double and in his first season in 1954–55, which also was the first championship and

Danish Cup The Danish Cup ( da, Landspokalturneringen; often referred to as Pokalen) is the official "knockout" cup competition in Danish football, run by the Danish Football Association. The cup has been contested annually since 1955. The winner will quali ...

tournament AGF had won. He went on to win his second Danish Championship with AGF in 1955–56, then took over as head coach for the Belgium national football team, the "Red Devils", for six games from 27 October 1957 to 26 May 1958. He was succeeded by

Constant Vanden Stock Constant Vanden Stock (; 13 June 1914 – 19 April 2008) was the president and a player of Belgian football club R.S.C. Anderlecht. The stadium of this club was named after him. Constant Vanden Stock also served as coach of the Belgium natio ...

. Thereafter, he became coach of the Belgian first division team

K. Berchem Sport K. Berchem Sport is a Football in Belgium, Belgian association football club based in the district of Berchem in the municipality of Antwerp and currently playing in the Belgian Second Amateur Division. It has formerly played in the Belgian Firs ...

in 1958–59 and 1959–60, before he once again returned to Denmark to coach AGF Aarhus from 1960 to 1964, winning the double in 1960 and thus becoming the most successful coach in the club's very long history. He also coached

B 1909 Boldklubben 1909, known as B1909, is a Danish association football club currently playing in the Denmark Series. They play at Gillested Park in Odense on Funen, which has a capacity of 6,000. Founded in 1909, the club spent a total 38 seasons ...

International goals

:''Hungary score listed first, score column indicates score after each Sárosi goal.''

Honours

Player

Club

Ferencváros * Hungarian National Championship (4): 1928, 1932, 1934, 1938 *

Hungarian Cup The Hungarian Cup ( hu, Magyar Kupa) is the Hungarian cup competition for football clubs. It was started by the Hungarian Football Association, the ''Magyar Labdarúgó Szövetség,'' in 1909, eight years after the commencement of the Hungarian ...

(4): 1928, 1933, 1935, 1943 *

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 ...

(1): 1937

International

Hungary *

FIFA World Cup The FIFA World Cup, often simply called the World Cup, is an international association football competition contested by the senior men's national teams of the members of the ' ( FIFA), the sport's global governing body. The tournament ha ...

runner-up: 1938 * Central European International Cup third place: 1931–32, 1933–35

Individual

: Top scorer 1933–34 with 27 goals

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Toldi, Geza 1909 births 1985 deaths Footballers from Budapest Hungarian football managers Hungarian footballers 1934 FIFA World Cup players 1938 FIFA World Cup players Hungary international footballers Ferencvárosi TC footballers Hungarian expatriate football managers Expatriate football managers in Belgium Expatriate football managers in Denmark Expatriate football managers in Egypt Hungarian expatriate sportspeople in Belgium Hungarian expatriate sportspeople in Denmark Hungarian expatriate sportspeople in Egypt Vaasan Palloseura managers Odense Boldklub managers Aarhus Gymnastikforening managers Zamalek SC managers Belgium national football team managers K. Berchem Sport managers Boldklubben 1909 managers Association football forwards