Gyula Lóránt (born Gyula Lipovics, 6 February 1923 – 31 May 1981) 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 ...

and

manager Management (or managing) is the administration of an organization, whether it is a business, a nonprofit organization, or a government body. It is the art and science of managing resources of the business. Management includes the activities ...

of Croatian descent. He played as a defender and

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 ...

for, among others, UTA Arad,

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 ...

, Honvéd and

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 ...

. During the 1950s, he was a prominent member of the legendary Hungarian national team known as the ''Mighty Magyars'', which also included Ferenc Puskás,

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 ...

Sándor Kocsis Sándor Péter Kocsis (; ; 21 September 1929 – 22 July 1979) was a Hungarian footballer who played for Ferencváros TC, Budapest Honvéd, Young Fellows Zürich, FC Barcelona and Hungary as a striker. During the 1950s, along with Ferenc Pu ...

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 as ...

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 ...

. After retiring as a player, Lóránt became a coach, most notably with Honvéd, FC Bayern Munich and PAOK Thessaloniki FC. While at PAOK, he guided them to a Greek Championship title in 1976. On 31 May 1981, while still working as coach, he suffered a

heart attack A myocardial infarction (MI), commonly known as a heart attack, occurs when blood flow decreases or stops to the coronary artery of the heart, causing damage to the heart muscle. The most common symptom is chest pain or discomfort which ma ...

, watching PAOK play

Olympiacos CFP Olympiacós Sýndesmos Filáthlon Peiraiós ( el, Ολυμπιακός Σύνδεσμος Φιλάθλων Πειραιώς, Olympic Club of Fans of Piraeus) is a major multi-sport club based in Piraeus, Greece. Olympiacos is parent to a number ...

and died at the game, aged 58.

Early life

The son of a policeman, who fought as a volunteer in

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 opposing ...

on the German side, Lóránt turned professional footballer at the age of 16; in parallel, he then also studied

economics Economics () is the social science that studies the production, distribution, and consumption of goods and services. Economics focuses on the behaviour and interactions of economic agents and how economies work. Microeconomics analyzes ...

at university in the 1950s. Gyula Lóránt began his career as a youth with his hometown club, Kõszeg SE, after encouragement from a local trainer. He then played for

Nagyváradi AC Club Atletic Oradea (Nagyváradi Atlétikai Club) (), commonly known as CA Oradea (Nagyváradi AC), or simply as CAO (NAC), is a Romanian football club based in Oradea, Bihor County, which competes in the Liga IV. The team was founded as ''Nagy ...

and

UT Arad Asociația Fotbal Club UTA Arad (), commonly known as UTA Arad or simply UTA, is a Romanian professional football club based in the city of Arad, Arad County, which competes in the Liga I. The UTA acronym stands for ''Uzina Textilă Arad'' ("Te ...

in Romania. It was while at

, where his teammates included Ladislao Kubala, that his career prospered. However, in January 1949, as Hungary became a

communist state A communist state, also known as a Marxist–Leninist state, is a one-party state that is administered and governed by a communist party guided by Marxism–Leninism. Marxism–Leninism was the state ideology of the Soviet Union, the Comi ...

, Kubala fled the country in the back of a truck and formed his own team ''Hungaria'' to play exhibition friendlies. The team was made up of fellow refugees fleeing Eastern Europe. Lóránt also attempted to escape and follow Kubala, but was captured and ended up in a detention camp.

Hungarian international

Lóránt was released from detention after the intervention of

Gusztáv Sebes Gusztáv Sebes (born Gusztáv Scharenpeck; 22 January 1906 – 30 January 1986) was a Hungarian footballer and coach. With the title of Deputy Minister of Sport, he coached the Hungarian team known as the ''Mighty Magyars'' in the 1950s. A ...

, the

national team A national sports team (commonly known as a national team or a national side) is a team that represents a nation, rather than a particular club or region, in an international sport. The term is most commonly associated with team sports, for exa ...

coach, who regarded him as pivotal to his plans. Lóránt then made his debut for

on 19 October 1949 in an away game 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 ...

. Sebes personally guaranteed the country's Interior Minister and future Prime Minister,

János Kádár János József Kádár (; ; 26 May 1912 – 6 July 1989), born János József Czermanik, was a Hungarian communist leader and the General Secretary of the Hungarian Socialist Workers' Party, a position he held for 32 years. Declining health l ...

, that Lóránt would not abscond while in

Vienna en, Viennese , iso_code = AT-9 , registration_plate = W , postal_code_type = Postal code , postal_code = , timezone = CET , utc_offset = +1 , timezone_DST ...

. Kádár agreed and Lóránt responded with a superb performance as Hungary won 4–3. He subsequently joined Honvéd where together with six of his fellow internationals, he helped the team win three

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 ...

titles. As one of the legendary ''Mighty Magyars'', he helped

become Olympic Champions in 1952, Central European Champions in 1953, defeat

England England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe b ...

twice and reach the 1954 World Cup final.

Death

Lóránt died on 31 May 1981, while working as a trainer of PAOK, during a game against Olympiacos CFP. He suffered a heart attack in the 16th minute of the match after PAOK's

Giorgos Koudas Giorgos Koudas ( el, Γιώργος Κούδας; born 23 November 1946) is a Greek former professional footballer who played as an attacking midfielder. He spent his entire career in PAOK. Due to his fierce competitiveness and his Macedonian h ...

headed a cross into the side of the net from close range. He was tried to be resuscitated on the spot and then moved to the club doctor's room but died before the ambulance arrived. PAOK players were told in the break that he had to be transported to the hospital and his death was revealed only after the game. PAOK eventually won the match 1–0 with the goal of the substitute Vassilis Vasilakos who sat next to Lóránt on the bench when he collapsed. The autopsy revealed that he had at least two more previous heart attacks, the second one at longest one week before his death. Lóránt was buried in Endingen, Germany, but in 2011 at the request of his widow, his ashes were transported to Hungary and reburied in his birth town, Kőszeg.

Player

Hungary * Olympic Champions: 1952 * Central European Champions: 1953 *

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 ...

runner-up: 1954 Nagyváradi AC * Hungarian Champions: 1944 UTA Arad * Romanian Champions: 1947 Honvéd * Hungarian Champions: 1952, 1954, 1955

Manager

PAOK Thessaloniki FC * Greek Champions: 1976

References

External links

Bio at www.uefa.com

Hungary Stats

Gyula Lóránt
Greek *

Sources

* ''Behind The Curtain – Travels in Eastern European Football'': Jonathan Wilson (2006

Gyula Lóránt at eintracht-archiv.de
{{DEFAULTSORT:Lorant, Gyula 1923 births 1981 deaths 20th-century Hungarian people Hungarian footballers Hungary international footballers Hungarian football managers Hungarian people of Croatian descent Footballers at the 1952 Summer Olympics Olympic footballers of Hungary Olympic gold medalists for Hungary 1954 FIFA World Cup players CA Oradea players Vasas SC players Budapest Honvéd FC players FC UTA Arad players Budapest Honvéd FC managers Debreceni VSC managers 1. FC Kaiserslautern managers Eintracht Frankfurt managers PAOK FC managers FC Schalke 04 managers FC Bayern Munich managers Expatriate football managers in Germany Hungarian expatriate sportspeople in Germany Expatriate football managers in Greece Hungarian expatriate sportspeople in Greece Expatriate footballers in Romania Hungarian expatriate sportspeople in Romania Liga I players 1. FC Köln managers MSV Duisburg managers Bundesliga managers People from Kőszeg Olympic medalists in football Medalists at the 1952 Summer Olympics Association football defenders Association football midfielders Freiburger FC managers Sportspeople from Vas County