Nándor Hidegkuti (3 March 1922 – 14 February 2002) was a Hungarian football player and manager. He played as a forward or

attacking 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 ...

and spent the majority of his playing career at MTK Hungária FC. During the 1950s he was also a key member of the Hungarian National Team team known as the Golden Team. Other members of the team 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 and

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 ...

. In 1953, playing as a '' deep lying centre-forward'', a position which has retroactively been compared to the modern ''

false 9 Forwards (also known as attackers) are outfield positions in an association football team who play the furthest up the pitch and are therefore most responsible for scoring goals as well as assisting them. As with any attacking player, the role ...

'' role, he scored 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 w ...

for Hungary when they beat

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 ...

6–3 at Wembley Stadium. Playing from deep, Hidegkuti was able to distribute the ball to the other attackers and cause considerable confusion to defences. This was an innovation at the time and revolutionised the way the game was played. Hidegkuti died on 14 February 2002 after suffering from heart and lung problems for some time before his death. MTK Hungária FC renamed their stadium, Hidegkuti Nándor Stadium in his honour.

Club career

Hidegkuti started his career in Elektromos FC and Herminamezei AC.

MTK Budapest

Hidegkuti began playing for MTK in 1947. In 1949 when 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 Comint ...

, MTK were taken over by the secret police, the

ÁVH The State Protection Authority ( hu, Államvédelmi Hatóság, ÁVH) was the secret police of the People's Republic of Hungary from 1945 to 1956. The ÁVH was conceived as an external appendage of the Soviet Union's KGB in Hungary responsible ...

and subsequently the club changed their name several times. Initially they became ''Textiles SE'', then ''Bástya SE'', then ''Vörös Lobogó SE'' and then finally back to MTK. Despite this turmoil, the 1950s proved a successful era for club and it was while at MTK that Hidegkuti, together with Péter Palotás and coach

Márton Bukovi Márton Bukovi (10 December 1903 – 2 February 1985) was a Hungarian association football player and manager. After playing for Ferencvárosi TC, FC Sète and Hungary he became a coach, most notably with Građanski Zagreb, MTK Hungária, O ...

, pioneered the deep lying centre-forward position. With a team that also included

Mihály Lantos Mihály Lantos (born ''Mihály Lendenmayer'', 29 September 1928 – 31 December 1989) was a Hungarian football player and manager. He played as a defender, spending the majority of his career at MTK Hungária FC. During the 1950s he was also ...

and József Zakariás, MTK and Hidegkuti won three Hungarian League titles, a Hungarian Cup and a

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 ...

. In 1955, as ''Vörös Lobogó SE'', they also played in the first ever European Cup. Hidegkuti scored twice as they beat RSC Anderlecht 10–4 on aggregate in the first round. After retiring as a player, Hidegkuti also had two spells as a coach at MTK.

International career

Between 1945 and 1958 Hidegkuti earned 69 appearances and scored 39 goals 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, Cr ...

. He scored twice on his debut on 30 September 1945 in a 7–2 win against

Romania Romania ( ; ro, România ) is a country located at the crossroads of Central Europe, Central, Eastern Europe, Eastern, and Southeast Europe, Southeastern Europe. It borders Bulgaria to the south, Ukraine to the north, Hungary to the west, S ...

. Two years later, on 17 August 1947, he made his second international appearance and scored a hat-trick against

Bulgaria Bulgaria (; bg, България, Bǎlgariya), officially the Republic of Bulgaria,, ) is a country in Southeast Europe. It is situated on the eastern flank of the Balkans, and is bordered by Romania to the north, Serbia and North Macedo ...

. On 18 November 1951 he scored another hat trick against

Finland Finland ( fi, Suomi ; sv, Finland ), officially the Republic of Finland (; ), is a Nordic country in Northern Europe. It shares land borders with Sweden to the northwest, Norway to the north, and Russia to the east, with the Gulf of Bot ...

. He became a central player in the Golden Team of the early and mid-1950s; during this time, Ferenc Puskás, Sándor Kocsis and Hidegkuti provided the Hungarians a total of 198 goals. Hidegkuti was used by the Golden Team as a deep lying centre-forward. In the 1950s, the majority of international sides still used the WM formation, where the defending centre half would traditionally mark the opposition's centre forward – usually whoever was wearing the number 9 shirt. When a defending centre half attempted to mark Hidegkuti, they were drawn out of position, allowing the rest of the Hungarian team to exploit the space. At the time this was a revolutionary tactic, requiring the player in the deep lying centre-forward position to have excellent ball control, distribution skills and positional awareness. Former England and Leeds United manager,

Don Revie Donald George Revie OBE (10 July 1927 – 26 May 1989) was an England international footballer and manager, best known for his successful spell with Leeds United from 1961 until 1974, which immediately preceded his appointment as England mana ...

paid tribute to the influence of Hidegkuti in his autobiography: "In the summer of 1954 England and Scotland were knocked out of the World Cup series in Switzerland. That competition was won by Germany, but dominated by Hungary, who played with a deep-lying centre forward, ''Nandor Hidegkuti''. Alongside him; Sandor Koscis and Ferenc Puskas, two of the greatest inside-forwards in the world. But whatever people claim of Koscis and Puskas, it was the man Hidegkuti who tore the England defence to shreds at Wembley in November 1953. It was Hidegkuti, again playing his hide-and-seek centre-forward game, who shattered England in the return match in Budapest in May 1954, when we were thrashed 7–1." Sepp Herberger, manager of the West German team that would defeat Hungary in the 1954 World Cup final, identified Hidegkuti as the most important player in the Hungarian team (despite Puskas drawing a lot more public attention) and adjusted his tactics for the final to prevent him from playing out his game.

Managerial career

As a manager Hidegkuti coached clubs in Hungary, Italy, Poland and Egypt. In 1961 he guided

Fiorentina ACF Fiorentina, commonly referred to as Fiorentina (), is an Italian professional football club based in Florence, Tuscany, Italy. The original team was founded by a merger in August 1926, while the actual club was refounded in August 2002 fol ...

to victory in the first ever European Cup Winners' Cup, beating Rangers 4–1 on aggregate in the

final Final, Finals or The Final may refer to: *Final (competition), the last or championship round of a sporting competition, match, game, or other contest which decides a winner for an event ** Another term for playoffs, describing a sequence of con ...

. With Győri ETO he won the Hungarian League in 1963 and then took them to the semi-final of the

1964–65 European Cup The 1964–65 European Cup, the 10th season of the football club tournament, was won by Internazionale for the second time in row, in a final match against two-time former champions Benfica, making it three consecutive titles for Italy (Milan ha ...

where they lost to eventual runners-up, Benfica. In Egypt, Hidegkuti coached

Al Ahly AL, Al, Ål or al may stand for: Arts and entertainment Fictional characters * Al (''Aladdin'') or Aladdin, the main character in Disney's ''Aladdin'' media * Al (''EastEnders''), a minor character in the British soap opera * Al (''Fullmetal ...

, introducing a 5–3–2 formation. For his model behaviour as a player and coach, he was awarded the 1993

FIFA Fair Play Award The FIFA Fair Play Award is a FIFA recognition of exemplary behaviour that promotes the spirit of fair play and compassion in :association football around the world. First awarded in 1987, it has been presented to individuals (including posthu ...

Honours

Player

MTK Hungária * Hungarian Champions: 1951, 1953, 1958 * Hungarian Cup: 1952 *

: 1955 Hungary *

Olympic Gold Medalist This article lists the individuals who have won at least four gold medals at the Olympic Games or at least three gold medals in individual events. List of most Olympic gold medals over career This is a partial list of multiple Olympic gold medalis ...

: 1952 * Central European Champion: 1953 *

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 has ...

runner-up: 1954 Individual * Hungarian Football Federation Player of the Year: 1953 * FIFA World Cup All-Star Team: 1954

Manager

Fiorentina * European Cup Winners' Cup: 1960–61 Győri ETO FC * Hungarian Champions: 1963 * European Cup: semi-finalist 1964–65 * Hungarian Cup: 1965, 1966, 1967 Al-Ahly * Egyptian Premier League: 1975, 1976, 1977, 1979, 1980 * Egypt Cup: 1978

Notes

References

Sources

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

External links

Hungary stats at Rsssf Hungary stats
Retrieved 2019-02-25. {{DEFAULTSORT:Hidegkuti, Nandor 1922 births 2002 deaths Hungarian footballers Hungary international footballers MTK Budapest FC players Hungarian football managers Győri ETO FC managers FC Tatabánya managers MTK Budapest FC managers ACF Fiorentina managers Footballers at the 1952 Summer Olympics Olympic footballers of Hungary Olympic gold medalists for Hungary 1954 FIFA World Cup players 1958 FIFA World Cup players Footballers from Budapest Expatriate football managers in Egypt Expatriate football managers in Italy Olympic medalists in football Stal Rzeszów managers Medalists at the 1952 Summer Olympics Association football forwards Nemzeti Bajnokság I players Al Ahly SC managers Nemzeti Bajnokság I managers Al Ahli Club (Dubai) managers Hungarian expatriate sportspeople in the United Arab Emirates Hungarian expatriate sportspeople in Italy Expatriate football managers in the United Arab Emirates