Ferenc Plattkó (born in

Budapest Budapest (, ; ) is the capital and most populous city of Hungary. It is the ninth-largest city in the European Union by population within city limits and the second-largest city on the Danube river; the city has an estimated population ...

, Hungary, 2 December 1898, died

Santiago, Chile Santiago (, ; ), also known as Santiago de Chile, is the capital and largest city of Chile as well as one of the largest cities in the Americas. It is the center of Chile's most densely populated region, the Santiago Metropolitan Region, whose ...

, 2 September 1983), also known as Ferenc Platko or Francisco Platko (in Spain his mothers maiden name "Kopiletz" has been appended according to local customs) 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 Austrian origin. During the 1910s and 1920s he played as a

goalkeeper In many team sports which involve scoring goals, the goalkeeper (sometimes termed goaltender, netminder, GK, goalie or keeper) is a designated player charged with directly preventing the opposing team from scoring by blocking or intercepting ...

for

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 (born 1977), Hungarian footballer {{disam ...

, WAC Vienna,

KAFK Kula FK Hajduk Kula (Serbian Cyrillic: ФК Хајдук Кула) was a Serbian football club based in Kula. The club was named after a Hajduk, a much celebrated hero figure in the Serbian epic poetry. On 30 July 2013, just eleven days before start ...

MTK Hungária FC Magyar Testgyakorlók Köre Budapest Futball Club or shortly MTK is a Hungarian football club based in Józsefváros, Budapest. The team currently plays in the Nemzeti Bajnokság II. The club's colours are blue and white. As one of the most suc ...

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

, and

Recreativo de Huelva Real Club Recreativo de Huelva, S.A.D. () is a Spanish football club based in Huelva, in the autonomous community of Andalusia. Founded on 23 December 1889, 2 days before Christmas, they are the oldest football club in Spain, and currently play i ...

. He subsequently worked as a coach in Europe and South America, most notably with

Colo-Colo Club Social y Deportivo Colo-Colo () is a Chilean professional football club based in Macul, Santiago. Founded in 1925 by David Arellano they play in the Chilean Primera División, from which they have never been relegated. The team has pla ...

, River Plate,

Boca Juniors Club Atlético Boca Juniors () is an Argentine sports club headquartered in La Boca, a neighbourhood of Buenos Aires. The club is mostly known for its professional football team which, since its promotion in 1913, has always played in the A ...

and

Chile Chile, officially the Republic of Chile, is a country in the western part of South America. It is the southernmost country in the world, and the closest to Antarctica, occupying a long and narrow strip of land between the Andes to the eas ...

. Platko was an early

legend and was a team-mate of

Paulino Alcántara Paulino Alcántara Riestrá (7 October 1896 – 13 February 1964) was a football player and manager who played as a forward. Born in the Philippines, he spent most of his playing career at Barcelona, and also represented Catalonia, the Philip ...

Josep Samitier Josep Samitier Vilalta (; 2 February 1902 – 4 May 1972), also known as José Samitier, was a Spanish football player, manager and scout who played as a midfielder for FC Barcelona, Real Madrid, OGC Nice, the Catalan XI, and Spain. He lat ...

and Sagibarba. His bravery as a goalkeeper was immortalized by

Rafael Alberti Rafael Alberti Merello (16 December 1902 – 28 October 1999) was a Spanish poet, a member of the Generation of '27. He is considered one of the greatest literary figures of the so-called ''Silver Age'' of Spanish Literature, and he won nume ...

in the poem ''Oda A Platko''. After retiring as a player he returned to the club as a coach on two occasions (1934–35, 1955–56). Plattkó played 6 matches for the

Hungarian national team The Hungary national football team ( hu, magyar labdarúgó-válogatott) represents Hungary in men's international football and is controlled by the Hungarian Football Federation. The team has made 9 appearances in the FIFA World Cup and 4 app ...

between 1917 and 1923.

Career

Early career

Platko began his career as a goalkeeper in his hometown of

with local club

in 1917. After a brief spell in Austria at

Wiener AF Wiener AF or WAF was a football club which played in Austria. It dissolved in 2004. History The club was established at the end of the 1909–10 season after most of the first-team squad of Wiener AC (known as WAC) left the club to form a new cl ...

in 1920, he returned to Vasas for another season. Between 1917 and 1923, Platko also played six games 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, Croa ...

. In the season 1921/22 he was the coach and goalkeeper for

from

Kula (Serbia) Kula ( sr-Cyrl, Кула, rue, Кула, hu, Kúla) is a town and municipality located in the West Bačka District of the autonomous province of Vojvodina, Serbia. The town has a population of 17,866, while the municipality has a population of ...

where he won the Subotica subassociation championship earning promotion to the Second League of the

Kingdom of Serbs, Croats and Slovenes Kingdom commonly refers to: * A monarchy ruled by a king or queen * Kingdom (biology), a category in biological taxonomy Kingdom may also refer to: Arts and media Television * ''Kingdom'' (British TV series), a 2007 British television drama ...

. In 1922 MTK played two friendlies against

. Both games finished as 0–0 draws and

, impressed with Platko offered him a contract.

Barcelona

Platko replaced the legendary

Ricardo Zamora Ricardo Zamora Martínez (; 14 February 1901 – 8 September 1978) was a Spanish footballer and manager. He played as a goalkeeper for, among others, RCD Espanyol, FC Barcelona and Real Madrid. As an international he played for both the Catala ...

, but soon established himself as a legend in his own right. He spent seven years at

between 1923 and 1930. During that time he won six Campionat de Catalunya titles, three

Copa del Rey The Campeonato de España–Copa de Su Majestad el Rey, commonly known as Copa del Rey or simply La Copa and formerly known as Copa del Presidente de la República (1932–36) and Copa del Generalísimo (1939–76), is an annual knockout footb ...

and the first ever

La Liga The Campeonato Nacional de Liga de Primera División, commonly known simply as Primera División in Spain, and as La Liga in English-speaking countries and officially as LaLiga Santander for sponsorship reasons, stylized as LaLiga, is the men' ...

title. The poem ''Oda A Platko'' came about following the

final in 1928.

took three games to beat

Real Sociedad Real Sociedad de Fútbol, S.A.D., more commonly referred to as Real Sociedad (; ''Royal Society''), La Real in Spanish, Erreala in Basque, is a Spanish professional sports club in the city of San Sebastián, Basque Country, founded on 7 Septemb ...

and during the first encounter on 20 May,

was so impressed with the bravery of Platko that he later wrote the poem in his honour. Platko finished his playing career at

and retired as a player in 1931. He soon began his career as a coach, working in France with

FC Mulhouse Football Club de Mulhouse (; commonly referred to as FCM or simply Mulhouse) is a French association football club based in Mulhouse. The club was founded in 1893 and currently play in the Championnat National 3, the fifth level of French footb ...

(1932–33) and

Racing Club de Roubaix Racing Club de Roubaix was a French association football team that played in Roubaix, Nord. History The team was founded in 1895 and was very successful before the establishment of professionalism in France. In 1933, after losing twice in a ...

(1933–34), before returning to

as a coach for the 1934/35 season. Despite guiding the club to another Campionat de Catalunya, the following season he was replaced by Patrick O'Connell. After two decades away from the club Platko was reappointed coach of

CF Barcelona Futbol Club Barcelona (), commonly referred to as Barcelona and colloquially known as Barça (), is a professional football club based in Barcelona, Catalonia, Spain, that competes in La Liga, the top flight of Spanish football. Founded ...

for the 1955/56 season. During this season the club, inspired by

Ladislao Kubala Ladislao is a given name, a Hispanic variant of Vladislav. Notable people with the name include: * Ladislao Cabrera, Bolivian hero during the War of the Pacific * Ladislao Diwa, Filipino patriot * Ladislao Martínez, Puerto Rico musician * Lászl ...

and

Luis Suárez Luis Alberto Suárez Díaz (; born 24 January 1987) is a Uruguayan professional footballer who plays as a striker for Uruguayan Primera División club Nacional and the Uruguay national team. Nicknamed ''El Pistolero'' ('The Gunman'), he is ...

, won 10 consecutive

games in a row. The record remained unbeaten until 2005. Despite this run

only managed to finish second in

behind Atlético Bilbao and Platko was replaced the following season.

South America

During the two decades away from

established himself as a coach in South America. In 1939, during the first of three spells at

he guided the club to the Chilean Championionship. In 1940 he had a spell in charge of River Plate in

Argentina Argentina (), officially the Argentine Republic ( es, link=no, República Argentina), is a country in the southern half of South America. Argentina covers an area of , making it the second-largest country in South America after Brazil, t ...

before he returned to

and Colo-Colo in 1941, winning a second Chilean Championship. In 1941 he took charge of

and continued as national team manager until 1945, coaching the team at both the

South American Championship A South American Championship is a top level international sports competition between South American athletes or sports teams representing their respective countries or professional sports clubs. List of Championships * ATP Buenos Aires, a tennis ...

in both

1942 Events Below, the events of World War II have the "WWII" prefix. January * January 1 – WWII: The Declaration by United Nations is signed by China, the United Kingdom, the United States, the Soviet Union, and 22 other nations, in wh ...

and

1945 1945 marked the end of World War II and the fall of Nazi Germany and the Empire of Japan. It is also the only year in which nuclear weapons have been used in combat. Events Below, the events of World War II have the "WWII" prefix. Januar ...

. During 1942 he also coached two other Chilean clubs, Club Magallanes and

Santiago Wanderers Club de Deportes Santiago Wanderers is a football club based in Valparaíso, a founding member of the Chilean Football Federation. Their home ground, Estadio Elías Figueroa Brander, is in the north-west of the city. Wanderers have played their ...

. In 1949 he coached

and in 1953 he returned to Colo-Colo for a third time and won a third Chilean Championionship. For the season 1955/56 he returned to FC Barcelona with which he became runner up in the league one point behind

Athletic Bilbao Athletic Club ( eu, Bilboko Athletic Kluba; es, Athletic Club de Bilbao), commonly known as Athletic Bilbao or just Athletic, is a professional football club based in the city of Bilbao in the Basque Country of Spain. They are known as ''Los Le ...

. His balance of 22 wins three draws and five defeats had been the best for the club yet. The series of ten straight wins in the league was only outdone under

Frank Rijkard Franklin Edmundo Rijkaard (; born 30 September 1962) is a Dutch former Association football, footballer and former manager who played as a defensive midfielder. Rijkaard played for AFC Ajax, Ajax, Real Zaragoza and A.C. Milan, AC Milan and repre ...

in the 2005/06 season. His downfall was a 1–3 defeat on 20 May in the cup quarterfinals against local rivals Español. The club concluded, the relationship between the team and Plattkó was broken, and replaced him for the return match, which ended 4-4, with the club legend

. The next years Plattkó spent in Brazil as talent scout and player observer. later he returned to Chile where in 1965 he took on a last coaching assignment when he took on lowly first division outfit CD San Luis de Quillota from the region of

Valparaíso Valparaíso (; ) is a major city, seaport, naval base, and educational centre in the commune of Valparaíso, Chile. "Greater Valparaíso" is the second largest metropolitan area in the country. Valparaíso is located about northwest of Santiago ...

, with which he ended third from the bottom, which however was one up from the previous season.

Personal life

The Platko Brothers

Franz Platko also had two brothers,

Esteban Platko Esteban () is a Spanish male given name, derived from Greek Στέφανος (Stéphanos) and related to the English names Steven and Stephen. Although in its original pronunciation the accent is on the penultimate syllable, English-speakers tend ...

and Carlos Platko who followed him to Spain and subsequently established themselves as coaches. Esteban coached, among others

Real Valladolid Real Valladolid Club de Fútbol, S.A.D., or simply Real Valladolid () or Valladolid, is a professional football club based in Valladolid, Castile and León, Spain that competes in La Liga, the top tier of the Spanish league system. The club colo ...

(1928–31, 1934–40),

Granada CF Granada Club de Fútbol, S.A.D. (), known simply as Granada, is a Spanish football club based in the city of Granada, in the autonomous community of Andalusia, that plays in the Segunda División, after being relegated from La Liga in the 2021 ...

(1943–45) and

RCD Mallorca Real Club Deportivo Mallorca, S.A.D. (, ca, Reial Club Deportiu Mallorca , ''Royal Sporting Club Mallorca''), commonly known as Real Mallorca or just Mallorca is a Spanish professional football club based in Palma on the island of Majorca in ...

while Carlos coached

(1941–43),

Celta de Vigo Real Club Celta de Vigo (; ), commonly known as Celta de Vigo or simply Celta, is a Spanish professional football club based in Vigo, Galicia, that competes in La Liga, the top tier of Spanish football. Nicknamed ''Os Celestes'' (The Sky Blues ...

(1944–46),

Girona FC Girona Futbol Club, S.A.D. is a professional football club based in Girona, Catalonia, Spain. Founded on 23 July 1930, it plays in La Liga, to which they gained promotion in the 2022 Segunda División play-offs. Girona holds its home matches at ...

(1948–49) and

Sporting de Gijón Real Sporting de Gijón, S.A.D. (), commonly known as Real Sporting, Sporting Gijón, or simply Sporting (although in an international context this can lead to confusion with Sporting Clube de Portugal) is a Spanish football club from Gijón, P ...

Honours

Player

;Barcelona *

(1): 1928–29 *

(3):

1925 Events January * January 1 ** The Syrian Federation is officially dissolved, the State of Aleppo and the State of Damascus having been replaced by the State of Syria. * January 3 – Benito Mussolini makes a pivotal speech in the It ...

1926 Events January * January 3 – Theodoros Pangalos (general), Theodoros Pangalos declares himself dictator in Greece. * January 8 **Abdul-Aziz ibn Saud is crowned King of Kingdom of Hejaz, Hejaz. ** Bảo Đại, Crown Prince Nguyễn P ...

1928 Events January * January – British bacteriologist Frederick Griffith reports the results of Griffith's experiment, indirectly proving the existence of DNA. * January 1 – Eastern Bloc emigration and defection: Boris Bazhano ...

* Catalan Champions (6): 1923–24, 1924–25, 1925–26, 1926–27, 1927–28, 1929–30

Manager

;Barcelona * Catalan Champions (1): 1934–35 ;Venus București *

Liga I The Liga I (; ''First League''), also spelled as Liga 1, is a Romanian professional league for men's association football clubs. Currently sponsored by betting company Superbet, it is officially known as the SuperLiga. It is the country's top ...

(1): 1936–37 ;Colo-Colo * Primera División (3):

1939 This year also marks the start of the Second World War, the largest and deadliest conflict in human history. Events Below, the events of World War II have the "WWII" prefix. January * January 1 ** Third Reich *** Jews are forbidde ...

1941 Events Below, the events of World War II have the "WWII" prefix. January * January– August – 10,072 men, women and children with mental and physical disabilities are asphyxiated with carbon monoxide in a gas chamber, at Hadamar E ...

, 1953

Ode to Platko

Nobody forgets, Platko,
No, nobody, nobody, nobody,
blond bear of Hungary.
Nor the sea,
That in front of you jumped without being able to defend himself.
Nor rain. Nor the wind, that were the one that roared the most.
Nor the sea, nor the wind, Platko,
blond Platko of blood,
goalkeeper in the dust, lightning rod.
No, nobody, nobody, nobody.
blue and white T-shirts, on the air,
real T-shirts,
opposite, against you, flying and dragging you.
With alligator blood in your mouth,
Platko, distant Platko,
blond broken Platko,
tiger burning in the grass of another country.
You, key, Platko, you, broken key,
golden key fallen in front of the golden porch *''This is only very rough translation of poem, needs improving''

References

Literature

* Tamás Dénes, Mihály Sándor, Éva B. Bába: ''A magyar labdarúgás története I.: Amatorök és álamatorök (1897–1926)'', Campus Kiadó (Debreceni Campus Nonprofit Közhasznú Kft.), Debrecen (HU), 2014.

External links

* *
La Liga players stats
*
Franz Platko (1934-35 and 1955-56)
',

(per 2020-08-20) *
Plattkó Ferenc
' (Record with the Chile national team), Partidos de la Roja (per 2020-08-20) *

' (Record with the Chile national team), Partidos de la Roja (per 2020-08-20) {{DEFAULTSORT:Platko, Franz 1898 births 1983 deaths Footballers from Budapest Hungarian people of Austrian descent Hungarian footballers Hungary international footballers Hungarian expatriate footballers Hungarian football managers Hungarian expatriate football managers Association football goalkeepers Vasas SC players FK Hajduk Kula players Expatriate footballers in Yugoslavia MTK Budapest FC players FC Ripensia Timișoara players La Liga players FC Barcelona players Recreativo de Huelva players FC Mulhouse players Ligue 1 players FC Mulhouse managers FC Barcelona managers La Liga managers MKS Cracovia managers RC Celta de Vigo managers Colo-Colo managers Club Atlético River Plate managers Chile national football team managers Boca Juniors managers Expatriate football managers in Argentina Expatriate football managers in Chile Expatriate football managers in France Expatriate football managers in Spain Expatriate football managers in Poland Hungarian expatriate sportspeople in Poland Hungarian expatriate sportspeople in Yugoslavia Hungarian expatriate sportspeople in Argentina Hungarian expatriate sportspeople in Chile Magallanes managers