Géza Kalocsay (30 May 1913 – 26 September 2008) was a

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 lea ...

and

manager Management (or managing) is the administration of organizations, whether businesses, nonprofit organizations, or a government bodies through business administration, nonprofit management, or the political science sub-field of public administra ...

from

Hungary Hungary is a landlocked country in Central Europe. Spanning much 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 south, Croatia and ...

who played internationally for both

Czechoslovakia Czechoslovakia ( ; Czech language, Czech and , ''Česko-Slovensko'') was a landlocked country in Central Europe, created in 1918, when it declared its independence from Austria-Hungary. In 1938, after the Munich Agreement, the Sudetenland beca ...

(3 caps) and

(2 caps). At the time of his death in September 2008 at the age of 95, he was the last surviving player to have represented either Czechoslovakia or Hungary before the

Second World War World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

Early life

Géza was born on 30 May 1913 in Beregszász,

Austria-Hungary Austria-Hungary, also referred to as the Austro-Hungarian Empire, the Dual Monarchy or the Habsburg Monarchy, was a multi-national constitutional monarchy in Central Europe#Before World War I, Central Europe between 1867 and 1918. A military ...

. Together with his younger brother, he started his career in the local high school team until 1932.

Club career

After Subcarpathia was annexed to

when he was young, he had the opportunity to play for various national clubs. At the age of 19 in 1932, he was transferred to

Sparta Prague Athletic Club Sparta Praha (), commonly known as Sparta Prague and Sparta Praha, is a professional football club based in Prague. It is the most successful club in the Czech Republic and one of the most successful in central Europe, winning t ...

. During his five years in the team, he won the Czechoslovak First League 1936, three times silver medalist and winner of the Central European Cup. In addition during his professional career in Prague, he studied law at the Károly University, and then finally earned a doctorate. In 1937, he moved to French club Olympique Lillois. He finished as runner-ups with the team at the Championnat de France. In 1939, he moved to Hungary club Kispest, and after one season, he signed a contract with Ferencvárosi, and became league champion with the team. He then played for several clubs in the Hungarian championship namely Újpest FC, Ungvár and Szentlőrinci AC.Géza Kalocsay
at nela.hu

International career

Czechoslovakia

From 1933 till 1935, he made three appearances with the Czechoslovakia national team. He also participated as a reserve in the

1934 FIFA World Cup The 1934 FIFA World Cup was the 2nd edition of the FIFA World Cup, the quadrennial international Association football, football championship for List of men's national association football teams, senior men's national teams. It took place in Kin ...

Italy Italy, officially the Italian Republic, is a country in Southern Europe, Southern and Western Europe, Western Europe. It consists of Italian Peninsula, a peninsula that extends into the Mediterranean Sea, with the Alps on its northern land b ...

. He did not made any appearance at the tournament, competing with Antonín Puc at his position.

Hungary

He joined the Hungarian national team while still a player of Kispest. He made his debut on 31 March 1940, giving an assist to György Sárosi, and helped the team beat

Switzerland Switzerland, officially the Swiss Confederation, is a landlocked country located in west-central Europe. It is bordered by Italy to the south, France to the west, Germany to the north, and Austria and Liechtenstein to the east. Switzerland ...

by 3-0. He played for the second time against

Germany Germany, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It lies between the Baltic Sea and the North Sea to the north and the Alps to the south. Its sixteen States of Germany, constituent states have a total popu ...

a week later in

Berlin Berlin ( ; ) is the Capital of Germany, capital and largest city of Germany, by both area and List of cities in Germany by population, population. With 3.7 million inhabitants, it has the List of cities in the European Union by population withi ...

, which ended in a 2-2 draw. He made two appearances for Hungary national team.

Coaching career

He was lured away from working in the legal field by Gusztáv Sebes to become a coach. In his initial years, he coached local clubs such as Nyíregyházi Madisz, Pápai Perutz, Debreceni Lokomotiv, Szeged Honvéd, Vasas Izzó and Pécs Dózsa, and after 1957 he began moving abroad. He first coached Yugoslavian Partizan Beograd, followed by Belgian Standard Liege, Algerian side NA Hussein Dey, and the Polish

Górnik Zabrze Górnik Zabrze Spółka Akcyjna, commonly referred to as Górnik Zabrze S.A. or simply Górnik Zabrze (), is a Polish association football, football club from Zabrze. Górnik is one of the most successful Polish football clubs in history, winning ...

. In his final years, he coached the Pakistan national team also taking part at the inaugural at the 1976 Quaid-e-Azam International Cup. Later on, he coached Egyptian side Al-Ahli. He also returned to his home country several times to coach Újpesti Dózsa SC, Ferencvárosi, Videoton, and MTK Hungaria until his retirement in 1981. As a coach, he won league titles in Belgium, Poland and twice in Egypt, and had several spells leading them to finish runner-ups in various tournaments.

Personal life

His wife lived in his hometown Beregszász, which now belongs to the independent

Ukraine Ukraine is a country in Eastern Europe. It is the List of European countries by area, second-largest country in Europe after Russia, which Russia–Ukraine border, borders it to the east and northeast. Ukraine also borders Belarus to the nor ...

. The town also elected him an honorary citizen in 1998. Kalocsay died on 26 September 2008, at the age of 95.

In popular culture

In the Polish film ''

Stars A star is a luminous spheroid of plasma held together by self-gravity. The nearest star to Earth is the Sun. Many other stars are visible to the naked eye at night; their immense distances from Earth make them appear as fixed points of ...

'' () from 2017, he was portrayed by Witold Paszt.

Honours

Player

Ferencváros *

Nemzeti Bajnokság I The Nemzeti Bajnokság (, ), also known as NB I or Fizz Liga after its title sponsor, OTP Bank's webshop subsidiary, is a professional association football league in Hungary and the highest level of the Hungarian football league system. Twelve ...

: 1940–41

Manager

Górnik Zabrze *

Ekstraklasa (; meaning "Extra Class" in Polish), officially known as PKO Bank Polski Ekstraklasa due to its Sponsor (commercial), sponsorship by PKO Bank Polski, is a professional association football league in Poland and the highest level of the Polish foo ...

: 1966–67 *

Polish Cup The Polish Cup in Association football, football ( ) is an annual Single-elimination tournament, knockout football competition for Polish football club (association football), football clubs, held continuously since 1950, and is the second most i ...

: 1967–68, 1968–69

References

External links