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

Ferencvárosi TC Ferencvárosi Torna Club, commonly known as Ferencváros (), Fradi, FTC is a Hungary, Hungarian professional Association football, football club based in Ferencváros, Budapest, that competes in the Nemzeti Bajnokság I, the top flight of Hunga ...

, 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 3rd edition of the FIFA World Cup, World Cup, the quadrennial international Association football, football championship for senior men's national teams. It was held in France from 4 to 19 June 1938. Italy national ...

Club career

He grew up in the railway houses of Avar Street in

Buda Buda (, ) is the part of Budapest, the capital city of Hungary, that lies on the western bank of the Danube. Historically, “Buda” referred only to the royal walled city on Castle Hill (), which was constructed by Béla IV between 1247 and ...

, 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 Oradea (, , ; ; ) is a city in Romania, located in the Crișana region. It serves as the administrative county seat, seat of Bihor County and an economic, social, and cultural hub in northwestern Romania. The city lies between rolling hills on ...

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 (, ), 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 ...

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

Bologna Bologna ( , , ; ; ) is the capital and largest city of the Emilia-Romagna region in northern Italy. It is the List of cities in Italy, seventh most populous city in Italy, with about 400,000 inhabitants and 150 different nationalities. Its M ...

. 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 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 ...

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 Wick ...

s against

Austria Austria, formally the Republic of Austria, is a landlocked country in Central Europe, lying in the Eastern Alps. It is a federation of nine Federal states of Austria, states, of which the capital Vienna is the List of largest cities in Aust ...

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 name is ...

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 1934 Nepal–Bihar earthquake, Nepal–Bihar earthquake strik ...

and in

1938 Events January * January 1 – state-owned enterprise, State-owned railway networks are created by merger, in France (SNCF) and the Netherlands (Nederlandse Spoorwegen – NS). * January 20 – King Farouk of Egypt marries Saf ...

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

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 ...

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 of Odense, in southern Denmark. The club has won three Danish championships and five Danish Cup trophies. OB play ...

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

tournament AGF had won. He went on to win his second Danish Championship with AGF in 1955–56, then took over as head coach of

Zamalek Zamalek ( , ''al zamalek'') is a ''qism'' (ward) within the West District (''hayy gharb'') in the Western Area of Cairo, Egypt. It is an affluent district on a man-made island which is geologically a part of the west bank of the Nile River, wit ...

in 1956–57, and won with the Cairo giants the 1957 Egypt Cup. He then went on and coached the

Belgium national football team The Belgium national football team has represented Belgium in men's international Association football, football since Évence Coppée Trophy, their maiden match in 1904. The squad is under the global jurisdiction of FIFA and is governed in E ...

, the "Red Devils", for six games from 27 October 1957 to 26 May 1958. He was succeeded by Constant Vanden Stock. Thereafter, he became coach of the Belgian first division team K. Berchem Sport 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.

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 (, ), officially known as MOL Magyar Kupa for sponsorship reasons, is the Hungarian cup competition for football clubs. It was started by the Hungarian Football Association'','' in 1909, eight years after the commencement of ...

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

Mitropa Cup The Mitropa Cup, officially called Coupe de l'Europe Centrale, Mitteleuropäischer Pokal or Central European Cup, was one of the first international major European association football, football cups for club sides. It was conducted among the suc ...

(1): 1937

International

Hungary *

FIFA World Cup The FIFA World Cup, often called the World Cup, is an international association football competition among the senior List of men's national association football teams, men's national teams of the members of the FIFA, Fédération Internatio ...

runner-up:

Central European International Cup The European International Cup of Nations was an international football competition held by certain national teams from Central Europe & South Europe between 1927 and 1960.Leo Schidrowitz "Internationaler Cup", Vienna 1954 There were competitions ...

third place: 1931–32, 1933–35

Individual

: Top scorer 1933–34 with 27 goals

Manager

Zamalek *

Egypt Cup The Egypt Cup (also known as the Egyptian FA Cup and formerly as the King Farouk Cup) is the main knockout football cup competition in Egypt. It is the oldest club competition in Africa. The first team to win the trophy was Zamalek in 1922. Al A ...

: 1956–57

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Toldi, Geza 1909 births 1985 deaths Footballers from Budapest Hungarian football managers Hungarian men's footballers 1934 FIFA World Cup players 1938 FIFA World Cup players Hungary men's 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 Men's association football forwards 20th-century Hungarian sportsmen Expatriate men's footballers in Finland