István Kozma (born 3 December 1964) is a former 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 lea ...

who played as a

midfielder In the sport of association football, a midfielder takes an Glossary of association football terms#O, outfield position primarily in the middle of the pitch. Midfielders may play an exclusively defensive role, breaking up attacks, and are in t ...

. He was the first Hungarian player to ever play in the

Premier League The Premier League is a professional association football league in England and the highest level of the English football league system. Contested by 20 clubs, it operates on a system of promotion and relegation with the English Football Lea ...

on 26 September 1992, when he appeared for

Liverpool Liverpool is a port City status in the United Kingdom, city and metropolitan borough in Merseyside, England. It is situated on the eastern side of the River Mersey, Mersey Estuary, near the Irish Sea, north-west of London. With a population ...

as a substitute against

Wimbledon Wimbledon most often refers to: * Wimbledon, London, a district of southwest London * Wimbledon Championships, the oldest tennis tournament in the world and one of the four Grand Slam championships Wimbledon may also refer to: Places London * W ...

, playing 7 minutes.

Career

Club

He began his career at Salgótarjáni TC in his native country of Hungary. Kozma then moved to

Újpest FC Újpest Football Club () is a Hungary, Hungarian professional association football, football club based in Újpest, Budapest, that competes in Nemzeti Bajnokság I. Formed in 1885, Újpest reached the first division of the Hungarian League in ...

and then to French Ligue 1 champions

Bordeaux Bordeaux ( ; ; Gascon language, Gascon ; ) is a city on the river Garonne in the Gironde Departments of France, department, southwestern France. A port city, it is the capital of the Nouvelle-Aquitaine region, as well as the Prefectures in F ...

. In December 1989 he was signed by

Jim Leishman Jim Leishman MBE (born 15 November 1953) is a Scottish Labour Party politician and former professional football player and manager. He is currently Provost of Fife and an honorary director of Scottish Championship side Dunfermline Athletic ...

for

Scottish Scottish usually refers to something of, from, or related to Scotland, including: *Scottish Gaelic, a Celtic Goidelic language of the Indo-European language family native to Scotland *Scottish English *Scottish national identity, the Scottish ide ...

team

Dunfermline Athletic Dunfermline Athletic Football Club is a Scottish professional football club based in the city of Dunfermline, Fife. Founded in 1885, the club currently compete in the after winning the 2022–23 Scottish League One title. Dunfermline play at ...

for £550,000 which is still the club's record transfer fee. At Dunfermline Kozma became a firm fan favourite playing 103 times and scoring nine goals. In February 1992 he was a shock purchase for

, with

Graeme Souness Graeme James Souness (; born 6 May 1953) is a Scottish former professional football player, manager and television pundit. A midfielder, Souness achieved his greatest period of success as an integral part of the Liverpool team of the late 19 ...

signing the Hungarian for £300,000. Kozma made his debut in a goalless draw against Ipswich Town in the fifth round of the

FA Cup The Football Association Challenge Cup, more commonly known as the FA Cup, is an annual Single-elimination tournament, knockout association football, football competition in domestic Football in England, English football. First played during ...

, but never looked like breaking into the first team at Liverpool. In the 1991–92 season he made five league appearances and two in the FA Cup. In the 1992–93 season he played in the 1992 FA Charity Shield and then made one league appearance as a substitute and one further substitute appearance in the League Cup, before being released in July 1993. His poor performance at Liverpool earned him in 2007 the dubious success of being rated by ''

Times Online ''The Times'' is a British daily national newspaper based in London. It began in 1785 under the title ''The Daily Universal Register'', adopting its modern name on 1 January 1788. ''The Times'' and its sister paper ''The Sunday Times'' (fo ...

'' as the fourth worst ever player to play in the Premiership. He then returned to Újpest FC. In 1995–96 he played for APOEL in

Cyprus Cyprus (), officially the Republic of Cyprus, is an island country in the eastern Mediterranean Sea. Situated in West Asia, its cultural identity and geopolitical orientation are overwhelmingly Southeast European. Cyprus is the List of isl ...

where, after amazing performances, he led his team to the Double. The next season, he helped APOEL to win the

Super Cup A super cup is a competition, in association football, basketball, handball, volleyball and rugby union which often forms the 'curtain raiser' to a season, and typically involves only two teams who have qualified through success in other competi ...

and the

Cup A cup is an open-top vessel (container) used to hold liquids for drinking, typically with a flattened hemispherical shape, and often with a capacity of about . Cups may be made of pottery (including porcelain), glass, metal, wood, stone, pol ...

again, before moving back to Újpest for a third time, with whom he won the

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 ...

in 1998. He subsequently appeared for

Videoton FC Videoton may refer to: *Videoton (company) Videoton, officially VIDEOTON HOLDING Ltd., is a privately owned company group based out of Székesfehérvár, Hungary, and specializing in contract manufacturing, mainly electronics manufacturing servic ...

and FC Tatabánya, before finishing his professional career with a fourth spell at Újpest. He subsequently signed for Austrian amateur side Ostbahn XI Wein and Hungarian lower-division teams Budafoki MTE and Rákosmenti KSK.

International

Kozma made his international debut 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 ...

on 9 September 1986, coming on as a substitute in a 0-0 friendly draw with

Norway Norway, officially the Kingdom of Norway, is a Nordic countries, Nordic country located on the Scandinavian Peninsula in Northern Europe. The remote Arctic island of Jan Mayen and the archipelago of Svalbard also form part of the Kingdom of ...

. He went on to play 40 times for the national team until 1995, scoring once, in a 4-1 friendly win over

Turkey Turkey, officially the Republic of Türkiye, is a country mainly located in Anatolia in West Asia, with a relatively small part called East Thrace in Southeast Europe. It borders the Black Sea to the north; Georgia (country), Georgia, Armen ...

on 5 September 1990. Kozma also appeared for the

Scottish Football League XI The Scottish League XI was a representative side of the Scottish Football League. The team regularly played against the (English) Football League and other national league select teams between 1892 and 1980. For a long period the annual fixture be ...

in a 1990 fixture against

Scotland Scotland is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It contains nearly one-third of the United Kingdom's land area, consisting of the northern part of the island of Great Britain and more than 790 adjac ...

, to mark the centenary of the

Scottish Football League The Scottish Football League (SFL) is a defunct league featuring professional and semi-professional football clubs mostly from Scotland.One club, Berwick Rangers, is based in the town of Berwick-upon-Tweed, which is located approximately 4&nbs ...

. The match finished 1-0 to the League XI.

Coaching career

From season 2006–07, he was working as an assistant manager at

Vasas SC Vasas SC () is a Hungarian sports club based in Budapest. Members of the ''Hungarian Union of Iron Workers'' founded the club as ''Vas- és Fémmunkások Sport Clubja'', the "Sport Club of Iron and Metal Workers", on 16 March 1911. The club ...

. In May 2013, Kozma returned to Újpest as manager. After just five months, Kozma left his position at the club in October 2013, being sacked altogether after initially being transferred to the role of video analyst instead.

Career statistics

Club

International

:''Hungary score listed first, score column indicates score after each Kozma goal''

Honours

;Dunfermline Athletic *

Scottish League Cup The Scottish League Cup, also known as the Premier Sports Cup for sponsorship reasons, is a football competition open to all Scottish Professional Football League (SPFL) clubs. First held in 1946–47, it is the oldest national League cup in ...

: Runner-up,

1991 It was the final year of the Cold War, which had begun in 1947. During the year, the Soviet Union Dissolution of the Soviet Union, collapsed, leaving Post-soviet states, fifteen sovereign republics and the Commonwealth of Independent State ...

;APOEL *

Cypriot First Division The Cypriot First Division (), also known as the Cyprus League by Stoiximan for sponsorship reasons, is a professional association football league in Cyprus and the highest level of the Cypriot football league system. Operated by the Cyprus Fo ...

: 1995–96 *

Cypriot Cup The Cypriot Cup, formally known as the Cypriot Coca-Cola Cup of First and Second Division () for sponsorship purposes, is a Cypriot knockout football club competition, hosted annually by the Cyprus Football Association. First held in 1934, it i ...

: 1995–96, 1996–97 *

Cypriot Super Cup The Cypriot Super Cup is a Cypriot football trophy, contested in an annual match between the previous season's Cypriot First Division champions, and the Cypriot Cup winners. The match is contested at the beginning of the football season, and is ...

: 1996, 1997 ;Ujpest *

: 1997–98

References

Cited works

External links

Profile at dafc.net
{{DEFAULTSORT:Kozma, Istvan 1964 births Living people People from Pásztó Hungarian men's footballers Hungary men's international footballers Men's association football midfielders Salgótarjáni BTC footballers Újpest FC players FC Girondins de Bordeaux players Dunfermline Athletic F.C. players Liverpool F.C. players APOEL FC players Fehérvár FC players Tatabányai SC players Budafoki MTE footballers Rákosmenti KSK players Hungarian expatriate men's footballers Expatriate men's footballers in Cyprus Expatriate men's footballers in England Expatriate men's footballers in France Expatriate men's footballers in Scotland Hungarian expatriate sportspeople in France Hungarian expatriate sportspeople in Scotland Hungarian expatriate sportspeople in England Hungarian expatriate sportspeople in Cyprus Nemzeti Bajnokság I players Scottish Football League players Scottish Football League representative players English Football League players Premier League players Cypriot First Division players Újpest FC managers Nemzeti Bajnokság I managers Footballers from Nógrád County 20th-century Hungarian sportsmen