József Mucha (born 25 October 1951) is a former Hungarian professional

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 ...

, later became a football coach. He was a member of the Hungary national team.

Playing career

Mucha started playing football in his hometown and moved to

Dorogi FC Dorogi Futball Club is a Hungarian football club from Dorog. They recently relegated from Nemzeti Bajnokság II, second division to play in Nemzeti Bajnokság III. History On 5 July 2023, Balázs Bekő was appointed as the head coach of the club ...

, where he continued his career with the local youth team. His talent was quickly noticed by the then coach of the adult team, János Varga, who gave him a chance to play in the senior team at the age of 17, where he played with such renowned teammates as István Ilku, László Csóri, József Bartalos and István Fellegi. He was soon invited to the youth national team when he was discovered by

Ferencváros Ferencváros (, ) is the 9th district of Budapest (), Hungary. Name The southern suburb of Pest was named after King Francis II, Holy Roman Emperor, Francis I on 4 December 1792 when he was crowned king of Hungary. History The developmen ...

and remained loyal to the Green and White for 11 years. Two-time Hungarian champion and four-time

Magyar Kupa 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 ...

(MNK) winner. Member of the Ferencváros team that reached the final of the

1974–75 European Cup Winners' Cup The 1974–75 season of the European Cup Winners' Cup club football tournament was won by Dynamo Kyiv in a convincing final victory against Ferencváros. It was the first of two Cup Winners' Cup successes for the club. First round ...

. In 1981, he turned professional for two years with K.S.V. Waregem in Belgium. He played six times for the Hungary national team between 1974 and 1981.

Coaching career

Mucha graduated as a football coach from the University of Physical Education in

Budapest Budapest is the Capital city, capital and List of cities and towns of Hungary, most populous city of Hungary. It is the List of cities in the European Union by population within city limits, tenth-largest city in the European Union by popul ...

. From 1983 he worked as a coach at Ferencváros. He first worked with the junior team and then as a coach for

Tibor Nyilasi Tibor Nyilasi (born 18 January 1955) is a retired Hungarian football player and manager. A midfielder, he signed with Ferencváros in 1972 and played there until transferring to Austria Wien in 1983. He made 70 appearances for the Hungary natio ...

. In 1996 and 1999 he was temporarily head coach of the first team on two occasions. Later, his name was mentioned as a possible head coach of Dorogi FC, which did not materialize. He led

FC Tiszaújváros Football Club Tiszaújváros is a professional football club based in Tiszaújváros, Borsod-Abaúj-Zemplén County, Hungary, that competes in the Nemzeti Bajnokság III Nemzeti Bajnokság III (''NB III'', ''National Championship III'') is th ...

and then

BFC Siófok Bodajk FC Siófok, generally shortened to BFC Siófok, is a Hungarian football club based in Siófok, a small town on the shores of Lake Balaton. The club was founded in 1921 as ''Siófok SE''. The word ''Bodajk'' in the club's name stems from ...

for one season each, both in

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 ...

. Interestingly, on two occasions he led his players against the team from Dorogi FC and both times came out victorious. Firstly, as coach of FC Tiszaújváros in 1998 and then as coach of BFC Siófok in 2001. A special attraction of this match was that Dorogi FC was managed by the same László Strausz, who had been head coach of BFC Siófok a few weeks earlier. He is the appointed national coach of the Hungary national team and also the coach of the futsal team of the NB I champion Rubeola FC Csömör.

Honours

(NB I) ** Champion: 1975-76, 1980-81 *

(MNK) ** Winner: 1972, 1974, 1976, 1978

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Mucha, József Living people 1951 births Hungary men's international footballers Hungarian men's footballers Men's association football midfielders Ferencvárosi TC footballers Ferencvárosi TC managers Dorogi FC footballers BFC Siófok managers K.S.V. Waregem players Nemzeti Bajnokság I players Nemzeti Bajnokság I managers 20th-century Hungarian sportsmen