Kálmán Konrád (23 May 1896 – 10 May 1980) was one of the best

footballers 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 le ...

in the

Kingdom of Hungary The Kingdom of Hungary was a monarchy in Central Europe that existed for nearly a millennium, from 1000 to 1946 and was a key part of the Habsburg monarchy from 1526-1918. The Principality of Hungary emerged as a Christian kingdom upon the Coro ...

in the 1910s. An

inside right In the sport of association football, a forward (attacker or striker) is an outfield position which primarily plays further up the pitch than midfielders and defenders. As with any attacking player, the role of the forward relies heavily on bein ...

, he played on the Hungary national team with his brother,

Jenő Konrád Jenő Konrád (13 August 1894 – 15 July 1978) also referred to as Eugen Conrad or Eugène Conrad or Eugenio Konrad was a Hungarian footballer and manager. In the 1910s he played on the Hungary national team with his brother, Kálmán Konrád ...

. Kálmán, who later played for Austria, coached the Romania national team for five games in the mid-1930s.

Career

Born in Bácspalánka (Bačka Palanka), a town on the Danube River in

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 ...

(now part of

Vojvodina Vojvodina ( ; sr-Cyrl, Војводина, ), officially the Autonomous Province of Vojvodina, is an Autonomous administrative division, autonomous province that occupies the northernmost part of Serbia, located in Central Europe. It lies withi ...

, Serbia), Konrád moved to Budapest as a small child. He joined the club

MTK Hungária FC Magyar Testgyakorlók Köre Budapest Futball Club or shortly MTK is a professional football club based in Józsefváros, Budapest, Hungary. The club currently plays in the Nemzeti Bajnokság I. The club's colours are blue and white. As one of t ...

in 1910 at the age of 14 and then joined the first team in the Hungarian League in 1913 at the age of 17. Konrád played for MTK from 1913 to 1919 and helped the team win the Hungarian Championship in 1914, 1917–1919 (there was no league in 1915 or 1916 because of World War I). In the three championship seasons between 1917 and 1919, MTK outscored their opponents, 376–46, and had an overall record of 60-4-2. Kálmán played in 94 games during this incredible run and scored 88 goals while a player for MTK. He was also a member of the National team, appeared in 12 games and scored two goals. In August 1926, Kálmán was brought to the United States by Nat Agar, the owner-manager of the

Brooklyn Wanderers The Brooklyn Wanderers was a U.S. soccer team which was a founding member of the National Association Football League in the late nineteenth century. Later versions joined the original American Soccer League and the reorganized American Socce ...

of the American Soccer League (ASL). Kálmán's talent was so legendary that Agar was forced to keep the transfer a secret until he was on his way to the U.S. That year, Konrád played for Brooklyn and appeared in 27 games and scored two goals. That season, he also played in the

International Soccer League The International Soccer League was a U.S.-based soccer league which was formed in 1960 and collapsed in 1965. The League, affiliated with the American Soccer League, featured guest teams primarily from Europe and some from South America, Canada ...

, a new league of American and Canadian teams. The Wanderers of the ASL participated and won the league championship with a 5–3–1 record. Konrád scored four goals while playing in every game. After his only season in the United States, Konrád returned to Hungary and ended his playing career with MTK during the 1927–28 season. He then became a world-renowned coach and led powerful clubs such as Bayern Munich, FC Zurich, and Slavia Prague. Konrád also coached a number of teams in Sweden,http://www.degerforsif.se/artiklar/de-ungerska-tranarna-som-fornyade-den-svenska-fotbollen where he settled and lived until his death in 1980.

Honours

As manager

Malmö FF *

Allsvenskan Allsvenskan (; ), also known as Fotbollsallsvenskan (, ) is a professional association football league in Sweden and the highest level of the Swedish football league system. Founded in 1924, it operates on a system of promotion and relegatio ...

1949 Events January * January 1 – A United Nations-sponsored ceasefire brings an end to the Indo-Pakistani War of 1947. The war results in a stalemate and the division of Kashmir, which still continues as of 2025 * January 2 – Luis ...

1950 Events January * January 1 – The International Police Association (IPA) – the largest police organization in the world – is formed. * January 5 – 1950 Sverdlovsk plane crash, Sverdlovsk plane crash: ''Aeroflot'' Lisunov Li-2 ...

References

External links

Profile
{{DEFAULTSORT:Konrad, Kalman 1896 births 1980 deaths Footballers from Bačka Palanka Hungarians in Vojvodina Hungarian men's footballers Hungary men's international footballers MTK Budapest FC players Austrian men's footballers FC Rapid București managers American Soccer League (1921–1933) players Brooklyn Wanderers (1922–1931) players Hungarian football managers Hungarian expatriate football managers FC Bayern Munich managers FC Zürich managers SK Slavia Prague managers FC Zbrojovka Brno managers Malmö FF managers Örebro SK managers Åtvidabergs FF managers Expatriate football managers in Czechoslovakia Expatriate football managers in Sweden Expatriate men's soccer players in the United States Hungarian expatriate sportspeople in Czechoslovakia Hungarian expatriate sportspeople in Sweden Hungarian expatriate sportspeople in the United States Men's association football forwards Hungarian expatriate sportspeople in Romania Expatriate football managers in Romania Expatriate football managers in West Germany Expatriate football managers in Switzerland Hungarian expatriate sportspeople in West Germany Hungarian expatriate sportspeople in Switzerland