Péter Palotás (27 June 1929 – 17 May 1967), born as Péter Poteleczky, was a 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 forward for

MTK Budapest FC Magyar Testgyakorlók Köre Budapest Futball Club or shortly MTK is a professional Association football, football club based in Józsefváros, Budapest, Hungary. The club currently plays in the Nemzeti Bajnokság I. The club's colours are blue ...

and

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 ...

. During the 1950s he was a fringe member of the team known as the ''Mighty Magyars'' and played alongside the likes of

Ferenc Puskás Ferenc Puskás (, ; né Purczeld; 1 April 1927 – 17 November 2006) was a Hungarian footballer and manager, widely regarded as one of the greatest players of all time and the sport's first international superstar. A forward and an attacking ...

, Zoltán Czibor,

Sándor Kocsis Sándor Péter Kocsis (; ; 21 September 1929 – 22 July 1979) was a Hungarian Association football, footballer who played for Ferencvárosi TC, Budapest Honvéd FC, Budapest Honvéd, SC Young Fellows Juventus, Young Fellows Zürich, FC Barcelo ...

Nándor Hidegkuti Nándor Hidegkuti (3 March 1922 – 14 February 2002) was a Hungarian football player and manager. He played as a forward or attacking midfielder and spent the majority of his playing career at MTK Hungária FC. During the 1950s he was also a ...

and József Bozsik. Palotás was an early pioneer of the deep-lying centre-forward role and in 1955 he scored the first ever hat-trick in a

European Cup The UEFA Champions League (UCL) is an annual club association football competition organised by the Union of European Football Associations (UEFA) that is contested by top-division European clubs. The competition begins with a round robi ...

game. In 1959 he retired as a player due to a heart condition. The same condition led to his death on 17 May 1967.

Club career

Palotás spent all his playing career at

. However, during this time, the club changed their name several times. In 1949, when Hungary became a

communist state A communist state, also known as a Marxist–Leninist state, is a one-party state in which the totality of the power belongs to a party adhering to some form of Marxism–Leninism, a branch of the communist ideology. Marxism–Leninism was ...

, MTK were taken over by the secret police, the

ÁVH The State Protection Authority (, ÁVH) was the secret police of the People's Republic of Hungary from 1945 to 1956. The ÁVH was conceived as an external appendage of the Soviet Union's KGB in Hungary responsible for supporting the ruling Hun ...

and subsequently the club became known as Textiles SE. They then became Bástya SE, then Vörös Lobogó SE and then finally back to MTK. Despite this turmoil, the 1950s proved a successful era for club and it was while at MTK that Palotás, together with

and coach Márton Bukovi, pioneered the deep-lying centre-forward position. With a team that also included Mihály Lantos and József Zakariás, MTK and Palotás won three Hungarian League titles, a

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 ...

and a

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 ...

. In 1955, as Vörös Lobogó SE, they also played in the first ever

. On 7 September 1955 at the Népstadion, Palotás scored a hat-trick as they beat

RSC Anderlecht Royal Sporting Club Anderlecht, commonly abbreviated to RSC Anderlecht (, , ) or RSCA (, , ), is a Belgian professional association football, football club based in Anderlecht, Brussels Capital-Region. Anderlecht plays in the Belgian First Div ...

6–3 in the first leg of the first round. This was the first ever hat-trick scored in a European Cup game. He scored again in the second-leg as Vörös Lobogó SE won 4–1. During the quarter-finals against Stade Reims he scored a further two goals as they lost 8–6 on aggregate and he finished the competition with a total of six goals scored.

International career

Between 1950 and 1956, Palotás won 24 caps and scored 18 goals for

. He scored twice on his debut on 24 September 1950 in a 12–0 win against

Albania Albania ( ; or ), officially the Republic of Albania (), is a country in Southeast Europe. It is located in the Balkans, on the Adriatic Sea, Adriatic and Ionian Seas within the Mediterranean Sea, and shares land borders with Montenegro to ...

. In 1952 Palotás scored four goals as he helped Hungary become Olympic Champions. This included two in a 3–0 win against

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 ...

on 21 July. He also played in the final against

Yugoslavia , common_name = Yugoslavia , life_span = 1918–19921941–1945: World War II in Yugoslavia#Axis invasion and dismemberment of Yugoslavia, Axis occupation , p1 = Kingdom of SerbiaSerbia , flag_p ...

on 2 August 1952. On 17 May 1953, he helped Hungary clinch the Central European International Cup when he played in a 3–0 win against

at the

Stadio Olimpico Stadio Olimpico (; ), colloquially known as l'Olimpico (The Olympic), is an Italian multi-purpose sports venue located in Rome. Seating over 70,000 spectators, it is the largest sports facility in Rome and the second-largest in Italy, after ...

. Although teammates at MTK, Palotás and

were rivals for a place in the national side. By 1953 Hidegkuti had established himself as the first-choice deep-lying centre-forward for Hungary and as a result Palotás missed out on the two prestige friendlies against

England England is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is located on the island of Great Britain, of which it covers about 62%, and List of islands of England, more than 100 smaller adjacent islands. It ...

. He travelled to England for the first game but remained on the bench. Despite this setback he continued to play regularly for Hungary until 1956. During the

1954 FIFA World Cup The 1954 FIFA World Cup was the 5th edition of the FIFA World Cup, the quadrennial international Association football, football tournament for senior men's national teams of the nations affiliated to FIFA. It was held in Switzerland from 16 June ...

he scored twice in the group stage 9–0 win against

South Korea South Korea, officially the Republic of Korea (ROK), is a country in East Asia. It constitutes the southern half of the Korea, Korean Peninsula and borders North Korea along the Korean Demilitarized Zone, with the Yellow Sea to the west and t ...

and also played in the semi-final against

Uruguay Uruguay, officially the Oriental Republic of Uruguay, is a country in South America. It shares borders with Argentina to its west and southwest and Brazil to its north and northeast, while bordering the Río de la Plata to the south and the A ...

. On 19 May 1955 he scored a hat-trick against

Finland Finland, officially the Republic of Finland, is a Nordic country in Northern Europe. It borders Sweden to the northwest, Norway to the north, and Russia to the east, with the Gulf of Bothnia to the west and the Gulf of Finland to the south, ...

before playing his last game for Hungary on 9 June 1956 against

Portugal Portugal, officially the Portuguese Republic, is a country on the Iberian Peninsula in Southwestern Europe. Featuring Cabo da Roca, the westernmost point in continental Europe, Portugal borders Spain to its north and east, with which it share ...

Honours

Club

MTK Budapest FC * Hungarian League: 1951, 1953, 1958 *

: 1952 *

: 1955

International

Hungary * Olympic Champions: 1952 * Central European Champions: 1953 *

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 ...

Runner-up: 1954

Individual

Hungarian Football Federation The Hungarian Football Federation (HFF) (, ) is the governing body of football and futsal in Hungary. It organizes the Hungarian league and the Hungary national team. The MLSZ is responsible for the Hungarian football league system, the men's a ...

Player of the Year: 1951

References

Sources

*''Behind The Curtain - Travels in Eastern European Football'': Jonathan Wilson (2006

External links

Article at www.uefa.com Hungary stats
{{DEFAULTSORT:Palotas, Peter 1929 births 1967 deaths Footballers from Budapest Hungarian men's footballers Nemzeti Bajnokság I players MTK Budapest FC players Footballers at the 1952 Summer Olympics Olympic footballers for Hungary Olympic gold medalists for Hungary 1954 FIFA World Cup players Hungary men's international footballers Olympic medalists in football Medalists at the 1952 Summer Olympics Men's association football forwards 20th-century Hungarian sportsmen