A tribute to Flórián Albert who would have been 75 years old in this year
Hungary’s only Golden Ball winner, Hungarian football’s last Emperor, the 75-times-capped international striker Flórián Albert would have been seventy-five years old today. The Hungarian Football Federation (MLSZ) commemorated his life at the former great’s last resting place in the Óbudai cemetery.
MLSZ executive board member Erik Bánki addressed the attendees at the ceremony, saying: “Flórián Albert was not just an emperor on the pitch, but away from it too. He was a person who didn’t play for himself and therefore he was popular amongst the supporters too. Just as they respected him, he respected the fans too, his teammates and his friends. Albert’s loyalty to his family and the Fradi family characterised his whole life”.
Those in attendance also heard the words of Albert’s former international teammate Antal Dunai before he, Bánki and former international stars Tibor Nyilasi and Kálmán Ihász jointly laid flowers and Ferencváros Chief Executive Pál Orosz placed a wreath at the foot of Albert’s grave.
Flórián Albert was born in Hercegszántó on 15th September 1941 and started to play football in the youth section of Ferencváros – then officially known as Budapest Kinizsi – in 1952. Aged 16, Albert was already in the youth national team which finished 3rd in the 1959 UEFA tournament in Bulgaria. He only played three of the four matches there but still scored six times. The talented young forward was not even 20 years when he was called up to the full national team, almost immediately becoming a bronze medallist with Hungary’s Olympic team at the Rome Olympic football tournament.
A few days after successfully passing his final exams at the Imre Madách comprehensive school, Albert made his debut for the full national team against Sweden in the Népstadion on 28th June 1959. He went on to appear 75 times for Hungary, scoring 31 goals which is enough to place him 10th in the all-time scoring charts for his country (of subsequent players, only Ferenc Bene and Tibor Nyilasi have surpassed his tally). Albert’s final match came in Székesfehérvár on 23rd May 1974, already after his retirement from club football, when Hungary beat Yugoslavia 3-2.
Naturally most of Albert’s international success came in connection with the national team, his first big moment coming at the 1962 FIFA World Cup in Chile when he was the tournament’s joint top-scorer with four goals. Two years later he helped Hungary to the bronze medal at the European Cup of Nations in Spain and in 1966 he was a key player as Hungary defeated holders Brazil 3-1 at Goodison Park during their journey to the quarter-finals. In 1972, he helped Hungary reach the semi-finals of the European Championship in Belgium.
The best period of the one-club man’s career came between 1966 and 1968, a period during which, alongside János Farkas, Dezső Novák and Lajos Szűcs, Albert was selected to play for a World XI team in Brazil in November 1968 and scored one goal in a 2-1 against the hosts. In 1972 he was called up to a European Select XI and the next year again for a World Select team (more than a decade later he also played for a Old Boys World XI).
Albert’s club career kicked off with a 3-1 win against Diosgyőr on November 2nd 1958. As Fradi’s centre forward he amassed a considerable amount of league championship medals; gold in 1962-63, 1964, 1967 and 1968; silver in 1959-60, 1965, 1966, 1970, 1970-71, 1972-73 and 1973-74 and bronze in 1961-62, autumn 1963 and 1969. Two Hungarian Cup final feature in his playing record, firstly a 3-2 loss to Győr Vasas ETO in 1967 and then a more fondly-remembered appearance in 1972 when he scored the winning goal against Tatabányai Bányász.
Individual honours were forthcoming too; in 1960, 1961 and 1965 he was Hungary’s top domestic goalscorer and on 11th December 1960 he scored an incredible six goals in a 7-0 demolition of Debreceni VSC. In 1966 and 1967 he won MLSZ’s Player of the Year award. With Ferencváros, his most prominent appearance on a wider stage was the 1965 Inter-Cities Fairs Cup success when Juventus were defeated in a one-off final match in Turin, but FTC also finished runners-up in 1968 too.
December 1967 included some wonderful days for Albert, firstly his son, ‘little Flóri’ who was capped six times by Hungary between 1993 and 1996, was born followed swiftly by the award of the ‘France Football’ European Footballer of the Year prize known as the ‘Golden Ball’. The only Hungarian to have won the award, Albert also received nominations for the honour in 1959 and every year from 1962 to 1968, coming in the top six nominees in 1965.
We cannot say that if he’d not been injured on 15th June 1969 in Copenhagen, the catastrophe in Marseille [when Hungary failed to qualify for the 1970 World Cup] would not have happened, but such an injury in Denmark was suffered, Albert snapping his knee ligaments in an accident which marked the beginning of the end of his career at the highest level.
He followed his retirement from playing with a career in coaching, earning coaching and advanced coaching diplomas in 1974 and 1988 at the University of Physical Education in Budapest. The year of 1978 saw Albert oversee the FTC youth team for a short time before moving abroad to become head coach of the al-Ahly Benghazi club. He returned home in 1983 to resume his duties coaching Ferencváros’ youngsters before venturing abroad again for a short spell in Libya and then returning to take up various leadership positions in the football section of the Ferencváros club.
In 1974 he had the honour of being made an ‘FTC Eternal Champion’ and in 2004 was inducted as one of the country’s ‘National Sportsmen’. Hercegszántó, Budapest and Ferencváros all made him an Freeman of their municipalities and from December 2007 to July 2014 the clubs Üllői úti stadium was named after him. Flórián Albert passed away in Budapest on 31st October 2011 and was laid to rest in the Óbudai cemetery. A statue of him was unveiled outside the Groupama Aréna in 2014.
Source: MLSZ.hu
please make a donation here
Hot news
Raising the stakes: Hungary faces growing EU pressure for child protetcion law!
PHOTOS: Iconic sculpture group returns to the astonishing Buda Castle
Minister Szijjártó: Hungary ‘number one’ destination for Chinese investment in Europe
New exhibition showcases the legacy of Hungary’s iconic painter Munkácsy – photos
Budapest’s Pullman Hotel just hosted the most immersive event ever!
Billions lost in EU funding to cause economic fallout for Hungary