Dezső Novák laid to his final rest

Hundreds of people attended to the former Hungarian defender’s funeral service in Szent István Bazilika, HVG reports.

His friends and former teammates showed their respect as well as Gábor Kubatov and Pál Orosz from FTC, not to mention the complete first team of Ferencváros with Germanian coach Thomas Doll.

The service was celebrated by Bishop Lászó Kiss-Rigó. Jenő Sipos, spokesperson of the Hungarian Football Association (MLSZ, gave a speech, representing the MLSZ, the Hungarian Olympic Committee (MOB), FTC and Novák’s friends. MLSZ and MOB sent Sándor Berzi vice president and Bence Szabó first secretary as representatives.

Only the family participated at the final rite. Novák’s was finally laid to rest in the crypt of the Szent István Bazilika.

Dezső Novák passed away in 2014 February 16th. He was an excellent football player, later coach. His positioning and shooting techniques were outstanding. He was also an expert of free kicks and penalties.

Novák started his youth career in the Egyházasradóc. His first professional club was Szombathelyi Postás, but soon the bigger club from Szombathely, Haladás, managed to get him. After five years, in 1961, he moved to Budapest and started to play for FTC. This was the most successful era of his career. He won the Hungarian league four times, once the cup, and also won the Inter-Cities Fairs Cup in 1965.

In the national team, Novák had two Olympic gold medals, from 1964 (Tokyo) and1968 (Mexico City). In the 1960 games, the Hungarian team finished third with Novák, and also finished the European championship third-placed in 1964. As a coach, he won the Hungarian league three time with FTC. moreover, he wasable to lead the team into the Champions League in 1995. Novák scored altogether 69 goals in 333 matches.