Imre Szabics

Football player infobox
playername = Imre Szabics


nickname =
dateofbirth = birth date and age|1981|3|22
cityofbirth = Szeged
countryofbirth = Hungary
height = 1.80 m
position = Striker
youthyears = 1990-1995
1995-1999
youthclubs = Szeged LC
Ferencvárosi TC | years = 1998-1999
1999-2003
2003-2005
2005-2006
2006-2007
2007-
clubs = flagicon|Hungary Ferencváros
flagicon|Austria Sturm Graz
flagicon|Germany VfB Stuttgart
flagicon|Germany 1. FC Köln
flagicon|Germany 1. FSV Mainz 05
flagicon|Germany FC Augsburg
caps(goals) = 24 (12)
89 (23)
49 (14)
11 0(1)
20 0(2)
17 0(4)
nationalyears = 2003-2006
nationalteam = fb|Hungary
nationalcaps(goals) = 21 (9)
ntupdate = June 1 2007
pcupdate = November 19 2007

Imre Szabics (born March 22, 1981) is a Hungarian football striker.

He was born in Szeged and started to play football at local club Szeged LC in 1990, spending five years with the club before leaving it for Ferencvárosi TC in 1995. He started his professional career at the latter club in 1998 and went on to move after one season to Austrian Bundesliga side Sturm Graz, where he played in the following four seasons. His last season at Sturm was especially successful for him as he became the club's top goalscorer by scoring 11 goals in 27 Bundesliga appearances that season.

Szabics subsequently went on to move to Germany by signing with Bundesliga side VfB Stuttgart in the summer of 2003, spending two seasons with the club. He appeared in a total of 49 Bundesliga matches and scored 14 goals for VfB Stuttgart in the league (and played in seven matches in the Champions League season of 2003/04, scoring twice, a.o. against Manchester United). After a less successful season 2004/05, in which he was mostly only used as a substitute, the striker moved to another Bundesliga side, 1. FC Köln, in the summer of 2005. However, Szabics did not have much success at this club, collecting only 11 Bundesliga appearances and scoring one goal in the league before they were relegated to the Second Bundesliga with a 17th-place finish. He went on to sign a two-year contract with Bundesliga side 1. FSV Mainz 05 in early August 2006. After initially being a first-team striker, he got unlucky again later, being relegated to the bench in the second half of the season. After having played in 20 games for Mainz, scoring twice, Imre was transferred to 2nd Bundesliga newcomers FC Augsburg in the summer of 2007. There, he played in eight games at the start of the season, scoring twice, before he was sidelined by an injury at the end of September. The 26-year old has yet to make his comeback for the Swabian side.

Hungarian national team

Szabics was also a member of the Hungarian national team, in which he won 21 international caps. He made his debut for Hungary in their friendly match against Luxembourg on April 30, 2003 and went on to score two goals in a 5-1 victory for the Hungarians. He subsequently went on to make four appearances and score four goals for Hungary in the Euro 2004 qualifying, including a brace in his competitive debut and the team's 3-1 home victory over Latvia on June 7, 2003. He also played for Hungary in five matches of the 2006 World Cup qualifying and scored one goal, the 3-2 winner against Iceland at home in the team's second match of the qualifying. Hungary failed to qualify for any of the two tournaments by finishing fourth in their groups in both of the two qualifying campaigns.

International goals

Honours

*Austrian Bundesliga: Runner-up 2000 with Sturm Graz
*Austrian Supercup: Runner-up 2002 with Sturm Graz
*ÖFB-Cup: Runner-up 2002 with Sturm Graz
*League Cup: Runner-up 2005 with VfB Stuttgart

*Hungarian Player of the Year: 2003

External links

* [http://www.imre-szabics.com/ Official website] de icon hu icon
* [http://www.xtratime.org/forum/showthread.php?t=109798 Imre Szabics fan site (In English)]