- Béla Guttmann
Football player infobox
playername = Béla Guttmann
fullname =
dateofbirth = Birth date|1900|03|13
dateofdeath = Death date and age|1981|08|28|1900|03|13
cityofbirth =Budapest
countryofbirth =Austria-Hungary
cityofdeath=Vienna
countryofdeath=Austria
position = Midfielder / Defender
youthyears = 1917-1919
youthclubs = Törekvés
years = 1919-1921
1922-1926
1926
1926-1929
1929-1930
1930
1931-1932
clubs =MTK Hungária FC SC Hakoah Wien Brooklyn Wanderers
New York GiantsNew York Hakoah New York Soccer Club Hakoah All-Stars
caps(goals) =
83 (2)
21 (0)
22 (0)
50 (0)
nationalyears = 1921-1924
nationalteam = Hungary
nationalcaps(goals) = 4 (1)
manageryears = 1932-33
1933-34
1938-39
1945
1946
1946-47
1947-48
1949-50
1950-52
1952-53
1953-55
1955-56
1957
1957-58
1958-59
1959-62
1962
1964
1965-66
1966-67
1967
1973-74
managerclubs =SC Hakoah Wien
SC EnschedeÚjpest FC Vasas SC CS Chinezul Újpest FC Kispest A.C. Calcio Padova U.S. Triestina Calcio
APOELAC Milan Vicenza Calcio
Honvéd
São Paulo FCFC Porto SL Benfica C.A. Peñarol
AustriaSL Benfica Servette FC Panathinaikos FC FC Porto
pcupdate = March 10 2006
ntupdate = March 10 2006|Béla Guttmann (born
Budapest ,Hungary ,March 13 1900 ; diedVienna ,Austria ,August 28 1981 ), also referred to as Guttmann Béla, was aJewish -Hungarian footballer and coach. He played as a midfielder forMTK Hungária FC ,SC Hakoah Wien , Hungary and several clubs in theUnited States . However he is perhaps best remembered as a coach and manager of some the world’s leading football teams, includingAC Milan , São Paulo FC,FC Porto ,SL Benfica andC.A. Peñarol . His greatest success came withSL Benfica when he guided them to two successive European Cup wins in 1961 and in 1962.Together with
Márton Bukovi andGusztáv Sebes , Guttmann formed a triumvirate of radical Hungarian coaches who pioneered the 4-2-4 formation and he is also credited with mentoring Eusébio. However throughout his career he was never far from controversy. Widely travelled, as both a player and coach, he rarely stayed at a club longer then two seasons, and was quoted as saying "the third season is fatal". He was sacked atAC Milan while they were top ofSerie A and he walked out onSL Benfica after they refused to pay him more money, leaving the club with a curse as he left. He also earned a reputation for his self confidence and his brash style, leading to comparisons withJose Mourinho [http://blogs.guardian.co.uk/sport/2007/01/17/chelsea_be_warned_a_guttman_is.html] .Playing career
Club career
Guttmann was a prominent member of the
MTK Hungária FC team of the early 1920s. Playing alongsideGyula Mándi , he helped MTK winHungarian League titles in 1920 and 1921. In 1922 he moved toVienna to escape theanti-semitism of the Admiral Horthy regime and joined the all-Jewish clubSC Hakoah Wien . In 1925 he won another league title when Hakoah won the Austrian League. In April 1926 theSC Hakoah Wien squad sailed to New York to begin a ten-match tour of theUnited States and on May 1 a crowd of 46,000 watched them play an "American Soccer League XI" at thePolo Grounds . The ASL team won 3-0.Following the tour Guttmann and several of his teammates decided to stay on in the US. After initially playing for
Brooklyn Wanderers , he signed for the New York Giants of theAmerican Soccer League , playing 83 games and scoring 2 goals over two seasons. In 1928, the Giants were suspended from the ASL as part of the "Soccer War", a dispute pitting the ASL andUnited States Soccer Federation . Guttman and the Giants joined theEastern Soccer League , but he soon moved toNew York Hakoah , a team made-up of formerSC Hakoah Wien players, includingRudolph Nickolsburger . In 1929 he helped them win the U.S. Open Cup. After a merger withBrooklyn Hakoah , they became theHakoah All-Stars in 1930. In the fall of 1930 Guttman rejoined the Giants, now known as theNew York Soccer Club , but was back at the All-Stars in the spring of 1931 where he finished his career as a player.cite book | last = Jose | first = Colin | title = American Soccer League, 1921-1931 | format = Hardback | publisher = The Scarecrow Press | year = 1998 | id = (ISBN 0-8108-3429-4) ] As well as playing football, while in New York, Guttmann also bought into aspeakeasy and almost lost everything after theWall Street Crash .Hungarian International
Between 1921 and 1924 Guttman also played six times for Hungary, scoring on his debut on June 5 1921 in a 3-0 win against Germany. Later in the same month he also played against a "Southern Germany XI". His remaining four appearances all came in May 1924 in games against Switzerland, Saarland, Poland and Egypt. The latter two were at the Olympic Games in
Paris . During the preparations for the competition Guttmann objected to the fact that there were more officials than players in the Hungary squad. He also complained that the hotel was more suitable for socialising than match preparation and to demonstrate his disapproval he hung dead rats on the doors of the travelling officials.Coaching career
A Return to Europe
Guttmann returned to Europe in 1932 and in the years before the outbreak of the
Second World War he coached teams inAustria ,The Netherlands andHungary . After spells with his former clubSC Hakoah Wien and then SC Enschede, he had his first serious success withÚjpest FC in the 1938-39 season, winning theHungarian League and theMitropa Cup . How Guttman spent the war years in unclear. Although his elder brother died in aconcentration camp , Guttmann himself is said to have escaped toSwitzerland where he was interned.After the war Guttmann briefly took charge at
Vasas SC , before joiningCS Chinezul inRomania . Due to food shortages, Guttman insisted his salary be paid in vegetables. He subsequently walked out on the Romanian club after a director attempted to intervene in team selection. He then rejoinedÚjpest FC then known as "Újpesti TE", and won anotherHungarian League title before succeeding Ferenc Puskás Sr. as coach at Kispest AC. However he fell out with Ferenc Puskás Jr., again over team selection, and once again Guttmann walked.Italy
Like many other Hungarian footballers and coaches, Guttmann spent time in
Italy . After spells withCalcio Padova andU.S. Triestina Calcio , he was appointed manager ofAC Milan in 1953. With a team that includedGunnar Gren ,Gunnar Nordahl ,Nils Liedholm andJuan Alberto Schiaffino , Guttmann had them top ofSerie A nineteen games into his second season in charge when a string of disputes with the board led to his dismissal. He later told a stunned press conference "I have been sacked even though I am neither a criminal nor a homosexual. Goodbye". From then on he insisted on a clause in his contract that he could not be sacked if his team were top of the table. He subsequently managed a fourth Italian clubVicenza Calcio .outh America
Guttmann first went to
South America on tour with theHakoah All-Stars in the summer of 1930. [http://www.soccerhall.org/ColinJose/From%20Hakoah%20to%20Benfica.htm] . In 1957 he returned as a coach with the legendary Honvéd team that includedFerenc Puskás ,Zoltán Czibor ,Sándor Kocsis ,József Bozsik ,László Budai ,Gyula Lóránt andGyula Grosics . During a tour ofBrazil , Honvéd played a series of five games against CR Flamengo, Botafogo and a "Flamengo / Botafogo XI".Guttmann then stayed on in Brazil and took charge of São Paulo FC and with a team that included
Dino Sani , Mauro andZizinho , won the São Paulo State Championship in 1957. It was while in Brazil that he helped popularise the 4-2-4 formation, which had been pioneered by fellow countrymenMárton Bukovi andGusztáv Sebes , and was subsequently used by Brazil as they won the1958 FIFA World Cup . Before finally retiring as coach, Guttmann would return to South America to manageC.A. Peñarol , guiding them to the Uruguayan League title in 1962.Portugal
In 1958 Guttmann arrived in
Portugal and embarked on the most successful spell of his career. He took charge ofFC Porto and helped them overhaul a five point lead enjoyed bySL Benfica to win his first of three Portuguese League titles in 1959. The following season he jumped ship and joined SL Benfica. There he promptly sacked twenty senior players, promoted a host of youth players and won the league again in 1960 and 1961. Under Guttmann, SL Benfica, with a team that included Eusébio,José Águas ,José Augusto ,Costa Pereira ,António Simões ,Germano andMário Coluna , also won the European Cup twice in a row. In 1961 they beatFC Barcelona 3-2 in the final and in 1962 they retained the title, coming from 2-0 and 3-2 down to beatReal Madrid 5-3.Legend has it that Guttmann signed Eusébio after a chance meeting in a barber shop. Seated next to Guttman was
José Carlos Bauer , one of his successors at São Paulo FC. The Brazilian team were on tour in Portugal and the coach mentioned an outstanding player he had seen while they touredMozambique . Eusébio had also attracted the interest ofSporting Lisbon . Guttman moved quickly and signed the then nineteen year old player for SL Benfica. [ [http://www.bbc.co.uk/dna/h2g2/A2027017 BBC - h2g2 - Eusebio - A Footballing Legend ] ]After the 1962 final Guttmann approached the SL Benfica board of directors and asked for more money but, despite the success he had bought the club, he was turned down. On leaving SL Benfica he allegedly cursed the club, declaring "Not in a hundred years from now will a Portuguese team become European Champion and Benfica without me will never win a European Cup" . Despite being finalists on four occasions - 1965, 1968, 1988 and 1990 - SL Benfica have never won any European competition again. Before the 1990 final, which was played in
Vienna , where Guttmann was buried, Eusébio allegedly prayed unsuccessfully at his grave to ask for the curse to broken.Honours
Player
MTK Hungária FC
*
Hungarian League : 2
**1919-20, 1920-21SC Hakoah Wien
*Austrian Champions: 1
**1924-25New York Hakoah
*U.S. Open Cup: 1
**1929Manager
Újpest FC/Újpesti TE
*Hungarian League : 2
**1938-39, 1946-47
*Mitropa Cup : 1
**1939São Paulo FC
*São Paulo State Champions: 1
**1957FC Porto
*Portuguese Champions: 1
**1958-59SL Benfica
*European Champions: 2
**1961, 1962
*Portuguese Champions: 2
**1959-60, 1960-61
*Portuguese Cup : 1
**1962
*Inter-Continental Cup: 1
**"Runner-Up" 1961References
ources
*"Behind The Curtain - Travels in Eastern European Football": Jonathan Wilson (2006) [http://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/0752869078]
*"50 Years of the European Cup and Champions League": Keir Radnedge (2005) [http://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/1844425290]
*"Garrincha": Ruy Castro (2005) [http://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/0224064339]External links
* [http://www.soccerhall.org/ColinJose/From%20Hakoah%20to%20Benfica.htm Guttmann at United States Soccer Hall of Fame]
* [http://www.jewsinsports.org/profile.asp?sport=soccer&ID=6 Guttmann at www.jewsinsports.org]
* [http://www.jewishsports.net/BioPages/BelaGuttmann.htm Guttmann at www.jewishsports.net]
* [http://www.planetbenfica.co.uk/figures.htm Guttmann at www.planetbenfica.co.uk]
* [http://www.bbc.co.uk/dna/h2g2/A2027017 Guttmann and Eusebio]
* [http://blogs.guardian.co.uk/sport/2007/01/17/chelsea_be_warned_a_guttman_is.html "A Guttmann these days is hard to find" by Jonathan Wilson]
* [http://www.rsssf.com/players/hong-players-in-it.html#coaches Hungarians in Italy at www.rsssf.com]
* [http://www.rsssf.com/tablesh/hong-unoff-intres.html Unofficial International Appearance]
* [http://es.uefa.com/uefa/history/OnThisDay/index,newsid=149303.html UEFA biography]
* [http://www.s-port.de/david/guttmann.html Biographical article on Guttmann, Bremen University (in German)]
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