László Kubala

László Kubala
László Kubala, 1953
Personnel
Surname	László Kubala Stecz
birthday	June 10, 1927
place of birth	Budapest ,  Kingdom of Hungary
date of death	May 17, 2002
Place of death	Barcelona ,  Spain
size	176 cm
position	Attacking midfielder
Juniors
Years	station
1939-1943	Quite TE
Men's
Years	station	Games (goals) 1
1944	Quite TE	9 00(2)
1945-1946	Ferencváros Budapest	49 0(27)
1946-1948	ŠK Slovan Bratislava	33 0(14)
1948-1949	Vasas Budapest	20 0(10)
1949-1950	Hungaria
1950	Pro Patria Calcio
1951-1961	FC Barcelona	186 (131)
1963-1965	Espanyol Barcelona	29 00(7)
1966-1967	FC Zurich	1 00(0)
National team
Years	selection	Games (goals)
1946-1947	Czechoslovakia	6 00(4)
1948	Hungary	3 00(0)
1953-1961	Spain	19 0(11)
Stations as a trainer
Years	station
1961-1963	FC Barcelona
1963-1966	Espanyol Barcelona
1966-1967	FC Zurich
1968	Toronto Falcons
1968-1969	Cordoba FC
1969-1980	Spain
1980-1982	FC Barcelona
1982-1986	Al-Hilal
1986-1987	Real Murcia
1987-1988	CD Málaga
1988-1989	FC Elche
1995	Paraguay
1 Only league games are given.

László Kubala Stecz , also known as Ladislao Kubala , Ladislav Kubala and Ladislaw Kubala (born June 10, 1927 in Budapest , † May 17, 2002 in Barcelona ) was a football player and coach . Kubala played first for the Czechoslovak , then for the Hungarian and later for the Spanish national team . He himself said about himself: I am a citizen of the world. He is known for his time at FC Barcelona , where he helped build the club into one of the best clubs in the world.

Origin and youth

Kubala was born in Budapest to parents of the Slovak minority . His mother, a Hungarian-Slovak factory worker, and his father, a Slovak- Polish bricklayer , raised their son in poor conditions. As a youth player at Ganz TE , his great football potential was already evident, as he could easily play with older age groups.

Career as a club player

Changing years (1945 to 1950)

At the age of 17 Kubala made his debut in the senior team of his club, before he moved to Ferencváros Budapest after a war-related break in 1945 and played there with Sándor Kocsis . Even then, he was one of that rare type of attacking player who thought up goals and was able to create moves. But the exceptional player had little time to develop his outstanding talent: after the end of the Second World War , Kubala fled to what was then Czechoslovakia before serving in the army in 1946 .

There he went to Bratislava , the hometown of his parents, where he joined the club ŠK Slovan Bratislava . In 1947, 20-year-old Ladislao married Anna Viola Daucik, the sister of the Slovan coach Ferdinand Daučík .

In April 1948 Kubala returned to Hungary , since he had been committed by Vasas Budapest and competed in the league with Ferenc Puskás and Nándor Hidegkuti . But only a year later he withdrew from his homeland for a second time and fled from the new communist rulers again on January 25, 1949: in the uniform of a Soviet soldier , Kubala fled from his home country to Austria in the American occupation zone and came from there with a false passport on to Italy . There he was hungry and lived on help. About his escape he said: “I was never interested in politics. I just noticed that I couldn't live in Hungary. ”Meanwhile, Vasas SC, incited by the Hungarian Communist Football Association, lodged a complaint with FIFA : Kubala had not only broken his contract, he was also a deserter, it said. The world association imposed a one-year competitive game ban. In addition, the player was charged with economic offenses in Hungary and the communist government requested his extradition.

Hungaria (1950)

Kubala joined Pro Patria Calcio but did not play a competitive game. He also played a game against Benfica Lisbon for the top AC Turin team at the time . Fortunately, he did not travel with the team to the second leg afterwards: the plane crashed on the Superga mountain ( Superga plane crash ), north of Turin and almost the entire team was killed.

Kubala was housed in Cinecittà , a US refugee camp in Italy, and in January 1950 put together a football team made up of stateless people and refugees, which he named " Hungaria ". Father-in-law Daucik acted as trainer. The team consisted largely of exceptional talent, but none of them was nearly as talented as Kubala. He was double-footed, had a phenomenal shot and the overview of a conductor. So he trolled through Europe with “Hungaria” in order to earn money in friendly matches. In the summer of 1950 they brought the Spanish national team to the brink of defeat in a preparatory game for the 1950 World Cup in Madrid . It was an important day for Kubala - and also for FC Barcelona . Because in the audience sat Josep Samitier , once a great player and manager of the club at the time. He was ecstatic about Kubala and immediately offered him a contract. He described his situation to him and told him about the FIFA sanction. Samitier assured him that he would take care of the lifting of the lock.

FC Barcelona (1950 to 1961)

Samitier kept their word and actually had the suspension lifted, but in the meantime Real Madrid had also made attempts to sign Kubala. Since the negotiations dragged on and Samitier finally wanted to create facts, Kubala presented the draft contract that Real had submitted to him. Samitier was forced to act and offered Kubala the highest-value contract in the club's history with 647,850 pesetas per year. Kubala signed the contract in June 1950 and was even able to get Daučík to be the new Barça coach. On April 2, 1951 Kubala made his competitive debut for the Blaugrana and immediately won the Spanish Cup ( Copa del Generalissimo ). In his first season ( 1951/52 ) Kubala impressively showed that he was rightly considered one of the best players of the 1950s: He led Barça to the championship with 27 goals in 19 games, with a 9-0 win on matchday 22 -Win against Sporting Gijón scored seven goals and thus together with Bata became the record holder in the highest Spanish football league . With the cup win, the club also managed the double this season . Kubala shone in the unique offensive series with Estanislao Basora , César and Eduardo Manchón . In the first three seasons he won all the trophies that could be won. His foresight, perfect passing game and inventiveness on the stationary ball were famous. Kubala was considered to be technically perfect, maybe even better than Alfredo Di Stéfano , but he was not as strong as fighting and lazy to run.

In 1958 Kubala was able to bring two more Hungarian refugees to Barcelona with Sándor Kocsis and Zoltán Czibor . With these two players, as well as Luis Suárez , Evaristo , Antoni Ramallets and Kubala, Barça coach Helenio Herrera built a new top team that won two more championship titles in 1959 and 1960 . In 1960, Barcelona reached the semi-finals of the European Cup , where they met their big rivals Real Madrid. Due to disputes with Herrera, old star Kubala was not set up and Barça lost 1: 3. After Herrera's departure, Kubala returned to the team and led them to the final of the European Cup the following year . There Barcelona had to admit defeat 2: 3 in the Bern Wankdorf Stadium Benfica Lisbon on May 31, 1961 . At the end of the season, the 34-year-old Kubala announced his departure and played his last game for the " Blaugrana " on August 20, 1961 . He had played for Barcelona for eleven years (256 competitive games, 196 goals) and found a new home in the Catalan capital.

As a farewell, he played in a mixed team that also included Real Madrid players against Stade Reims .

Career as a national player

Kubala played for three different national teams: Hungary, Czechoslovakia and Spain.

During his time with Slovan Bratislava (1946-48) Kubala completed six international matches (four goals) for his parents' homeland. After returning to Hungary in 1948, he played three more times for the Hungarians , who in the early 1950s rose to become arguably the best national team in the world.

In 1953, the escaped Kubala took on Spanish citizenship and was now entitled to play for his adopted home. In 19 games he scored eleven goals, including a hat trick in the 3-0 win over Turkey in November 1957. He was denied participation in a World Cup. In 1962, the 35-year-old was just like di Stéfano in the Spanish World Cup squad for the tournament in Chile , but was not used due to an injury.

Career as a coach

After the end of his playing career, Kubala switched to coaching and became a youth coach at FC Barcelona. In the 1962/63 season he was the head coach of the professional team, but his first job ended in disaster when he was dismissed after an embarrassing defeat in the European Cup against Red Star Belgrade .

But soon after his departure, Kubala hired as a player-coach at city rivals RCD Espanyol Barcelona , where his paths crossed again with di Stéfano. Kubala soon continued his life as a globetrotter and worked as a trainer in Switzerland , Canada and again in Spain.

In 1969 he became the Spanish national coach and after a twelve-year absence he led the Selección back to a soccer world championship ( Argentina 1978 ), where they did not get beyond the preliminary round. After a disappointing European Championship finals in 1980 , Kubala was dismissed from his post - no Spanish national coach has been in office for longer. Only Vicente del Bosque surpassed this record.

Kubala briefly coached FC Barcelona again before he worked as a coach in Saudi Arabia and other Spanish first division clubs . The highlight of his coaching career was winning the gold medal at the 1992 Summer Olympics in Barcelona. In his last job in 1995 he was in charge of the Paraguay national team . After a few months, however, he resigned his post with the words: "I'm not used to such a mess."

successes

• Spanish champion : 1952 , 1953 , 1959 , 1960
• Spanish cup winners : 1951, 1952, 1953, 1957, 1959
• Exhibition Cities Cup : 1955–1958 , 1958–1960
• Latin Cup : 1952
• Copa Eva Duarte : 1952, 1953
• Participation in a World Cup : 1978 (as a coach)
• Participation in an EM : 1980 (as a trainer)

Trivia

• In 1999, FC Barcelona fans voted him the greatest Barça player of all time.
• After Kubala's move to Barça , the club's management decided to build a new stadium to cope with the crowds who wanted to see the big star play. In 1957, Camp Nou, one of the largest football stadiums in the world, was inaugurated. This stadium was referred to as the "house that Kubala built".
• Kubala worked in the autobiographical film "Los ases buscan la paz" (Spanish for "The aces seek peace" ) published in 1955 as a screenwriter and actor. The strip describes in particular his escape from the communist Eastern bloc and the way to Spain. The dictatorial regime of Franco is idealized as a place of peace, freedom and stability.
• The sports program of Catalunya Ràdio Tot Gira has been awarding the Gol Kubala trophy since the 2008/09 season. The aim is to honor a spectacular goal, both in terms of the quality of the execution and the playful creation of the goal. The first winner was Cléber Santana ( RCD Mallorca , 2008/09). This was followed by Roberto Soldado ( Getafe FC , 2009/10), Wayne Rooney ( Manchester United , 2010/11), Andrés Iniesta (Barcelona, ​​2011/12), Zlatan Ibrahimovic (Sweden, 2012/13), Alexis Sánchez (Barcelona, ​​2013 / 14), Lionel Messi (Barcelona, ​​2014/15), Javi Gómez (Socuéllamos, 2015/16), Jordi Mboula (Barcelona Youth, 2016/17), Gareth Bale (Real Madrid, 2017/18) and Lionel Messi (Barcelona , 2018/19).

Web links

• Kubala: inspiration for Barcelona (player profile on fifa.com)
• László Kubala in the database of weltfussball.de
• László Kubala in the Internet Movie Database (English)
• Player profile on the FC Barcelona website
• Article and film about Kubala on 11freunde.de
• Statistics FC Zurich

Individual evidence

1. ^ Report on Kuballa in 11th Friends
2. ↑ La utilización política del cine y el fútbol durante el franquismo: Kubala en Los ases buscan la paz In: academia.edu , accessed on May 24, 2014 (Spanish)
3. ↑ Sport: Premian el gol de vaselina de Messi versus el Betis. July 15, 2019, accessed July 15, 2019 (Spanish).