Sándor Kocsis

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Sándor Kocsis
Sándor Kocsis 1960 cropped.jpg
Photo from 1960
Personnel
Surname Sándor Péter Kocsis
birthday September 21, 1929
place of birth Budapest ,  Hungary
date of death July 22, 1979
Place of death Barcelona ,  Spain
size 177 cm
position Storm
Men's
Years station Games (goals) 1
1945-1950 Ferencváros Budapest 89 0(70)
1950-1956 Honvéd Budapest 145 (153)
1957-1958 FC Young Fellows Zurich 11 00(7)
1958-1965 FC Barcelona 75 0(42)
National team
Years selection Games (goals)
1948-1956 Hungary 68 (75)
Stations as a trainer
Years station
1970-1971 Hércules Alicante
1974 Alicante FC
1 Only league games are given.

Sándor Péter Kocsis [ ˈʃaːndor ˈko͡tʃiʃ ] (born September 21, 1929 in Budapest , Kingdom of Hungary , † July 22, 1979 in Barcelona , Spain ) was a Hungarian football player and striker in the legendary Golden Elf of Hungary .

Kocsis was considered one of the best strikers of the 1950s and was an outstanding header player. At the 1954 World Cup, he was the top scorer with eleven goals and won the runner-up world championship.

After stints in Hungary with Ferencváros and Honvéd , and Switzerland with Young Fellows Zurich , he moved to FC Barcelona in 1958 , where he ended his career in 1965.

youth

Kocsis comes from a German family whose name was Magyarized by Wagner to Kocsis . He grew up in poor conditions in the metropolis of Budapest , where his favorite occupation was playing football in the streets of his neighborhood. When talent scouts became aware of the talented player, they attested that Kocsis had an “innate eye for goals” and placed him in the traditional club Ferencváros .

Club career

After the end of the Second World War and the associated turmoil, the game operations in the Hungarian league were resumed and the only 16-year-old Kocsis made his debut in the first team. The striker, whom everyone just lovingly called "Kocka", impressed with his headball strength and evaluation of chances. He literally made most of his goals with brains, and his extraordinary jumping ability helped him. This specialty and his head of blond hair earned him the nickname "Little Gold Head". In 1949 he won the championship with Ferencváros, but shortly after this success Kocsis received his conscription as a soldier .

Along with being called up, he switched to the Honvéd Budapest Army Club , the best club team in the country. With Ferenc Puskás , József Bozsik and László Budai , the core of the national team played for Honvéd. Kocsis was built into this team as a half-right striker and formed a unique offensive duo together with superstar Puskás, who provided each other with centimeter-accurate passes and presented their opponents with unsolvable tasks. With Honvéd, Kocsis won four championships and was himself top scorer three times (1951, 1952, 1954).

During the Hungarian uprising in 1956 , Kocsis was with the national team at the Olympic Games in Australia . After returning to Europe, he did not return to his homeland, but traveled via Vienna to Switzerland , where his bride, who had also fled, and his mother-in-law were waiting for him. In Switzerland, Kocsis joined the Young Fellows Zurich for half a year.

In 1958 he followed the call of his compatriot and former Ferencvarós team-mate László Kubala and moved to FC Barcelona with Zoltán Czibor . Despite his 29 years of age, Kocsis had managed to get hold of a well-paid contract in the “West”. With the Catalans, he confirmed his reputation as "Cabeza de oro" (little gold head) and won the championship twice (1959, 1960), once the cup ( Copa del Generalisimo ) and once the trade fair cup . In 1961 he stood with Barça in the final of the European Cup , where Benfica Lisbon had to be beaten 2: 3 (goals: Kocsis and Czibor). Again the Wankdorf Stadium in Bern had brought the Hungarian no luck.

Although there were two countrymen in Barcelona's squad, Kubala and Czibor, Kocsis had to struggle with homesickness . As soon as he received an entry permit, he traveled to Hungary as often as possible. He ended his career in 1965 at the age of 36.

National team

Kocsis quickly became part of the national team and made his debut as an 18-year-old on June 6, 1948 in a 9-0 win against Romania . After a short time he was an integral part of the team that was to rise to the legendary Aranycsapat ( Golden Elf ).

The team, coached by coach Gusztáv Sebes , won Olympic gold in Helsinki in 1952 and was the first national team of continental Europe to beat England 6-3 at the legendary Wembley Stadium . The Hungarians were celebrated by the professional world and were not unjustifiably a big favorite for the 1954 World Cup . The “magical Magyars” showed no nakedness and played their way through the tournament without any major problems. Kocsis himself was in the shape of his life and scored eleven times up to the final (three goals against South Korea , four against Germany in the preliminary round), where Germany of all places had to be beaten 2: 3 and Kocsis had no hits ( Wunder von Bern ) . It was little consolation for him that he won the title of top scorer, because the defeat in the final was a national catastrophe for Hungary, who had lost a game for the first time in four years. The star of the Aranycsapat began to sink and the end of the crew was heralded.

Sándor Kocsis played his last international match on October 14, 1956 against Austria (2-0), as he soon afterwards turned his back on his home country and was consequently no longer nominated for the national team.

Life after football

After finishing his active career, Kocsis opened a restaurant in Barcelona called "Tête d'Or" and left football for a few years.

It was not until 1970 that the former world-class striker took over as coach at the first division club Hércules Alicante . The diagnosis of leukemia ended this commitment in 1974. Martyrdom began for Kocsis. In addition to leukemia, he had stomach cancer and his left foot had to be amputated . Several operations and years of treatment consumed his fortune.

The circumstances of his death are still mysterious today. On July 22, 1979, he fell from the fourth floor of the Quirónsalud Hospital in Barcelona . Whether it was an accident or whether he himself put an end to his suffering could not be conclusively determined.

On September 21, 2012, Sándor Kocsis brought the urn to his homeland. He was buried in the crypt of St. Stephen's Basilica in Budapest. His former teammates Ferenc Puskás , Gyula Grosics and Jenő Buzánszky also rest in the basilica .

successes

National team

societies

Personally

literature

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ a b c Sport1.de: Kocsis buried in Hungary. In: sport1.de. September 21, 2012, accessed October 29, 2015 .
  2. ↑ Klaus Nerger: The grave of Sándor Kocsis. In: knerger.de. Retrieved August 6, 2018 .
personal data
SURNAME Kocsis, Sándor
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Kocsis, Sándor Péter (full name)
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Hungarian soccer player
DATE OF BIRTH September 21, 1929
PLACE OF BIRTH Budapest
DATE OF DEATH July 22, 1979
Place of death Barcelona