Béla Guttmann

Béla Guttmann (; 27 January 1899 – 28 August 1981) was a Hungarian footballer and coach, most famously remembered for his manegerial stints at S.L. Benfica. Before the war, he played as a midfielder for MTK Hungária, Hakoah Vienna, and several clubs in the United States. Guttmann also played for the Hungary national team, including at the 1924 Olympic Games. During the occupation of Hungary by the Wehrmacht, Guttmann, who was Jewish, was deported to a Nazi slave labor camp where he was tortured, though he ultimately survived the Holocaust.

Guttmann coached in ten countries from 1933 to 1974, and won ten national championships and two consecutive European Cups with Benfica. He also coached the national teams of Hungary and Austria, having also coached club football in the Netherlands, Italy, Brazil, Uruguay, and Portugal. He is perhaps best remembered as a coach and manager after the war of AC Milan, São Paulo, Porto, Benfica and Peñarol. His greatest success came with Benfica when he guided them to two successive European Cup wins, in 1961 and in 1962.

Guttmann pioneered the 4–2–4 formation along with Márton Bukovi and Gusztáv Sebes, forming a triumvirate of radical Hungarian coaches, and is also credited with mentoring young Eusébio at Benfica. Throughout his career, he was never far from controversy. Widely travelled, as both a player and coach, he rarely stayed at a club longer than two seasons, and was quoted as saying "the third season is fatal". He was sacked by Milan while they were top of Serie A, and he walked out on Benfica after they reportedly refused a request for a pay rise, leaving the club with a "curse".

Early life Guttmann was born in Budapest, Austria-Hungary, and was Jewish. His parents, Ábrahám and Eszter were dance teachers. He became a trained dance instructor himself, at 16 years of age. Playing halfback or center half alongside Gyula Mándi, he helped MTK win Hungarian League titles in 1920 and 1921.

In 1922, Guttmann moved to Vienna, Austria, to escape the antisemitism in Hungary of the Admiral Horthy regime, as during 1919 to 1921 counter-revolutionary soldiers carried out repressive violence to destroy any supporters of Hungary's short-lived Soviet republic and its Red Terror. Several hundreds of people were killed, many of them were Jewish in a campaign known as the White Terror, orchestrated by the Hungarian nationalist government. In Vienna he joined the all-Jewish club Hakoah Wien and played for them as their centre back from 1922 to 1926 and in 1933. On 1 May, a crowd of 46,000 watched them play an American Soccer League XI at the Polo Grounds, a US record for a soccer game until 1977. The ASL team won 3–0. At least six of the Hakoah players were later killed in the Holocaust.

Guttmann and the Giants joined the Eastern Soccer League, but he soon moved to New York Hakoah, a team made-up of former Hakoah Wien players, including Rudolph Nickolsburger. After a merger with Brooklyn Hakoah, they became the Hakoah All-Stars in 1930. In the fall of 1930, Guttmann rejoined the Giants, now known as the New York Soccer Club, but was back at the All-Stars in the spring of 1931 where he finished his career as a player. When he retired as a player he was 32 years old, and had played 176 ASL games.

Hungarian international

Between 1921 and 1924, Guttmann played six times for the Hungary national football team, scoring on his debut on 5 June 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 1924 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. In addition, he required that his players follow his regime of diet, rigorous fitness, and hard training.

Return to Europe; Nazi forced labor camp Guttmann returned to Europe in 1932 and in the years before the outbreak of the Second World War he coached teams in Austria, The Netherlands, and Hungary. He had spells with his former club Hakoah Wien, and then Dutch side Enschede. Years later, he reminisced: "Our sergeant ... [had] learned how to torture people... Was I a footballer from the national team, was I a successful coach? Was I even a man? Who cared, you had to forget all about it." His 78-year-old father Abraham, older sister Szeren, and wider family were murdered in Auschwitz.

After the war, Guttmann briefly took charge at Budapest side Vasas from July 1945–1946. Due to food shortages, Guttmann insisted his salary be paid in vegetables.

Italy Like many other Hungarian footballers and coaches, Guttmann spent time in Italy. He first coached for spells with Padova and Triestina. Guttmann was then appointed manager of AC Milan in 1953. With a team that included Gunnar Nordahl, Nils Liedholm, and Juan Alberto Schiaffino, Guttmann had them top of Serie A 19 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." In 1957, he returned as a coach with the Kispest team which included Ferenc Puskás, Zoltán Czibor, Sándor Kocsis, József Bozsik, László Budai, Gyula Lóránt and Gyula Grosics. During a tour of Brazil, Kispest played a series of five games against CR Flamengo, Botafogo, and a Flamengo / Botafogo XI. Guttmann then stayed on in Brazil and took charge in 1957 of São Paulo and with a team that included Dino Sani, Mauro, and Zizinho, won the São Paulo State Championship in 1957. There he promptly sacked 20 senior players, promoted a host of youth players, and won the league again in 1960 and 1961. After the game, he was held aloft by fans. To celebrate Benfica's 110th birthday, a statue of Guttmann holding the two European Cups he won with the club was unveiled. The statue made by Hungarian sculptor László Szatmári Juhos was placed at door 18 of the Estádio da Luz.

"The curse of Béla Guttmann" After the 1962 European Cup final, Guttmann reportedly approached the Benfica board of directors and asked for a pay rise. On leaving Benfica, he allegedly cursed the club declaring "Not in a hundred years from now will Benfica ever be European champions again". Benfica went on to reach five European Cup finals (1963, 1965, 1968, 1988, and 1990) but did not win any. Before the 1990 final, played in Vienna, Eusébio reportedly prayed at Guttmann's grave and asked for the curse to be broken.

According to David Bolchover, in his biography of Guttmann, there is no documentary evidence on Guttmann saying anything related to a curse and that the first mention of such was in May 1988, by newspaper Gazeta dos Desportos, on the day Benfica played their sixth European final.

Managerial

Honours

Player MTK Hungária Hungarian League: 1919–20, 1920–21

Hakoah Wien Austrian Champions: 1924–25

New York Hakoah National Challenge Cup: 1929

Manager Újpest/Újpesti Hungarian League: 1938–39, 1946–47 Mitropa Cup: 1939

São Paulo São Paulo State Champions: 1957

Porto Portuguese Liga: 1958–59

Benfica European Cup: 1960–61, 1961–62 Primeira Divisão: 1959–60, 1960–61 Taça de Portugal: 1961–62 Intercontinental Cup runner-up: 1961

Peñarol Uruguayan Championship: 1962 Copa Libertadores runner-up: 1962

Individual

World Soccer 9th Greatest Manager of All Time: 2013 ESPN 16th Greatest Manager of All Time: 2013 France Football 20th Greatest Manager of All Time: 2019 Deutsche Presse-Agentur 3rd Greatest Eastern European Manager of the 20th Century: 1999