György Sárosi

György Sárosi (; 5 August 1912 – 20 June 1993) was a Hungarian footballer. Sárosi was a complete footballer renowned for his versatility and technique among other things, and he played in several positions for Ferencváros and the Hungary national team. Essentially a second striker, he could also operate in midfield or central defence, and he helped Ferencváros win five Hungarian league titles between 1932 and 1941. He is considered one of the greatest players of the pre-war era.

He scored a goal in the 1934 FIFA World Cup, but his finest hour came when he captained Hungary to the 1938 FIFA World Cup finals, where he scored five goals in the tournament, including one in the final to reduce Italy's lead to 3–2, although a Silvio Piola goal eventually finished off the Hungarians. He finished with the bronze boot for being the third-highest goalscorer of the tournament.

He was named the 60th European Player of the Century in the IFFHS Century Elections. He is also fifth in the all-time top-goalscorers list for the Hungary national team, with 42 goals from 62 appearances.

After his retirement he moved to Italy, where he managed a number of clubs, including Genoa, Juventus, Bari and Roma. He was also manager of Lugano. He died in 1993 aged 80.

Early life Born György Stefancsics in Budapest on 5 August 1912, the family name was later changed to Sárosi to make them sound more Hungarian. His father was a tailor and raised three children (György, László and Béla); All three became national team athletes – Béla Sárosi also became a footballer, while László Sárosi played water polo (as did his son of the same name, not to be confused with a namesake footballer of that generation, who is no relation). During his school years, in addition to football, György played tennis, table tennis, water polo and athletics. In addition to his perfect technical skills, he stood out from the field in terms of tactics and game intelligence.

He joined Ferencvaros's youth ranks as a 15-year-old. When the capital giants wanted to tie him to a professional deal a couple of years later, though, the youngster had other ideas. "I wanted to become a lawyer," Sárosi recalled. "I saw football as something to play for fun, not a career. However, my father (who was struggling for work as a tailor) convinced me that too many people were losing jobs in the depression, and that I was good enough to make a real go of being a footballer."

During the Mitropa Cup battles of 1935, Ferencváros was beaten by AS Roma 3:1 on June 16 in Rome. In the victorious rebound on Üllői út on June 22, Ferencváros - AS Róma 8:0 (3:0), Sárosi scored 4 goals.

In 1937, Ferencváros was the winner of Mitropa Cup. In the semi-finals, they got Austria Vienna who had beaten Újpest. 18 July 1937 first semi-final in Vienna: Austria - Ferencváros 4:1. Fradi played poorly, the Viennese were confident in going to the next round. With a total of 17 goals in the Central European Cup, he is the competition's all-time top goalscorer.

World Cup 1938 In the 1938 World Cup hosted in France. Sárosi's and Hungary's first game was against the Dutch East Indies, the final score was 6-0 and Sárosi scored twice, in the 25th and in the 89th minute. After the match, the Hungarian captain said: "They were stronger than we thought, but also rougher". Despite scoring twice, Sárosi wasn't much involved in the game. In the second game (Hungary - Switzerland 2:0), Sárosi scored again and Hungary went through the next round. This time Sárosi stepped up and was rated highly by the newspapers, yet he was expected to do even better in the next game considering his reputation. Against Sweden in the third game, Hungary won 5-1 and Sárosi delivered a brilliant performance scoring once and assisting 3 times against the Swedes, here is the description of his performance by Nemzeti Sport: "He (Sárosi) had almost reached the top of his form, and this was the mark of the shape-shifting he predicted [...] We had a lot of wonderful stunts from the Hungarian midfielder, who is starting to match his level in Paris [...] He released great long balls to the wind. All in all, he is a midfielder with a generous, phenomenal intelligence."

The 1938 World Cup final (Hungary - Italy) took place in the Stade Olympique de Colombes in Paris, an attendance of 55,000 people was registered. The stadium was not quite filled to capacity for the third World Cup final. After France's exit, interest in the tournament dwindled and this was reflected in the attendances for the later matches. However, the crowd was eager to see whether the Hungarians, with their flowing style of football and their captain György Sárosi, could halt Vittorio Pozzo's Italian side which boasted the outstanding center-forward Silvio Piola. The score was already 3-1 in favour of Italians when Sárosi scored a well placed shot close to the 6 yard box in the 70th minute. Unfortunately for him and his teammates, Italy were known for their good defensive ability and managed to stop the Hungarians from attacking, the Golden Ball winner Silvio Piola scored the final goal of the 1938 World Cup at the 77th minute. Italy were crowned world champions for a second time in a row. Individually, Sárosi was showing a good vision and had a decent game but the Italian defence blocked most of his passes as the Nemzeti Sport described: "He (Sárosi) produced a few great things, bestowing his peers in front of him with beautiful passes. His ideas are great. they were. But the design is already inferior to this fast and hard, all-down protection. His clever draws on this suffered a shipwreck. His passes were annoying because the Italian defenders could reach them sooner than the destinator." He was given a rating of 3 by newspapers which is equivalent to an "average" performance.

During the 1938 World Cup, Sárosi scored a total of 5 goals and delivered 3 assists in 4 games. He managed to score in every game of the knockout stage, an achievement matched only 84 years later, at the 2022 FIFA World Cup by Lionel Messi. His World Cup campaign is considered to be one of the greatest displays in Hungary's history.

Later life and death He first became the coach of Bari in 1948/49. His greatest success was winning a championship with the Juventus guard in 1952. Until 1977, he worked for ten clubs. He later only coached youth teams.

In July 1976, he visited home for the first time. On 20 July, he was greeted by the FTC Circle of Friends. It was an unforgettable experience. After his football career, Sárosi travelled a lot in Europe, when a journalist asked him what was the most beautiful city in the world, his answer was always one: "Ferencváros in Budapest. It was the narrower scene of my dream-like twenty years – the time of my football career – that I have spent on the Üllői Úti field […] The story of Fradi, and my life is completely intertwined, intertwined within me."

He died on 19 June 1993 in Genoa and was buried there.

Style of play

Sárosi is regarded as one of the most complete footballers ever. In the mid-1930s, he was nominated in All-European teams published by La Gazzetta dello Sport, Kicker and L'Auto.

Despite being an inside-forward and center-forward, Sárosi could also operate in midfield as a center-half or even a central defender, and played these role in his early and late career. Sárosi was known for his abilities as a dribbler and scorer with aggressive character, and became a physical force with his leadership and teamwork ability.

Career statistics Club Source:

International

International goals Hungary score listed first, score column indicates score after each Sárosi goal. + List of international goals scored by György Sárosi No. Cap Date Venue Opponent Score Result Competition 1 15 2 July 1933 Råsunda Stadium, Solna, Sweden 2–5 Friendly 2 19 25 March 1934 Stadion Balgarska Armia, Sofia, Bulgaria 4–1 1934 FIFA World Cup qualifying 3 20 15 April 1934 Hohe Warte Stadium, Vienna, Austria 5–2 Friendly 4 5 21 29 April 1934 Stadion Letná, Prague, Czechoslovakia 2–2 1933-35 Central European Cup 6 7 22 10 May 1934 Üllői úti stadion, Budapest, Hungary 2–1 Friendly 8 23 31 May 1934 Stadio Littoriale, Bologna, Italy 1–2 1934 FIFA World Cup quarter-finals 9 24 7 October 1934 Hungária körúti stadion, Budapest, Hungary 3–1 1933-35 Central European Cup 10 11 25 9 December 1934 San Siro, Milan, Italy 2–4 Friendly 12 27 12 May 1935 Üllői úti stadion, Budapest, Hungary 6–3 13 14 15 29 6 October 1935 Praterstadion, Vienna, Austria 4–4 1933-35 Central European Cup 16 30 10 November 1935 Üllői úti stadion, Budapest, Hungary 6–1 Friendly 17 18 31 24 November 1935 Arena Civica, Milan, Italy 2–2 1933–35 Central European Cup 19 20 32 15 March 1936 Hungária körúti stadion, Budapest, Hungary 3–2 Friendly 21 33 3 May 1936 3–3 22 23 37 11 April 1937 Stadion Rankhof, Basel, Switzerland 5–1 1936–38 Central European Cup 24 40 19 September 1937 Hungária körúti stadion, Budapest, Hungary 8–3 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 41 10 October 1937 Praterstadion, Vienna, Austria 2–1 32 42 14 November 1937 Üllői úti stadion, Budapest, Hungary 2–0 33 43 5 June 1938 Stade Municipal Velodrome, Reims, France 6–0 1938 FIFA World Cup round of 16 34 35 44 12 June 1938 Stade Victor Boucquey, Lille, France 2–0 1938 FIFA World Cup quarter-finals 36 45 16 June 1938 Parc des Princes, Paris, France 5–1 1938 FIFA World Cup semi-finals 37 46 19 June 1938 Stade Olympique de Colombes, Paris, France 2–4 1938 FIFA World Cup Final 38 47 7 December 1938 Ibrox Stadium, Glasgow, Scotland 1–3 Friendly 39 54 12 November 1939 Beogradski SK Stadium, Belgrade, Yugoslavia 2–0 40 55 31 March 1940 Üllői úti stadion, Budapest, Hungary 3–0 41 42 57 19 May 1940 2–0 1940-41 Danube Cup

Honours Player Club Ferencváros Hungarian National Championship (5): 1932, 1934, 1938, 1940, 1941 Hungarian Cup (4): 1933, 1942, 1943, 1944 Mitropa Cup (1): 1937

International Hungary FIFA World Cup runner-up: 1938 Central European International Cup third place: 1931–32, 1933–35

Manager Club Juventus Serie A: 1951–52

Individual FIFA World Cup Bronze Ball: 1938 FIFA World Cup Bronze Boot: 1938 FIFA World Cup All-Star Team: 1938 Central European International Cup: Top scorer 1933–35 World Soccer: The 100 Greatest Footballers of All Time Mitropa Cup top scorer: 1935, 1937, 1940 Nemzeti Bajnokság I top scorer: 1935–36, 1939–40, 1940–41 Nemzeti Bajnokság I unofficial top scorer: 1944