Jozsef Szabo is a well-known Soviet football player and coach, who is of Hungarian origin, but at the same time he spent his entire career in Soviet clubs. Moreover, even after the completion of the career of a football player, when he became a coach, he coached exclusively Soviet clubs and even the national team of Ukraine. However, you need to talk about everything in order. Jozsef Szabo is an outstanding personality in Soviet football, so you should know his biography.
Carier start
Jozsef Jozhefovich began his football career in the Ukrainian club “Chemist” from the city of Kalush - there he went through a football academy and played for the youth squad until he was called to the base at the age of 17 in 1957. Jozsef Szabo, a promising midfielder, already showed great promise, so no one was surprised that he did not stay long in such a small club. In 1957, he moved to Uzhgorod “Spartak”, which promised him more impressive prospects. This is exactly how Jozsef Szabo left his first club in search of development in football terms, and at the age of 17 he moved to a foreign city. However, he was not destined to stay there for long - only two years he played Szabo for Spartak. Already in 1959, the entire Soviet Union realized that this was not just another young talent, but a real genius. Naturally, this attracted the attention of the strongest clubs, and the 19-year-old Jozsef was suddenly in the spotlight when he made a loud transition to one of the strongest clubs - Dynamo Kyiv. It was there that overwhelming success awaited him.
Performances for Dynamo
It's no secret that Kiev Dynamo was once the strongest throughout the Soviet Union. That is why Jozsef Jozhefovich Szabo, who only recently played for the unknown Uzhgorod Spartak, was in an incredible position, having received an invitation from such a grand. Naturally, he did not refuse, and since 1959 he began his fruitful performances for Dynamo - with his help, for ten years the club won four league titles and two USSR cups. For ten years spent in Dynamo, Jozsef Jozhefovich Szabo played 245 matches, in which he scored 42 goals. However, at the end of his career, the 29-year-old midfielder was no longer at the base, so he decided to change his club registration. So in 1970, Szabo ended up in the Dawn of Lugansk.
Career decline
Naturally, no one expected any incredible indicators from the age player, but Jozsef Szabo is a football player who can bring surprises. In his only season for Zarya, he became a key player in the club and helped him achieve good results. However, fate called the player further to explore new horizons. He spent most of his career in Dynamo Kyiv, and now he could try something new. Therefore, in 1971, the 31-year-old midfielder decided to move to Dynamo, but this time not in Kiev, but in Moscow.
Last club
Jozsef Szabo, whose biography definitely does not end on his appearances as a player, could still show good football. For two seasons, he was one of the leading players in Moscow Dynamo, but at age 33, when his contract with the Moscow club came to an end, Jozsef Jozhefovich decided that his journey came to an end. Szabo announced his retirement, but was in no hurry to part with football.
Team appearances
Everyone knows that Jozsef Szabo is a coach with great experience, but before you look at his coaching activities in more detail, you need to look at how he acted as a player not for clubs, but for the USSR team. Unfortunately, Jozsef Szabo was only twenty years old when the USSR team won the European Championship for the only time in its history. Szabo did not participate in that tournament, and he was called up to the national team only five years later. As a result, he played for the USSR national team from 1965 to 1972. During this time, the midfielder at the age of 20, together with the national team, took fourth place in the World Championship, and also helped his team take third place at the 1972 Olympics - this was the last major tournament in which Szabo took part as a player. But Jozsef Szabo did not immediately start his coaching career - his family was the most important thing for him, and five years after the 1972 Olympics he spent away from football. It benefited him, he regained his strength and was ready for new challenges. Jozsef Szabo, whose wife herself insisted that he again engage in his passion, decided to return to football in 1977.
First coaching post
Szabo decided to get his first coaching experience in a club that he already knew - in Lugansk “Dawn”, for which he played right after he completed his performances in Kiev “Dynamo”. Unfortunately, things did not go right away as we would like, and Sabo spent his first season as a coach in the worst way - his club took only ninth place. This led to the fact that he was limited to one year of leadership of this club.
Other Soviet clubs
Szabo did not give up attempts to succeed - in 1978 he headed the Kiev SKA, which was later renamed CSKA, but at the moment it ceased to exist, but even there he failed to achieve serious success. Then the club played in the second division, but even Szabo could only raise it to third place. Then Dnepropetrovsk “Dnipro” followed, where things began to improve, and Szabo even spent not one, but two seasons on the coaching bridge. But as a result, the result was the same - performances that were far from desirable and satisfactory. Moreover, with it, the Dnieper first flew into the second division, and then almost fell even lower. This series of failures led Sabo to abandon his attempts for a long time - he moved away from football by more than ten years.
Return to the world of football
However, in the early nineties it became clear to everyone that Jozsef Szabo did not want to just leave football. It was announced that he will head the club in which he spent almost his entire career - Dynamo Kyiv. This was no longer the Soviet Union, and Dynamo was listed as a Ukrainian club. Sabo lived in Ukraine, so he decided to work here. He did not want to have connections with other clubs - only with the one that gave him a football career in his youth.
Multiple climbing on the coaching bridge
It was extremely unexpected, but Szabo immediately began to show incredible results that no one had seen from him before. In the 93/94 season, when he was just appointed to the post, Dynamo immediately won the championship. This caused public unrest, he was immediately invited to coach the Ukrainian team for the 1996 European Championship. But Szabo nevertheless decided that for now he should concentrate on working with the club. And this brought its results - under his leadership, Dynamo became the champion of Ukraine for four consecutive years, which brought Jozsef Jozhefovich quite wide fame. In 1996, while he was still training Dynamo, he again received an invitation to the national team, which he accepted.
Ukraine coach
From 1996 to 1999, Jozsef Szabo was the coach of the Ukrainian national team and brought her to the matches of two qualifying tournaments - for the 1998 World Championship and the 2000 European Championship. In both cases, Ukraine ranked second in its groups. But in the first case, in the butt games, the Ukrainians lost to the Croats, and in the second case, the Slovenes beat them. However, even such results were incredibly outstanding for Ukraine, and this can be noted due to the fact that Szabo entered the top three coaches of the Ukrainian team in history, second only to the legendary Blokhin and Lobanovsky.
Return to Dynamo Kyiv
In 2004, Szabo returned to the post of head coach of Dynamo Kyiv, but this time he failed to lead the team to success - it took only the second place in the championship. But the people of Kiev did not leave without a trophy, having won the Ukrainian Cup - the second under the leadership of Szabo (the first was in 1996). At the end of the season, Jozsef Jozhefovich himself resigned - it is not known whether unsatisfactory performances were the cause or not, but he himself referred to his state of health. In 2007, he made an attempt to return to the leadership of Dynamo Kyiv, but in the process he had a heart attack, because of which he was taken to the hospital. Doctors managed to save the life of Szabo, but he was strictly forbidden to continue the work of a football coach, since it was associated with too much stress, which his heart could not bear. And so ended the sports career of Jozsef Jozhefovich Szabo.
Life after
Naturally, Szabo could not give up his passion - he ceased to be a coach, but remained the vice president of Dynamo Kyiv. Now he is trying as little as possible to strain himself, but still continues to be active in football matters. It is also worth noting that Szabo did not behave in the best way when sport and politics began to interfere. It’s no secret that the conflict between Russia and Ukraine is very fresh, and therefore its topic pops up very often. So Sabo also could not resist when he commented on the fact that Seleznev’s Ukrainian talent could go to one of the Russian clubs. Jozsef Szabo about Seleznev spoke out as if he were a traitor and a traitor to the homeland. Sabo advised Seleznev and all Ukrainian football players to stay in Ukrainian clubs and support their own football, and not to go into the camp of the enemy, aggressor and enemy. This statement has been discussed for a very long time in the press. On the one hand, it aroused support, and on the other, serious discontent. In any case, you should never mix sport and politics, and in this case, Szabo nevertheless spoiled his reputation a little. Although he was always known for his impulsiveness, so few were surprised when a similar statement was heard from him. But this does not negate the fact that it was incorrect and will remain so forever.