 Kocsis in 1954 | |||
| Personal information | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Full name | Sándor Kocsis | ||
| Date of birth | (1929-09-21)21 September 1929 | ||
| Place of birth | Budapest,Hungary | ||
| Date of death | 22 July 1979(1979-07-22) (aged 49) | ||
| Place of death | Barcelona, Spain | ||
| Height | 1.77 m (5 ft 10 in)[1] | ||
| Position | Striker | ||
| Youth career | |||
| 1943–1946 | Kőbányai TC | ||
| Senior career* | |||
| Years | Team | Apps | (Gls) |
| 1946 | Kőbányai TC | 5 | (0) |
| 1946–1950 | Ferencváros[i] | 84 | (67) |
| 1950–1956 | Honvéd | 160 | (177) |
| 1957–1958 | Young Fellows Zürich | 11 | (7) |
| 1958–1965 | Barcelona | 75 | (42[2]) |
| Total | 335 | (293) | |
| International career | |||
| 1948–1956 | Hungary | 68 | (75) |
| Managerial career | |||
| 1972–1974 | Hércules | ||
| * Club domestic league appearances and goals | |||
Sándor Péter Kocsis (SHAWN-dorKOTCH-ish;Hungarian:[ˈʃaːndorˈpeːtɛrˈkot͡ʃiʃ]; 21 September 1929 – 22 July 1979) was a Hungarianfootballer who played forFerencvárosi TC,Budapest Honvéd,Young Fellows Zürich,FC Barcelona andHungary as astriker. During the 1950s, along withFerenc Puskás,Zoltán Czibor,József Bozsik andNándor Hidegkuti, he was a member of theMighty Magyars. After the1956 Hungarian Revolution, he moved to Spain where he became a member of theFC Barcelona team of the late 1950s.
Kocsis was a prolific goalscorer for bothBudapest Honvéd andHungary. While playing for Honvéd, he was thetop goalscorer in any European league in both 1952 and 1954. He also scored 75 goals in 68 appearances for Hungary – a 1.10 goal/game average at the game's highest level. Kocsis was the top goalscorer in the1954 World Cup with 11 goals, a record at the time for goals in a single World Cup. That year he scored 23 goals with his national team, the most by any player during a calendar year. He was also the first player to score twohat-tricks in a World Cup. His 2.2 goal/game average in the World Cup finals is second only to that ofErnst Wilimowski (Poland) who scored four goals in his only World Cup match,[3] and onlyJust Fontaine has scored more goals than Kocsis in a single World Cup. According to the Rec.Sport.Soccer Statistics Foundation (RSSSF) he totalled 556 goals in 537 official games among which 123 goals in national team matches at all levels ranked third in recorded history.[4] Kocsis was particularly known for scoring headers.
His 1.103 goals/game average is ranked No.1 for players past 43 caps inFIFA class-A competition, closely followed byGerd Müller with 1.097 goals/game (68 goals in 62 games). They are the only two players in history above a +1.0 goals/game average encompassing over 43 internationals. Ferenc Puskás with .99 goals/game (84 goals in 85 matches) is currently ranked 3rd.
Sándor Kocsis registered a national record of seven hat tricks for Hungary, including a four-goal haul againstWest Germany at the 1954 World Cup.[5]
Kocsis was born inBudapest. He began his career as a junior with Kőbányai TC, before joiningFerencváros in 1946. There, he won his firstHungarian League title in 1949. He was then conscripted into the army and joined the army club,Honvéd. His teammates at Honvéd includedFerenc Puskás,Zoltán Czibor andJózsef Bozsik. During his time at the club he won three more Hungarian League titles in 1952, 1954 and 1955. He finished as top goalscorer in the league on three occasions in 1951, 1952 and 1954 scoring 30, 36 and 33 goals respectively.[6] On the latter two occasions he was also the top goalscorer in any European league.
During the 1952 season at Honvéd, Kocsis was the world's top goalscorer in world 1st division football with 36 goals. He repeated that feat in 1954 with 33 goals.
Kocsis made his debut for the seniorHungary team in 1948. Together withFerenc Puskás,Zoltán Czibor,József Bozsik andNándor Hidegkuti, he formed the offensive nucleus of theGolden Team that went unbeaten for 32 consecutive games. The Hungarian national team suffered no defeats in Class-A international matches between 4 June 1950 and 4 July 1954, in the1954 FIFA World Cup Final.
Kocsis scored his first international hat trick in a game againstSweden on 20 November 1949, and he scored a further one on 22 June 1952 againstFinland. Kocsis also scored six goals at the Olympics inHelsinki as Hungary becameOlympic Champions in 1952.[7] On 19 October 1952, he scored his third international hat trick in a game againstCzechoslovakia.
In 1953, Hungary defeatedEngland 6–3 atWembley Stadium and then in 1954 by 7–1 inBudapest. During the latter game, Kocsis added a further two goals. Hungary also won the1948–53 Central European International Cup withFerenc Puskás as top scorer.
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He finished the1954 World Cup as top goalscorer, scoring 11 goals including two hat tricks, the first of the three players that achieved this. In the opening game he scored his first hat trick of the tournament againstSouth Korea as Hungary cruised to a 9–0 win. In the next game againstGermany, he went one further and scored four of the goals in an 8–3 win against the understrength team of coachSepp Herberger.[8] In the quarter-finals Hungary playedBrazil in a game referred to as theBattle of Berne: Kocsis scored twice in an encounter which saw Hungary win 4–2. Hungary then reached the final after they defeated reigning World championsUruguay in the semi-finals. The game was 2–2 in extra time until Kocsis scored twice to seal another 4–2 win. In thefinal they met Germany once again. However, for the first time in the competition Kocsis failed to score and the Germans won 3–2.
On 24 October 1954, he scored his sixth international hat trick and second againstCzechoslovakia. He completed his seventh and last hat trick for Hungary on 5 November 1955 in a game against the same opponents,Sweden, that he had scored his first.
Ending the Golden years with a silver medal at the1955-60 Central European International Cup, making it a grand total of 2 gold/titles and 2 silver for the Mighty Magyars.
In 1956Honvéd entered theEuropean Cup and in the first round they were drawn againstAthletic Bilbao. Honvéd lost the away leg 3–2, but before the home leg could be played, theHungarian Revolution had erupted back inBudapest. The players decided against going back to Hungary and arranged for the return with Athletic to be played at theHeysel Stadium inBrussels. Despite drawing 3–3 they went out on 6–5 on aggregate.
Elimination left Honvéd in limbo. The players summoned their families from Budapest and, despite opposition fromFIFA and the Hungarian football authorities, they organised a fundraising tour of Italy, Portugal, Spain and Brazil. After returning to Europe, the players parted ways. Some, including Bozsik, returned to Hungary while others, including Czibor, Kocsis and Puskás, found new clubs in Western Europe.
Kocsis spent one season withYoung Fellows Zürich before another Hungarian refugee,László Kubala, persuaded him andZoltán Czibor to join him atFC Barcelona where he became a vital member of the team. He subsequently scored on hisLa Liga debut in a 4–1 win overReal Betis and as part of a team that also includedRamallets,Evaristo andLuis Suárez, Kocsis won aCopa del Generalísimo andLa Liga double in 1959 and a La Liga andFairs Cup double in 1960. FC Barcelona also reached the final of theEuropean Cup in 1961 and this saw Czibor and Kocsis return to theWankdorf Stadium inBern, where in 1954, while playing forHungary, they had lost the World Cup Final and where, on 23 February 1958, Kocsis had lost 5–1 toBSC Young Boys while playing forYoung Fellows Zürich. Despite both Kocsis and Czibor scoring, they finished on the losing side once again. They also lost by the same 3–2 score again, this time toS.L. Benfica.
He scored twice in the 1959Copa del Generalísimo final as FC Barcelona defeatedGranada CF 4–1. In the 1960European Cup hescored four of the goals in a 5–2 quarter-final win overWolves. He also scored a hat trick againstReal Sociedad in aLa Liga game in 1961 and scored all three goals in the 1962Fairs Cup final that they lost toValencia CF 7–3 on aggregate. In 1961, he also played as a guest forValencia CF and helped them win their own summer trophy, theTrofeo Naranja. He scored in both games as Valencia beatBotafogo and FC Barcelona. Kocsis also scored in the 1963Copa del Generalísimo final held at theCamp Nou. FC Barcelona beatReal Zaragoza 3–1.
Kocsis retired as a player in 1966 and opened a restaurant inBarcelona calledTete D’ Or. He also worked as a coach withFC Barcelona and managedHércules CF between 1972 and 1974. However his coaching career was cut short when he was diagnosed withleukemia and thenstomach cancer. On 22 July 1979, aged 49, he fell to his death from the fourth floor of a hospital in Barcelona. It has been alleged that hedied of suicide, though it may have been only an accident.[6][9]
| Club | Season | League | National cup[a] | League cup[b] | Continental | Total | ||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Division | Apps | Goals | Apps | Goals | Apps | Goals | Apps | Goals | Apps | Goals | ||
| Kőbányai TC | 1945–46 | Nemzeti Bajnokság I | 5 | 0 | 5 | 0 | ||||||
| Ferencváros | 1946–47 | Nemzeti Bajnokság I | 3 | 2 | 3 | 2 | ||||||
| 1947–48 | 21 | 5 | 21 | 5 | ||||||||
| 1948–49 | 30 | 33 | 30 | 33 | ||||||||
| 1949–50 | 30 | 30 | 30 | 30 | ||||||||
| Total | 84 | 67 | 84 | 67 | ||||||||
| Budapest Honvéd | 1950 | Nemzeti Bajnokság I | 15 | 24 | 15 | 24 | ||||||
| 1951 | 26 | 30 | 1 | 3 | 27 | 33 | ||||||
| 1952 | 26 | 36 | 3 | 13 | 29 | 49 | ||||||
| 1953 | 25 | 24 | 25 | 24 | ||||||||
| 1954 | 26 | 33 | 5 | 13 | 31 | 46 | ||||||
| 1955 | 21 | 17 | 1 | 3 | 4 | 6 | 26 | 26 | ||||
| 1956 | 21 | 13 | 2 | 2 | 23 | 15 | ||||||
| Total | 160 | 177 | 10 | 32 | 6 | 8 | 176 | 217 | ||||
| Young Fellows Juventus | 1957–58 | Nationalliga A | 11 | 7 | 11 | 7 | ||||||
| Barcelona | 1958–59 | La Liga | 4 | 4 | 6 | 11 | — | 0 | 0 | 10 | 15 | |
| 1959–60 | 9 | 3 | 0 | 0 | — | 4 | 5 | 13 | 8 | |||
| 1960–61 | 10 | 4 | 1 | 1 | — | 9 | 6 | 20 | 11 | |||
| 1961–62 | 20 | 17 | 2 | 0 | — | 6 | 3 | 28 | 20 | |||
| 1962–63 | 9 | 2 | 7 | 3 | — | 3 | 4 | 19 | 9 | |||
| 1963–64 | 19 | 12 | 6 | 4 | — | 4 | 3 | 29 | 19 | |||
| 1964–65 | 4 | 0 | 0 | 0 | — | 3 | 0 | 7 | 0 | |||
| Total | 75 | 42 | 22 | 19 | — | 29 | 21 | 126 | 82 | |||
| Career total | 335 | 293 | 32 | 51 | 35 | 29 | 402 | 373 | ||||
| National team | Year | Apps | Goals |
|---|---|---|---|
| Hungary | 1948 | 1 | 2 |
| 1949 | 6 | 5 | |
| 1950 | 6 | 5 | |
| 1951 | 3 | 6 | |
| 1952 | 12 | 16 | |
| 1953 | 5 | 1 | |
| 1954 | 14 | 23 | |
| 1955 | 12 | 10 | |
| 1956 | 9 | 7 | |
| Total | 68 | 75 | |
Ferencváros
Honvéd
Barcelona
Hungary
Individual
| Records | ||
|---|---|---|
| Preceded by | FIFA World Cup Highest Goalscorer 30 June 1954 – 28 June 1958 | Succeeded by |
Awards | |||||||||||||||||||||||
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Hungary squads | |||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
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| International | |
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| National | |
