György Mezey: eight decades with the ball

György Mezey is 80 years old – one of the most important coaches of Hungarian football was born on September 7, 1941, in Bačka Topola, but in an interview with our portal at the beginning of 2020, he revealed that he had no strong ties to the town. His father worked as a postmaster, and during the years of World War II, they moved almost monthly. He lived in Mezőberény as a child, but he started playing football in Rákoskeresztúr. As a player, he did not make a lasting contribution. Mezey played football for TFSE, Budafok, Keszthely, MTK and Bp. Spartacus, where he began his coaching career at the age of 28. Then, in 1971, he became BVSC's coach and even returned to Szőnyi út later. In 1977, while he sat on the bench for a division 1 league game with MTK, which defined this career as a professional manager, he was also the head of department and then assistant professor at the College of Physical Education. So, it did not seem surprising that his expertise caught the attention in many places. During the more successful period of Hungarian football, the former head coach, Kálmán Mészöly, asked him in 1980 to work alongside the national team, to manage the Olympic team at the same time – so as a member of the staff, he played a role in qualifying the Hungarian national team for the 1982 World Cup. They were considered a successful duo: Kálmán Mészöly gave passion and fire, while György Mezey gave calm expertise for the work). After the World Cup in Spain, he became the head coach for the first time on his 42^nd birthday, on 7 September 1983, when managed the national team in a 1-1 draw against FRG.

Anyone who saw the national team at the time will hardly forget it: the team surprised their opponents with modern football well ahead of their time. He introduced a not-so-well-known style of organized team defense and attack. After the 2-1 win in the Netherlands in the 1986 World Cup qualifiers, the local world stars complained that felt they had no chance against Hungary. The quartet of Antal Róth, Antal Nagy, Imre Garaba, and József Kardos played football impressively and formed an impenetrable wall next to and behind midfielders Tibor Nyilasi and Lajos Détári. Due to the successful World Cup qualification (finished in the top in front of the Netherlands, Austria, and Cyprus), György Mezey was voted the best European head coach of the year. One of his most spectacular successes was in March 1986 when Brazil got defeated 3-0 in the preparatory game by the Hungarian team, which experts also cited as a favorite of the World Cup. But the World Cup in Mexico ended up terribly. The incorrect preparation, the absence of Tibor Nyilasi, who returned from spinal surgery, the complete isolation of the players from the outside world, and many other mysterious circumstances all contributed to the failure: the 0–6 against the Soviet Union is an eternal spot in coach György Mezey's oeuvre. The 2-0 win against Canada was not enough to advance, because the European Championship winner two years prior defeated Hungary 3-0. There would also have been a chance after the 0-6 loss when Uruguay advanced with a 2-7 goal difference as third in the group, but Hungary got eliminated with 2-9.

György Mezey returned to be the head coach for five games in 1988. Then, he coached Videoton and Bp. Honvéd. In 1991, he won the Hungarian League with Kispest. In the 90s, he rebuilt football at BVSC as head of department, and in 1996 he almost won a gold medal at Szőnyi út, but FTC overtook the Railway Workers. His name is linked to Pál Dárdai's smooth career: in early 1996, he lured the midfielder to Szőnyi út for a year, who then signed a contract with Hertha BSC in 1997 from Zugló. He worked as Vasas' and then Újpest's head coach in 2001 and 2003, respectively. In 2008, he became the manager of Videoton and was in charge of the work of the Puskás Akadémia simultaneously. In the academy's history, the team won its first-ever league title with György Mezey on Fehérvár's small bench. He has been an honors citizen of Székesfehérvár ever since.

Translated by Vanda Orosz