Lajos Szűcs

Lajos Szűcs started his fooball career as a player for Újpest (1957-62), but he débuted in the first division as a defender with Dorogi Bányász in 1963. He later moved to Ferencváros, where he played from 1966-69. Szűcs won two titles with FTC, in 1967-68. He was voted Hungarian Footballer of the Year in both 1968 and 1971.

At the height of his success, Szűcs wished to move to Bp. Honvéd, which became a scandal as FTC did not allow him to do so, and he was banned for a year, He finally started with Honvéd in 1971 and played for them until 1977, later finishing his playing career in 1980 with Bp. Vasas Izzó.

Szűcs played for the Hungarian national team 37 times between 1967 and 1973 and scored two goals in these matches. In addition to the gold medal at the 1968 Olympics, he was chosen as the best player of the tournament. In 1968 he was also chosen for a game in Brazil as a part of the Rest of the World team, playing against the host Brazilians in front of nearly 100,000 spectators at the Maracana Stadium in Rio de Janeiro. Szűcs also played at the 1972 München Olympics, where he won a silver medal, and the 1972 European Championships in Belgium, where the team finished fourth.

After the end of his career, Szűcs worked for the youth teams of Ferencváros for almost 15 years, and also helped the first team occasionally as an assistent coach. He was awarded the title of Honoured Champion by both FTC and the Bp. Honvéd. Szűcs was married to Ildikó Pécsi, one of Hungary’s best known and most popular actresses.