Ferenc Kovács

Ferenc Kovács started his career as a junior at MTK Budapest. From 1954, he played on the club’s first team and for more than 10 years wore their blue and white jersey. With MTK he won the 1958 Hungarian Championship, reached the final of the 1964 UEFA Cup Winners’ Cup, and won the Central European Cup two times. Kovács played one game for the Hungarian national team, winning a bronze medal at the 1960 Rome Olympics.

After his active years, Kovács began his career as a trainer for the MTK junior team in 1965 and in 1968/69 he was made coach of the first team. In the 1970s he was the head coach of different teams in Hungary and Spain, and between 1978-79 became head coach of the Hungarian national team.

His most successful training phase was with Videoton FC, whom he coached in three different periods between 1972 and 1988. They finished second in the Hungarian first division in 1976 and in 1984. In the 1984/85 season, he led the team to the final of the UEFA Cup, after victories over Paris Saint-Germain and Manchester United and, despite losing to Real Madrid in the final, won the second leg, 1-0, in Madrid. “Since then he has been a real legend in Székesfehérvár,” according to the club’s website. He also achieved the title of master trainer in 1983.

Kovács is the only Hungarian who competed in European Cups both as a player and a coach. He remained active in football and devoted his daily life to the sport. In 2008, he was made an honorary president of Videoton FC and he also worked in the Hungarian Football Association.