Gyula Zsengellér

The native form of this personal name is Zsengellér Gyula. This article uses Western name order when mentioning individuals.

Gyula Zsengellér (27 December 1915 – 29 March 1999) was a Hungarian footballer who played as a striker. A historic player of Újpest FC, he scored 387 goals in the Hungarian league between 1935 and 1947, making him the league's third-highest goalscorer of all-time. He was also a member of the Hungary national team that reached the final of the 1938 FIFA World Cup, being the tournament's second-highest scorer.

Gyula Zsengellér

Gyula Zsengellér
Personal information
Full name	Gyula Zsengellér
Date of birth	(1915-12-27)27 December 1915
Place of birth	Cegléd, Kingdom of Hungary, Austria-Hungary
Date of death	29 March 1999(1999-03-29) (aged 83)
Place of death	Nicosia, Cyprus
Height	1.77 m (5 ft 9+1⁄2 in)
Position(s)	Striker
Senior career*
Years	Team	Apps	(Gls)
1935–1936	Salgótarjáni TC	24	(19)
1936–1947	Újpest FC	301	(368)
1947–1949	A.S. Roma	34	(6)
1949–1950	AC Ancona	30	(18)
1951–1953	Deportivo Samarios	37	(23)
Total		426	(434)
International career
1936–1947	Hungary	39	(33)
Managerial career
1950	Cosenza
1951–1953	Deportivo Samarios (player-manager)
1953–1954	Pezoporikos Larnaca
1955–1957	Pezoporikos Larnaca
1957–1959	Nea Salamis FC
1959–1960	Cosenza
1960–1961	Pezoporikos Larnaca
1961–1962	Salernitana
1962–1964	US Sarom Ravenna
1964–1965	Apollon Kalamarias
1965–1966	APOEL FC
1966–1968	Pezoporikos Larnaca
1968–1969	Niki Volos
1969–1970	Anorthosis Famagusta
1970	Pezoporikos Larnaca
1970–1971	Cosenza (assistant)
1971	Niki Volos
1972–1974	Olympiakos Volos
1974–1976	APOEL FC
1976–1979	APOP Paphos
Medal record Representing  Hungary FIFA World Cup Runner-up 1938 France
* Club domestic league appearances and goals

After finishing his playing career, he worked as a coach for several clubs in Italy and Cyprus, guiding Pezoporikos Larnaca to a championship title and APOEL FC to a cup.

Club career

He was a world-class striker. He was an outstanding player technically, tactically, in terms of game intelligence and goal-scoring ability. He was not a physically strong player, he avoided body-to-body play, but he always put his teammates in good positions. A two-footed player.

Zsengellér as described in the 1968 book Alberttől Zsákig, written by Zoltán Antal and József Hoffer.^[1][2]

Born in Cegléd on 27 December 1915, Zsengellér began his career at Salgótarjáni TC, before joining Újpest FC in 1936, with whom he played for 11 years, until 1947.^[3][4] During his time there, he was the Hungarian league's top-scorer in five seasons (1938, 1939, 1943, 1944 and in the spring season of 1945), Europe's top goalscorer in 1939 and 1945 (56 and 36 goals, respectively),^[3] and also the top scorer of the Mitropa Cup in 1939 with 9 goals,^[5][6] including a brace in the first leg of the finals against Ferencvárosi, helping his side to a 6–3 aggregate victory.^[3] In total, he scored 368 goals in 302 league matches.^[1][2]

In 1947, Zsengellér left both Újpest and the country, becoming the last player that the Hungarian Football Federation allowed to sign a contract abroad, joining Italian side A.S. Roma, where he stayed for two years.^[3] In the 1949–50 season, he played for Ancona, before finishing his career playing for Colombian Deportivo Samarios, where he worked as a player-coach between 1951 and 1953.^[3] According to IFFHS, he is the fifth highest goalscorer in the history of top-tier national leagues with 415 such goals (386 in Hungary, 6 in Italy, and 23 in Colombia), only behind Lionel Messi, Josef Bican, Ferenc Puskás, and Cristiano Ronaldo.^[7]

International career

On 2 December 1936, the 20-year-old Zsengellér made his international debut for Hungary in a friendly against England at Arsenal Stadium in London, which ended in a 6–2 loss.^[8] In his second appearance, on 11 April 1937, he scored a hat-trick in a 1936–38 Central European Cup match against Switzerland in Basel.^[8] The following year, on 25 March, he scored a 5-goal haul in a 1938 World Cup qualifier against Greece (11–1).^[3][8][9] In total, he earned 39 caps, scoring 33 goals, making him the eighth-highest goalscorer in the history of the Hungarian national team.^[8]

Managerial career

After his retirement, Zsengellér started a long and successful managerial career, working mainly in Italy and Cyprus, winning the Cypriot First Division with Pezoporikos Larnaca in 1954 and the Cypriot Cup with APOEL FC in 1976.^[1][2] In 1958, he was appointed as the manager of the Cypriot national team, a position he held for two years.^[2]

Death and legacy

Zsengellér died on 29 March 1999, at the age of 83. He was initially buried in Cyprus, where his grave stood until October 2013, when his family brought his remains to Hungary and reburied them in his hometown of Cegléd.^[1][2][3] His son Zsolt was a sports journalist and former employee of Képes Sport.^[3]

A Turkish newspaper described him as the Paganini of football.^[1]

Career statistics

Club statistics

Club performance			League		Cup		League Cup		Continental		Total
Season	Club	League	Apps	Goals	Apps	Goals	Apps	Goals	Apps	Goals	Apps	Goals
Hungary			League		Hungarian Cup		League Cup		Europe		Total
1935–36	Salgótarjáni BTC	National Championship I	24	19
1936–37	Újpest Budapest	National Championship I	24	35
1937–38			25	31
1938–39			26	56
1939–40			12	11
1940–41			26	28
1941–42			28	27
1942–43			30	26
1943–44			29	33
1944			9	12
1945			21	36
1945–46			35	51
1946–47			29	18
1947–48			7	4
Total	Hungary		325	387
1948–49	AS Roma	Serie A	28	5
1949–50			6	1
Total	Italy		34	6
1951	Deportivo Samarios	Categoría Primera A	19	13
1952			18	10
Total	Colombia		37	23
Career total			396	416

International goals

Hungary score listed first, score column indicates score after each Zsengellér goal.

List of international goals scored by Gyula Zsengellér^[8]

No.	Date	Venue	Opponent	Score	Result	Competition
1	11 April 1937	Stadion Rankhof, Basel, Switzerland	Switzerland	2–0	5–1	1936–38 Central European Cup
2				3–1
3				4–1
4	19 September 1937	Hungaria uti, Budapest, Hungary	Czech Republic	1–0	8–3
5	16 January 1938	Stade Municipal, Luxembourg City, Luxembourg	Luxembourg	4–0	6–0	Friendly
6	25 March 1938	Hungária körúti stadion, Budapest, Hungary	Greece	1–0	11–1	1938 FIFA World Cup qualification
7				3–0
8				4–0
9				10–0
10				11–0
11	5 June 1938	Vélodrome Municipal, Reims, France	France	4–0	6–0	1938 World Cup Round of 16
12				5–0
13	12 June 1938	Stade Victor Boucquey, Lille, France	Switzerland	2–0	2–0	1938 World Cup quarter-finals
14	16 June 1938	Parc des Princes, Paris, France	Sweden	3–1	5–1	1938 World Cup Semi-finals
15				5–1
16	26 February 1939	Rotterdam, Netherlands	Netherlands	1–0	2–3	Friendly
17	19 March 1939	Cork, Ireland	Ireland	1–1	2–2
18	27 August 1939	Polish Army Stadium, Warsaw, Poland	Poland	1–0	2–4
19	24 September 1939	Üllői úti stadion, Budapest, Hungary	Germany	2–0	5–1
20				3–1
21				4–1
22	3 May 1942			2–1	5–3
23	16 May 1943	Geneva, Hungary	Switzerland	2–1	3–1
24	6 June 1943	Yunak Stadium, Sofia, Bulgaria	Bulgaria	1–0	4–2
25				2–0
26				3–0
27				4–1
28	12 September 1943	Solna, Sweden	Sweden	1–1	3–2
29	19 August 1945	Üllői úti stadion, Budapest, Hungary	Austria	2–0	2–0
30	20 August 1945			3–0	5–2
31	30 September 1945		Romania	3–1	7–2
32	14 April 1946	Vienna, Austria	Austria	2–1	2–3

Honours

As a player

Újpest

• Nemzeti Bajnokság I
  • Champions (4): 1938–39, 1945, 1945–46, 1946–47
  • Runner-up (3): 1937–38, 1940–41, 1941–42
• Mitropa Cup
  • Champions: 1939

Hungary

• Balkan Cup
  • Champions: 1947
• Central European International Cup
  • Champions: 1936–38
• FIFA World Cup
  • Runner-up: 1938

As a manager

• Cypriot First Division
  • Champions: 1953–54
• Cypriot Cup
  • Champions: 1975–76
• Cypriot Second Division
  • Champions: 1976–77

See also

• List of men's footballers with 500 or more goals