Florián Albert
Flórián Albert (left) and Kálmán Mészöly at Schiphol, Netherlands in 1966
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| Personal information | ||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Full name | Flórián Albert | |||||||||||
| Date of birth | 15 September 1941 | |||||||||||
| Place of birth | Hercegszántó, Hungary | |||||||||||
| Date of death | 31 October 2011 (aged 70) | |||||||||||
| Place of death | Budapest, Hungary | |||||||||||
| Height | 1.81 m (5 ft 11 1⁄2 in) | |||||||||||
| Playing position | Forward | |||||||||||
| Youth career | ||||||||||||
| 1952–1958 | Ferencváros | |||||||||||
| Senior career* | ||||||||||||
| Years | Team | Apps | (Gls) | |||||||||
| 1958–1974 | Ferencváros | 351 | (256) | |||||||||
| Total | 351 | (256) | ||||||||||
| National team | ||||||||||||
| 1959–1974 | Hungary | 75 | (31) | |||||||||
| Teams managed | ||||||||||||
| 1978–82 | Al Ahly Benghazi | |||||||||||
| 1985 | Al Ahly Benghazi | |||||||||||
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Honours
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| * Senior club appearances and goals counted for the domestic league only. |
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Flórián Albert (15 September 1941 – 31 October 2011) was a Hungarian international football player, later manager and sports official, who was named European Footballer of the Year in 1967. Nicknamed "The Emperor", he has been described as one of the most elegant footballers of all time.
A club legend of Ferencvárosi TC, Albert joined the team as a schoolboy and spent his whole playing career at Fradi. He also starred for Hungary, winning 75 international caps and scoring 31 goals. He was joint top-scorer at the 1962 World Cup with four goals and played a key role in Hungary's third-place finish at the European Championship in 1964.
He stayed loyal to Ferencváros after his retirement as well, actively participated in the club's life and also held administrative positions. Since 2007 the stadium of Ferencváros bears his name.
Albert died in October 2011, aged 70, in a hospital in Budapest after complications following heart surgery carried out a few days earlier.
The son of a blacksmith, Albert was born and brought up in the little town of Hercegszántó near the border with the former Yugoslavia, where he got his first taste of the game playing with his two brothers. His mother was Hungarian Croat, from the group of Šokci. She died when he was 2. When the family later moved to Budapest, Albert participated on a talent day held by Ferencvárosi TC. He impressed the coaches and was selected by club. Albert was 11 years old at the time.
Albert spent his entire club career with Ferencvárosi TC, where he played from 1952 to 1974. He came through the ranks quickly and made his debut in the senior team on 2 November 1958 against Diósgyőr, in a match in which he hit the back of the net two times. The forward was also spotted by Hungarian national team manager Lajos Baróti in a youth match between Hungary and Yugoslavia, and not much later Albert already received his first call-up. His first appearance in the national selection came on 28 June 1959 against Sweden, who finished runners-up in the World Cup a year earlier. Albert contributed with two assist to Hungary's 3–2 win over the Scandinavians. He scored 31 goals in 75 caps for the Hungarian team, with them he has collected the bronze medal on both of the Olympic Games in 1960 and the European Championship in 1964. At the 1962 World Cup, despite Hungary being knocked out in the quarter-finals, Albert, tied with five others, managed to win the Golden Boot Award with four goals.
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