Sabo, Jozsef Jozhefovich

Gaming

Pupil of Uzhgorod football. The first coach is Zoltan Stepanovich Dyerfi. At the amateur level (in the championship of Ukraine among physical education teams) he played for Khimik from Kalush (1957). At a young age he played in attack and scored a lot. Subsequently, two incomplete seasons (1958 and 1959) he spent in class “B” of the USSR championship for “ Spartak ” (Uzhgorod). In mid-1959, the attacking midfielder Jozsef Szabo decided to pull Dynamo Kiev into his ranks.

He made his debut on June 1, 1959 in a friendly match against the English club Tottenham Hotspur , as a result he became the key Dynamo footballers in the 60s. Szabo immediately became a player of the basic structure and acted on the right side of midfield. In 1963, in a match against Torpedo , his opponent’s player Vladimir Sidorov broke his leg. As a result of the injury, Sidorov at the age of 20 was forced to finish with great football. Szabo returned to the field less than a year after the incident, which came to the attention of the central media, and not only sports ^[1] . In 1965, the Transcarpathian footballer entered the list of "33 best", which make up the season. From 1966 to 1968 Dynamo (Kiev) became the champion of the Soviet Union three times in a row, and Szabo was one of the key players.

He completed his career in Voroshilovgrad “ Dawn ” and Moscow “ Dynamo ”.

Team

First appeared in the USSR national team on October 3, 1965 in a friendly game against Greece . This game for Soviet football players was an element of preparation for the 1966 World Cup . There, the “team” took 4th place, and Szabo spent 4 of 6 games, missing only the last match of the group round (from the Chilean collection), as well as the game for 3rd place with Portugal. The national team reached the quarter-finals already, so several key players, in the match with the Chileans, did not play, and reservists left instead. The national team reached the semifinals where they lost first to the team of Germany , and in the game for 3rd place - to Portugal , but Sabo did not play with the Portuguese because of a serious injury received in the semifinal match

Coaching

He began his coaching career in Lugansk Zarya (1977), with which he took a rather high 9th place in the USSR Championship. Then he coached Kiev SKA , which confidently led to victory in the second league of the USSR championship, however, even before the end of the tournament, he received an invitation from the Dnepropetrovsk Dnipro , which claimed to be a relegation. Sabo did not fulfill the task of retaining the team in the Premier League, and after 17th place the following year already in the first league, the coach was fired.

Dynamo Kiev

Since the 90s, he worked in Dynamo (Kiev) - first as a head coach, and after returning to Kiev Valery Lobanovsky - as an assistant coach. The debut as head coach of Kiev was short - in the championship Sabo coached Dynamo in two November games in 1992 - during an away draw with Odessa Chornomorets (1: 1) and during a home victory over Bukovina with a score of 1: 0, and in the Cup of Ukraine the coach led the team first to the 1/8 finals, and then to the quarter-finals.

Subsequently, he directed the 1994, 1995-1996 seasons, the team always confidently led in the Ukrainian championship; in the 1995/1996 season Dynamo won the gold double - championship + Ukrainian Cup. The UEFA Champions League 1994/95 was memorable. Then, in the group stage, Dynamo won only one victory, however, the most principled opponent - Moscow Spartak (3: 2 in Kiev) was defeated again.

In 2004, Szabo is the head of Dynamo for the fourth time. Although Dynamo started the season with a victory in the Ukrainian Super Cup, the team started the championship unsuccessfully, and in the third qualifying round of the Champions League, in the first match, the Kiev team lost to the Turkish Trabzonspor in the first match with a score of 1: 2. Jozsef Jozhefovich managed to put the “collapsed” team on its feet and in the second match Dynamo sensationally won 2-0 and reached the group stage. That season in Europe was one of the best since the time of Valery Lobanovsky - in the Dynamo group with 10 points, he took third place and reached the 1/16 of the UEFA Cup. With the return of Jozsef Szabo, Dynamo added in the class, played aggressive European attacking football. In 1/16 of the UEFA Cup , Dynamo lost to the Spanish Villarreal - after a home draw 0-0, the Kiev team lost 0-2 in Spain.

In the spring, the team’s level dropped markedly, the coach had conflicts with the players and this was used by Shakhtar Donetsk - the Pitmen issued the league title for the round to the end. Weak consolation was the victory in the Cup of Ukraine. After the championship, Jozsef Jozhefovich resigned, citing health conditions. He also worked in the Kiev club as vice president (from 2000 to 2004).

Ukraine national team

His official debut took place on October 12, 1994 in Kiev in the selection match against Slovenia , the game ended in a draw 0-0. Already in the next selection game against Estonia, Szabo won his first victory as a national team coach - 3-0. But already in 1995, Anatoly Konkov was at the helm of the team. The debut of the new coach was very unsuccessful - 0-4 at Maximir in Zagreb from Croatia . Anatoly Konkov led the team in the remaining qualifying matches of the European Championship, the team under his leadership spent only 7 matches in which she won three times and was defeated four times. The team finished the selection for Euro in 4th place in the group, after which Konkov left the team. It was decided that the team in the selection for the 1998 World Cup will again be led by Jozsef Szabo.

The return of Szabo occurred on April 9, 1996 in Chisinau in a friendly game against Moldova , which the Ukrainian team ended in a draw 2: 2. The way to the World Cup-98 Ukraine began on August 31, 1996 with an away victory over Northern Ireland (1: 0). This selection as a whole became the beginning of its successes for the Ukrainian team, the team began to be perceived as a strong middle peasant in world football. The formation of the Szabo team coincided with the biggest successes of Dynamo Kyiv in the late 90s, whose players formed the basis of the team. In general, this resulted in excellent results in the qualifying group - a 2-1 victory over Portugal , a home draw with the current European champions - 0-0 Germans . Throughout the selection cycle, the team claimed to leave the group from first place, but only in the last round let the German national team go ahead. Thus, Ukraine became the second in the selection and got the right to compete for reaching the final stage in the playoff matches. The rivals of the team were the Croats who were well-known for the selection for Euro 1996. In the first game, Ukraine lost 0: 2. On November 15, 1997, in the second leg at the Olympic, the Ukrainian team played two goals very quickly, but the Norwegian referee canceled one goal, considering that there was an offside position, and at the 27th minute of the game Alain Boksic equalized 1: 1. So the match ended, the Ukrainian team did not make it to the 1998 World Cup.

The next stage for the national team was the selection for Euro 2000 . By the will of the lot, the Ukrainian team fell into the qualifying group with the then reigning world champion - France , as well as Russia , Iceland , Armenia and Andorra . The selection for the Euro, Ukraine began at home - in a super-principle match against Russia - on September 5, 1998 at the crowded Olympic, the team won with a score of 3: 2. In the next two rounds, Ukraine with the same score 2-0 defeated Andorra away and Armenia at home, and finished 1998 in first place in the qualifying group with the highest possible 9 points. The new, 1999 , for the national team began with a serious duel against world champions - France in Paris , where the national team was closer to victory than the French, but the match ended in a draw 0-0. With the same score, the home match between Ukraine and France ended. The Szabo team, as never before, approached the exit from the group - before the last round, Ukraine was the leader in its qualifying group, one point ahead of both France and Russia. It was with Russia that the Szabo team met in Luzhniki in Moscow on October 9, 1999 . To maintain their chances of reaching the Euro, the Russians needed only a victory, while the Ukrainian team was satisfied with a draw (provided that France did not defeat Iceland, Ukraine could take 1st place in the group). The game ended with a score of 1: 1. Despite the fact that France beat Iceland 3: 2, Ukraine with 20 points was in second place in the group, and got the right to play in the playoff matches. On November 13, 1999 in Ljubljana , the capital of Slovenia , the Szabo team lost 1: 2 to the Slovenes in the first play-off game, while maintaining a good chance of reaching the Euro, in Szabo the team was unable to win - 1: 1, so Ukraine did not made it to the football forum through a playoff sieve. After qualifying for the Euro, Jozsef Szabo resigned.

As a player

Dynamo (Kiev)

• USSR Champion ( 4 ): 1961 , 1966 , 1967 , 1968
• USSR Cup Winner ( 2 ): 1964 , 1966

Dynamo (Moscow)

• UEFA Cup Winners Cup Finalist : 1972

USSR national team

• Olympic bronze medalist: 1972
• 4th place at the World Cup: 1966 ( according to the rules of the competition he was awarded a bronze medal )

As a trainer

Dynamo (Kiev)

• Champion of Ukraine ( 4 ): 1994 , 1995 , 1996 , 1997
• Cup Winner of Ukraine ( 2 ): 1996 , 2005

Personal

• In the lists of the best football players of the Ukrainian SSR ( 5 ): No. 1 (1964, 1965, 1966, 1967, 1968)
• The lists of 33 best football players of the USSR ( 5 ): No. 1 (1965, 1966), No. 2 (1961, 1962, 1967)
• Prize winner for the most beautiful goal of the season : 1972
• Honored Master of Sports of the USSR (1967)
• Honored Coach of Ukraine

• Order of Merit ІІІ (1999), ІІ (2004) and І (2011) degrees. ^{[2] [3] [4]}

• Khokhlyuk, Victor . Goleadors. - Lugansk: Maxim, 2012 .-- S. 52. - 148 p. - 5,000 copies. - ISBN 978-966-15-8934-5 .

• Biography of Jozsef Szabo on the website of the Russian national football team