Attila Abonyi (16 August 1946 – 6 July 2023) was a

soccer Association football, more commonly known as football or soccer, is a team sport played between two teams of 11 Football player, players who almost exclusively use their feet to propel a Ball (association football), ball around a rectangular f ...

manager and player. Born in Hungary, he played for the Australia national team. Abonyi made his senior international debut for Australia in 1967 at age 20, and had earned 61 caps, including appearing in the

1974 World Cup The 1974 FIFA World Cup was the 10th FIFA World Cup, a quadrennial Association football, football tournament for men's senior national teams, and was played in West Germany (and West Berlin) between 13 June and 7 July. The tournament marked the ...

; Australia's first entry into the

World Cup A world cup is a global sporting competition in which the participant entities – usually international teams or individuals representing their countries – compete for the title of world champion. The event most associated with the name is ...

. In his first nine matches for Australia, he scored eleven goals all coming from the 1967 South Vietnam Independence Cup. He scored his first of three international goals against

New Zealand New Zealand () is an island country in the southwestern Pacific Ocean. It consists of two main landmasses—the North Island () and the South Island ()—and List of islands of New Zealand, over 600 smaller islands. It is the List of isla ...

in November 1967.

Early life

Attila Abonyi was born and raised in

Budapest Budapest is the Capital city, capital and List of cities and towns of Hungary, most populous city of Hungary. It is the List of cities in the European Union by population within city limits, tenth-largest city in the European Union by popul ...

Hungary Hungary is a landlocked country in Central Europe. Spanning much of the Pannonian Basin, Carpathian Basin, it is bordered by Slovakia to the north, Ukraine to the northeast, Romania to the east and southeast, Serbia to the south, Croatia and ...

. Abonyi did not play regular football in Hungary, as he could not play junior competitive football until the age of twelve. He migrated from Budapest to

Melbourne Melbourne ( , ; Boonwurrung language, Boonwurrung/ or ) is the List of Australian capital cities, capital and List of cities in Australia by population, most populous city of the States and territories of Australia, Australian state of Victori ...

at age 10 after the

Hungarian Revolution of 1956 The Hungarian Revolution of 1956 (23 October – 4 November 1956; ), also known as the Hungarian Uprising, was an attempted countrywide revolution against the government of the Hungarian People's Republic (1949–1989) and the policies caused by ...

.Forward Thinking
He started playing for the St Kilda junior club when he turned 11 years old. He moved to his home club Melbourne Hungaria at age 14 until he made the senior team in 1962.

Club career

Born in Hungary, he took up football after emigrating to

Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country comprising mainland Australia, the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania and list of islands of Australia, numerous smaller isl ...

at age 10 in 1957. Attila played his senior debut for Melbourne Hungaria in 1962 at 15 years of age in the old Victorian State League. In 1967 Abonyi was a key player in helping the club achieve their first ever State League title. He was the top goalscorer for that season with 31 goals in 29 games, and he scored the goal that won them the title. In that same year Abonyi was man of the match in helping Melbourne Hungaria win the Australian Cup, with a hat-trick, to defeat the favoured APIA Leichhardt 4–3 in extra-time. This turned out to be his final season with Melbourne Hungaria. Abonyi moved to Sydney and joined St. George-Budapest between 1969 and 1976 where he was part of three NSW State League titles, before finishing his career with

Sydney Croatia Sydney United 58 Football Club is a semi-professional soccer club and current NSW NPL Champions based in Edensor Park, Sydney, New South Wales Australia. The club was formed as Sydney Croatia in 1958, by Croatian Australians in the area, but it ...

between 1977 and 1979. In June 1975, Abonyi made a guest appearance for a touring

Manchester United Manchester United Football Club, commonly referred to as Man United (often stylised as Man Utd) or simply United, is a professional association football, football club based in Old Trafford (area), Old Trafford, Greater Manchester, Engl ...

side, coming on as a substitute for David McCreery against

Queensland Queensland ( , commonly abbreviated as Qld) is a States and territories of Australia, state in northeastern Australia, and is the second-largest and third-most populous state in Australia. It is bordered by the Northern Territory, South Austr ...

. He scored United's third goal in a 3–0 win.

International career

Abonyi made his debut for the Australia national team in May 1967 when he played against

Scotland Scotland is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It contains nearly one-third of the United Kingdom's land area, consisting of the northern part of the island of Great Britain and more than 790 adjac ...

. The national team traveled to Vietnam for a friendship tournament where he scored a hat-trick on debut against

, and then scored another hat-trick in his second match against

Singapore Singapore, officially the Republic of Singapore, is an island country and city-state in Southeast Asia. The country's territory comprises one main island, 63 satellite islands and islets, and one outlying islet. It is about one degree ...

a few days later. Abonyi was well known for being a member of the Australian

squad in

West Germany West Germany was the common English name for the Federal Republic of Germany (FRG) from its formation on 23 May 1949 until German reunification, its reunification with East Germany on 3 October 1990. It is sometimes known as the Bonn Republi ...

and also represented

New South Wales New South Wales (commonly abbreviated as NSW) is a States and territories of Australia, state on the Eastern states of Australia, east coast of :Australia. It borders Queensland to the north, Victoria (state), Victoria to the south, and South ...

and Victoria. He scored 25 international goals for Australia in 61 games between 1967 and 1977 making him tied as the fifth highest goal scorer for Australia. He made a total of 88 appearances for Australia and scored 36 goals.

Managerial career

After retiring in 1979 Abonyi switched to coaching at the state level after taking on the player-coach for the 1978 and 1979 seasons. Sydney Croatia won the minor premierships in those two years. Abonyi then moved to Melita as a coach only, where they won the minor premiership and lost the grand final. He was then offered a full-time job with Riverwood, the only full-time coaching position in the state league at the time. In his first season they finished seventh and then runners-up in 1982 on goal difference to Sydney Croatia. Abonyi moved to Canberra in 1983 and coached Canberra City in the National Soccer League (NSL). For the 1984 season Sydney Croatia in their first season in the NSL offered Abonyi the head coach position, which he accepted (as his family had remained in Sydney). He was sacked halfway through the season because of poor results and high expectations by the board. In 1987 and 1988 he assisted Frank Arok at St. George who were in the NSL. After the 1988 season, Abonyi moved away from Sydney and football (soccer).

Personal life and death

Abonyi later lived in

Coffs Harbour Coffs Harbour, locally nicknamed Coffs, is a coastal city on the Mid North Coast of New South Wales, Australia, north of Sydney, and south of Brisbane. It is one of the largest urban centres on the North Coast, with a population of 78,759 a ...

on the north coast of New South Wales. He died on 6 July 2023, at the age of 76.

Career statistics

Club

International

Honours

Melbourne Hungaria *

Victorian State League The Victorian State League, known as VETO Sports State League for sponsorship purposes is an Australian soccer league based in Victoria that was founded in 1958 and administered by Football Victoria. It consists of five divisions (separated by ...

Championship: 1967 *

Australia Cup The Australia Cup (currently known as the Hahn Australia Cup for sponsorship reasons) is the national association football, soccer single-elimination tournament, knockout cup competition in Australia. This annual competition is organised by Fo ...

1967 Events January * January 1 – Canada begins a year-long celebration of the 100th anniversary of Canadian Confederation, Confederation, featuring the Expo 67 World's Fair. * January 6 – Vietnam War: United States Marine Corps and Army of ...

St George-Budapest *

NSW State League The Football NSW League is an Australian soccer league based in New South Wales New South Wales (commonly abbreviated as NSW) is a States and territories of Australia, state on the Eastern states of Australia, east coast of :Australia. It b ...

Premiership: 1972, 1976 *

Championship: 1971, 1974, 1975 Sydney Croatia *

Premiership: 1977, 1978, 1989 *

Championship: 1977 Abonyi Place in the Sydney suburb of Glenwood is named for him. Abonyi made a lap of honour on the MCG at half time of the 1998 World Cup qualifier against

Iran Iran, officially the Islamic Republic of Iran (IRI) and also known as Persia, is a country in West Asia. It borders Iraq to the west, Turkey, Azerbaijan, and Armenia to the northwest, the Caspian Sea to the north, Turkmenistan to the nort ...

References

External links

Australian Players Database
at Ozfootball. {{DEFAULTSORT:Abonyi, Attila 1946 births 2023 deaths Footballers from Budapest Hungarian emigrants to Australia Australian men's soccer players Australia men's international soccer players 1974 FIFA World Cup players Melbourne Hungaria SC players St George FC players Sydney United 58 FC players Parramatta FC players Parramatta FC managers Men's association football wingers Australian soccer managers Sydney United 58 FC managers 20th-century Australian sportsmen