Bertalan Bicskei (17 September 1944 – 16 July 2011) was a Hungarian

football Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kick (football), kicking a football (ball), ball to score a goal (sports), goal. Unqualified, football (word), the word ''football'' generally means the form of football t ...

goalkeeper In many team sports that involve scoring goal (sport), goals, the goalkeeper (sometimes termed goaltender, netminder, GK, goalie, or keeper) is a designated player charged with directly preventing the opposing team from scoring by blocking or i ...

and manager.

Playing career

As a youth player, he played for the most famous Hungarian club side,

Ferencváros Ferencváros (, ) is the 9th district of Budapest (), Hungary. Name The southern suburb of Pest was named after King Francis II, Holy Roman Emperor, Francis I on 4 December 1792 when he was crowned king of Hungary. History The developmen ...

, and he also honed his skills in Honved and

MTK Budapest Magyar Testgyakorlók Köre (Hungarian for "Hungarian Circle of Physical Practitioners") is a multi-sports club from Budapest, founded in 1888. It has sections for football, handball, basketball, volleyball, futsal, ice hockey, water polo, cycl ...

, both Premier Division Hungarian sides. As a goalkeeper of great talent, he played many games for the Hungary National Youth Team, as well as the 13 and Senior National Team. After retiring as a player, he devoted much of his time to coaching and teaching young soccer players on the highest level.

Managerial career

From 1977 to 1982, he worked as the coaching director for the

's youth programme, and from 1982 to 1986 he was the Youth Coach Director for the Hungary national team. As one of his greatest achievements on that level, under his coaching and guidance, the Under-18 National Team of Hungary, captured the European Youth Championship in Moscow, in 1984. Before moving on to the senior level, Bicskei successfully completed the, work, and graduated at the world-renowned soccer academy in

Cologne Cologne ( ; ; ) is the largest city of the States of Germany, German state of North Rhine-Westphalia and the List of cities in Germany by population, fourth-most populous city of Germany with nearly 1.1 million inhabitants in the city pr ...

, Germany in 1986. He is one of just a few Hungarian-born coaches who was able to earn one of the most respected coaching diplomas in the world. While in Germany, he also studied philosophy, and learned to speak excellent German. In 1987/88 Bicskei become head coach of Honvéd Budapest, (that year, Honvéd won the National title and the Hungarian cup) and his professional career was off to a flying start. In 1989, he, was selected to coach the senior national team of Hungary. In 1991, he could not refuse a challenging offer from South Korea and he became a head coach of Daewoo Royals. Under his direction, the club won the 1991 national title and he was voted, Manager of the Year in South Korea. From 1992 to 1994 he coached club

FC Luzern Fussball-Club Luzern (), or simply abbreviated to FCL, is a Swiss sports club based in Lucerne (). It is best known for its professional association football, football team, which plays in the Swiss Super League, Super League, the top tier of the ...

in Switzerland. In the 1995/96 he returned home briefly to coach

. Bicskei packed his suitcase again in 1995, this time to

Saudi Arabia Saudi Arabia, officially the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (KSA), is a country in West Asia. Located in the centre of the Middle East, it covers the bulk of the Arabian Peninsula and has a land area of about , making it the List of Asian countries ...

where he coached Al Raed FC in the 1995/96 seasons. During his stay in

, he started working on his book, "Preparation of Young Footballs", a soccer achievement that not only complements, but also challenges everything that was written thus far on teaching young soccer players to achieve the highest level. After returning home, he coached Honvéd Budapest once again, 1996/97 seasons, and he was technical director at RABA ETO Győr in the 1998/99 seasons. Between 1998 and 2001 he served his second stint as the national coach of Hungary, later becoming the technical director of the Hungarian Football Federation between 2006 and mid-2008. In the second half of 2004, the

Football Association of Malaysia The Football Association of Malaysia (commonly abbreviated as FAM; ) is the national governing body of football in Malaysia, headquartered at Wisma FAM. The FAM is also one of the founding members of both the ASEAN Football Federation (AFF) a ...

selected Bertalan Bicskei, to succeed

Allan Harris Allan Harris (28 December 1942 – 23 November 2017) was an English football player and manager. He played for Chelsea, Coventry City and Queens Park Rangers. His brother Ron was also a professional footballer. Harris was a full-back and b ...

. Bicskei led the national side to third place at the regional Tiger Cup competition, but was demoted to youth development duties by FAM for his actions during a friendly 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 ...

Penang Penang is a Malaysian state located on the northwest coast of Peninsular Malaysia along the Strait of Malacca. It has two parts: Penang Island, where the capital city, George Town, is located, and Seberang Perai on the Malay Peninsula. Th ...

on 8 June 2005. Bicskei, disgusted by the standard of officiating, threw a bottle onto the pitch before confronting a Singapore player. In September 2005 the contract was terminated after mutual agreement. Bicskei was given the job of

Liberia Liberia, officially the Republic of Liberia, is a country on the West African coast. It is bordered by Sierra Leone to Liberia–Sierra Leone border, its northwest, Guinea to Guinea–Liberia border, its north, Ivory Coast to Ivory Coast–Lib ...

's national coach in July 2010 on a four-year contract, but had to take a leave of absence in February 2011 after being poisoned in Liberia.

Death

On 16 July 2011, Bicskei died 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 ...

after a long battle with illness. He was 67 years old. The death of Bicskei was described as a loss to "a very important part of Hungarian football".

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Bicskei, Bertalan 1944 births 2011 deaths Footballers from Budapest Hungarian men's footballers Hungary men's international footballers Men's association football goalkeepers FC Veszprém footballers Budapest Honvéd FC players Újpest FC players Hungarian football managers Hungarian expatriate football managers Budapest Honvéd FC managers Hungary national football team managers Hungarian expatriate sportspeople in South Korea Busan IPark managers Hungarian expatriate sportspeople in Switzerland FC Luzern managers Expatriate football managers in Egypt Hungarian expatriate sportspeople in Egypt Al Masry SC managers MTK Budapest FC managers Hungarian expatriate sportspeople in Saudi Arabia Al-Riyadh SC managers Expatriate football managers in Singapore Hungarian expatriate sportspeople in Singapore Sengkang Punggol FC managers Fehérvár FC managers Expatriate football managers in Malaysia Malaysia national football team managers Hungarian expatriate sportspeople in Malaysia Újpest FC managers Expatriate football managers in Liberia Liberia national football team managers Expatriate football managers in Saudi Arabia Expatriate football managers in South Korea Expatriate football managers in Switzerland Nemzeti Bajnokság I managers Hungarian expatriate sportspeople in Liberia 20th-century Hungarian sportsmen