Ferenc Hirzer (21 November 1902 – 28 April 1957) known in Hungarian as Ferenc Híres 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 ...

player and manager, who played as a

forward Forward is a relative direction, the opposite of backward. Forward may also refer to: People *Forward (surname) Sports * Forward (association football) * Forward (basketball), including: ** Point forward ** Power forward (basketball) ** Smal ...

during the 1910s and 1920s; he is perhaps best known for his time with Italian side

Juventus Juventus Football Club (; from , ), commonly known as Juventus or colloquially as Juve (), is an Italian professional Association football, football List of football clubs in Italy, club based in Turin, Piedmont, who compete in Serie A, the ...

. He also played for the

Hungary national football team The Hungary national football team (, ) represents Hungary in men's international Association football, football, and is controlled by the Hungarian Football Federation. The team has made nine appearances in the FIFA World Cup, and five in the ...

thirty-three different times, scoring fourteen goals.

Club career

Hirzer began his football career in 1913 with local

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 ...

side

Törekvés SE Törekvés Sportegyesület is a Hungarian association football, football club from the town of Kőbánya, Budapest. History Törekvés debuted in the 1903 Nemzeti Bajnokság I, 1903 season of the Hungarian League and finished third. Name Changes ...

, which was put together by railroadmen. In the early 1920s, the club reached the upper parts of the

Hungarian League Hungarian may refer to: * Hungary, a country in Central Europe * Kingdom of Hungary, state of Hungary, existing between 1000 and 1946 * Hungarians/Magyars, ethnic groups in Hungary * Hungarian algorithm, a polynomial time algorithm for solving the ...

but it was largely dominated at the time by

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 ...

. After around a decade playing for his hometown club, Ferenc Hizer moved to the Czech Republic to play this club football for Makkabi Brno. The following season, he moved to Germany to play for

Union 03 Altona SC Union 03 Altona is a German association football club based in the Altona district of the city of Hamburg. The football team is a department of a larger sports club which also offers handball and tennis. During the inter-war period (1906– ...

in the city of

Hamburg Hamburg (, ; ), officially the Free and Hanseatic City of Hamburg,. is the List of cities in Germany by population, second-largest city in Germany after Berlin and List of cities in the European Union by population within city limits, 7th-lar ...

, they finished runners-up in the ''Norddeutsche Liga''. For the 1925–26 season, Hirzer moved country again; this time to Italy with Turin giants

. A fellow Hungarian,

Jenő Károly Jenő Károly (15 January 1886 – 28 July 1926) was a Hungarian footballer and later manager born in Budapest. Outside his homeland he is particularly noted for being the first manager of Agnelli-era Juventus. As a player, Károly appeared f ...

was manager at the time and he had already brought former Toerekvés player

József Viola József Viola (10 June 1896 – 18 August 1949) also known as Giuseppe Viola was a Hungarian football player and coach, who played as a midfielder. He is most prominent for his time in Italy and his association with clubs such as Juventus. He al ...

to the club. He made his debut in October 1925 against

Parma Parma (; ) is a city in the northern Italian region of Emilia-Romagna known for its architecture, Giuseppe Verdi, music, art, prosciutto (ham), Parmesan, cheese and surrounding countryside. With a population of 198,986 inhabitants as of 2025, ...

scoring a

hat-trick A hat-trick or hat trick is the achievement of a generally positive feat three times in a match, or another achievement based on the number three. Origin The term first appeared in 1858 in cricket, to describe H. H. Stephenson taking three Wick ...

were crowned champions of the

Italian Football Championship Italian(s) may refer to: * Anything of, from, or related to the people of Italy over the centuries ** Italians, a Romance ethnic group related to or simply a citizen of the Italian Republic or Italian Kingdom ** Italian language, a Romance languag ...

for the first time in 20 years; Hirzer himself had a very impressive end of season record, scoring 35 goals in astonishingly 24 games. This record for the most goals scored by a Juventus player in a single season in the best Italian league, then named

Prima Divisione Prima Divisione (''First Division'') was the name of the first level of the Italian Football Championship from 1921 to 1926. The competition was initially founded in opposition to the FIGC by the richest clubs of Northern Italy, which disagreed the ...

, has never been broken. After one more season at

, where they finished 3rd behind

Torino Turin ( , ; ; , then ) is a city and an important business and cultural centre in northern Italy. It is the capital city of Piedmont and of the Metropolitan City of Turin, and was the first Italian capital from 1861 to 1865. The city is main ...

and

Bologna Bologna ( , , ; ; ) is the capital and largest city of the Emilia-Romagna region in northern Italy. It is the List of cities in Italy, seventh most populous city in Italy, with about 400,000 inhabitants and 150 different nationalities. Its M ...

he left Italian football. Hirzer had scored a total of 50 goals in 43 games for Juventus during his time with them. He returned to Hungary in 1927 and played for MTK Hungária back in Budapest. During the 1928–29 season, Hirzer's final season as a player, the club won the Hungarian League title. After his playing career, Hirzer returned to Italy and managed several Italian clubs until around the time of his death, the club he managed for the longest period was

Salernitana Unione Sportiva Salernitana 1919 is an Italian professional football club based in Salerno, Campania. The original club was founded in 1919 and has been reconstituted three times in the course of its history, most recently in 2011. The current ...

Campania Campania is an administrative Regions of Italy, region of Italy located in Southern Italy; most of it is in the south-western portion of the Italian Peninsula (with the Tyrrhenian Sea to its west), but it also includes the small Phlegraean Islan ...

International career

.Hirzer was first called up for duty in the Hungary national side for a match against

Switzerland Switzerland, officially the Swiss Confederation, is a landlocked country located in west-central Europe. It is bordered by Italy to the south, France to the west, Germany to the north, and Austria and Liechtenstein to the east. Switzerland ...

in June 1922, the game ended in a 1–1 draw. He represented Hungary at the

1924 Summer Olympics The 1924 Summer Olympics (), officially the Games of the VIII Olympiad () and officially branded as Paris 1924, were an international multi-sport event held in Paris, France. The opening ceremony was held on 5 July, but some competitions had al ...

Paris Paris () is the Capital city, capital and List of communes in France with over 20,000 inhabitants, largest city of France. With an estimated population of 2,048,472 residents in January 2025 in an area of more than , Paris is the List of ci ...

, where he scored two goals in the first round 5–0 victory against

Poland Poland, officially the Republic of Poland, is a country in Central Europe. It extends from the Baltic Sea in the north to the Sudetes and Carpathian Mountains in the south, bordered by Lithuania and Russia to the northeast, Belarus and Ukrai ...

, in the next round however they were knocked out with a shock 3-0 defeat to

Egypt Egypt ( , ), officially the Arab Republic of Egypt, is a country spanning the Northeast Africa, northeast corner of Africa and Western Asia, southwest corner of Asia via the Sinai Peninsula. It is bordered by the Mediterranean Sea to northe ...

.Egypt vs Hungary 3–0
/ref> He also represented Hungary in the

1927-30 Central European International Cup Nineteen or 19 may refer to: * 19 (number) * One of the years 19 BC, AD 19, 1919, 2019 Films * ''19'' (film), a 2001 Japanese film * ''Nineteen'' (1987 film), a 1987 science fiction film * ''19-Nineteen'', a 2009 South Korean film * ''Dician ...

, where he became top scorer but despite his efforts, Hungary ended as fourth. In total he scored 14 goals in 32 games for his country.

Honours

Club

Serie A The Serie A (), officially known as Serie A Enilive in Italy and Serie A Made in Italy abroad for sponsorship reasons, is a professional association football league in Italy and the highest tier of the Italian football league system. Establish ...

/Prima Divisione: 1925–26 MTK Hungária *

: 1928–29

International

;

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 ...

Central European International Cup The European International Cup of Nations was an international football competition held by certain national teams from Central Europe & South Europe between 1927 and 1960.Leo Schidrowitz "Internationaler Cup", Vienna 1954 There were competitions ...

: Fourth 1927-30

Individual

: Top scorer 1927-30 * Serie A Top-scorer: 1925–26 (35 goals in Prima Divisione in 24 games)

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Hirzer, Ferenc 1902 births 1957 deaths Hungarian people of German descent Men's association football forwards Hungarian men's footballers Hungary men's international footballers Hungarian expatriate men's footballers Hungarian expatriate sportspeople in Italy Hungarian expatriate sportspeople in Czechoslovakia MTK Budapest FC players Juventus FC players Serie A players Olympic footballers for Hungary Footballers at the 1924 Summer Olympics Expatriate men's footballers in Italy Expatriate men's footballers in Czechoslovakia Hungarian football managers Mantova 1911 managers US Salernitana 1919 managers SSC Ancona ASD managers Footballers from Budapest FS Sestrese Calcio 1919 managers Benevento Calcio managers 20th-century Hungarian sportsmen