Ferenc Plattkó (2 December 1898 – 2 September 1983), also known as Franz or Francisco (in Spain his mothers maiden name "Kopiletz" has been appended according to local customs) was a Hungarian

footballer A football player or footballer is a sportsperson who plays one of the different types of football. The main types of football are association football, American football, Canadian football, Australian rules football, Gaelic football, rugby lea ...

and

manager Management (or managing) is the administration of organizations, whether businesses, nonprofit organizations, or a government bodies through business administration, nonprofit management, or the political science sub-field of public administra ...

. During the 1910s and 1920s he played as a

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 ...

for

Vasas SC Vasas SC () is a Hungarian sports club based in Budapest. Members of the ''Hungarian Union of Iron Workers'' founded the club as ''Vas- és Fémmunkások Sport Clubja'', the "Sport Club of Iron and Metal Workers", on 16 March 1911. The club ...

, WAC Vienna,

KAFK Kula FK Hajduk Kula (Serbian Cyrillic: ФК Хајдук Кула) was a Serbian football club based in Kula. The club was named after a Hajduk, a much celebrated hero figure in the Serbian epic poetry. On 30 July 2013, just eleven days before start ...

MTK Hungária FC Magyar Testgyakorlók Köre Budapest Futball Club or shortly MTK is a professional football club based in Józsefváros, Budapest, Hungary. The club currently plays in the Nemzeti Bajnokság I. The club's colours are blue and white. As one of t ...

FC Barcelona Futbol Club Barcelona (), commonly known as FC Barcelona and colloquially as Barça (), is a professional Football club (association football), football club based in Barcelona, Catalonia, Spain, that competes in La Liga, the top flight of ...

, and

Recreativo de Huelva Real Club Recreativo de Huelva, S.A.D. () is a List of football clubs in Spain, Spanish football club based in Huelva, Andalucia, Spain. Founded on 23 December 1889, they are the oldest football club in Spain, and currently play in , holding home ...

. He subsequently worked as a coach in Europe and South America, most notably with

Colo-Colo Colo-Colo (), officially Club Social y Deportivo Colo-Colo, is a Chilean professional football club based in Macul, Santiago. Founded in 1925 by David Arellano, it competes in the Chilean Primera División, from which the club has never been ...

, River Plate,

Boca Juniors Club Atlético Boca Juniors () is an Argentine professional sports club based in La Boca, a neighbourhood of Buenos Aires. The club is best known for its men's professional Association football, football team which, since its promotion in 1913 ...

and

Chile Chile, officially the Republic of Chile, is a country in western South America. It is the southernmost country in the world and the closest to Antarctica, stretching along a narrow strip of land between the Andes, Andes Mountains and the Paci ...

. Plattkó was an early

great and was a team-mate of

Paulino Alcántara Paulino Alcántara Riestrá (7 October 1896 – 13 February 1964) was a Filipino and Spanish professional footballer and manager who played as a forward. He spent most of his playing career at FC Barcelona, and also represented Catalonia, the ...

Josep Samitier Josep Samitier Vilalta (; 2 February 1902 – 4 May 1972), also known as José Samitier, was a Spanish football player, manager and scout who played as a midfielder for FC Barcelona, Real Madrid, OGC Nice, the Catalan XI, and Spain. He later ...

and Sagibarba. His bravery as a goalkeeper was immortalized by

Rafael Alberti Rafael Alberti Merello (16 December 1902 – 28 October 1999) was a Spanish poet, a member of the Generation of '27. He is considered one of the greatest literary figures of the so-called ''Silver Age'' of Spanish Literature, and he won numer ...

in the poem ''Oda A Platko''. After retiring as a player he returned to the club as a coach on two occasions (1934–35, 1955–56). Plattkó played 6 matches for the Hungarian national team between 1917 and 1923.

Career

Early career

Born 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, Plattkó began his career as a goalkeeper in his hometown of Budapest with local club

in 1916. After a brief spell in Austria at

Wiener AF Wiener AF or WAF was a football club which played in Austria. It dissolved in 2004. History The club was established at the end of the 1909–10 season after most of the first-team squad of Wiener AC (known as WAC) left the club to form a new c ...

in 1919, he returned to Vasas until the end of the 1919–20 season. Between 1917 and 1923, Plattkó also played six games for

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 ...

. In the 1921–22 season he was the coach and goalkeeper for KAFK from

Kula, Serbia Kula ( sr-Cyrl, Кула, , ) is a town and municipality located in the West Bačka District of the autonomous province of Vojvodina, Serbia. The town has a population of 14,873, while the municipality has a population of 35,592. Name In Serbian ...

where he won the Subotica subassociation championship earning promotion to the Second League of the

Kingdom of Serbs, Croats and Slovenes The Kingdom of Yugoslavia was a country in Southeast and Central Europe that existed from 1918 until 1941. From 1918 to 1929, it was officially called the Kingdom of Serbs, Croats, and Slovenes, but the term "Yugoslavia" () has been its colloq ...

. In 1922 MTK played two friendlies against

Barcelona Barcelona ( ; ; ) is a city on the northeastern coast of Spain. It is the capital and largest city of the autonomous community of Catalonia, as well as the second-most populous municipality of Spain. With a population of 1.6 million within c ...

. Both games finished as 0–0 draws and Barcelona, impressed with Plattkó offered him a contract.

Barcelona

Plattkó replaced the highly rated

Ricardo Zamora Ricardo Zamora Martínez (; 21 January 1901 – 8 September 1978) was a Spanish footballer and manager. He played as a goalkeeper for, among others, RCD Espanyol, FC Barcelona and Real Madrid. As an international he played for Spain. As a man ...

, but soon established himself as a great in his own right. He spent seven years at Barcelona between 1923 and 1930. During that time he won six Campionat de Catalunya titles, three

Copa del Rey The , commonly known as , or (in English) the Spanish Cup or King's Cup, and formerly known as Copa del Presidente de la República (1932–1936) and Copa del Generalísimo (1939–1976), is an annual knockout football competition in Spanis ...

and the first ever

La Liga The Campeonato Nacional de Liga de Primera División, commonly known as the Primera División or La Liga, and officially known as LaLiga EA Sports for sponsorship reasons, is a professional association football league in Spain and the highest ...

title. The poem ''Oda A Platko'' came about following the Copa del Rey final in 1928. Barcelona took three games to beat

Real Sociedad Real Sociedad de Fútbol, more commonly referred to as Real Sociedad ( ; ''Royal Society'') in English, and Erreala or Reala in Basque language, Basque, is a Spanish professional sports club in the city of San Sebastián, Donostia / San Sebastián, ...

and during the first encounter on 20 May,

was so impressed with the bravery of Plattkó that he later wrote the poem in his honour. Plattkó finished his playing career at

and retired as a player in 1931. He soon began his career as a coach, working in France with

Mulhouse Mulhouse (; ; Alsatian language, Alsatian: ''Mìlhüsa'' ; , meaning "Mill (grinding), mill house") is a France, French city of the European Collectivity of Alsace (Haut-Rhin department, in the Grand Est region of France). It is near the Fran ...

(1932–33) and

Racing Club de Roubaix Racing Club de Roubaix was a French association football team that played in Roubaix, Nord. History The team was founded in 1895 and was very successful before the establishment of professionalism in France. In 1933, after losing twice in a ...

(1933–34), before returning to Barcelona as a coach for the 1934–35 season. Despite guiding the club to another Campionat de Catalunya, the following season he was replaced by Patrick O'Connell. After two decades away from the club Plattkó was reappointed coach of Barcelona for the 1955–56 season. During this season the club, inspired by

Ladislao Kubala Ladislao is a given name, a Hispanic variant of Vladislav. Notable people with the name include: * Ladislao Cabrera, Bolivian hero during the War of the Pacific * Ladislao Diwa, Filipino patriot * Ladislao Martínez, Puerto Rico musician * Lás ...

and

Luis Suárez Luis Alberto Suárez Díaz (; born 24 January 1987) is a Uruguayan professional Association football, footballer who plays as a Striker (association football), striker for Major League Soccer club Inter Miami CF, Inter Miami. Known for his go ...

, won 10 consecutive La Liga games in a row. The record remained unbeaten until 2005. Despite this run Barcelona only managed to finish second in La Liga behind

Athletic Bilbao Athletic Club (; ), commonly known as Athletic Bilbao (), or simply Athletic, is a professional Football club (association football), football club based in the city of Bilbao in the Southern Basque Country, Basque Country, Spain. They are known ...

and Plattkó was replaced the following season.

South America

During the two decades away from Barcelona established himself as a coach in South America. In 1939, during the first of three spells at

he guided the club to the

Chilean Primera División The Chilean Primera División () is a professional association football league in Chile and the highest level of the Chilean football league system. Founded in 1933, it is organized by the Asociación Nacional de Fútbol Profesional (ANFP). The l ...

. In 1940 he had a spell in charge of River Plate in Argentina before he returned to Chile and Colo-Colo in 1941, winning a second Chilean Primera División. In 1941 he took charge of the Chile national team and continued as national team manager until 1945, coaching the team at both the South American Championship in both

1942 The Uppsala Conflict Data Program project estimates this to be the deadliest year in human history in terms of conflict deaths, placing the death toll at 4.62 million. However, the Correlates of War estimates that the prior year, 1941, was th ...

and

1945 1945 marked the end of World War II, the fall of Nazi Germany, and the Empire of Japan. It is also the year concentration camps were liberated and the only year in which atomic weapons have been used in combat. Events World War II will be ...

. During 1942 he also coached two other Chilean clubs, Club Magallanes and

Santiago Wanderers Club de Deportes Santiago Wanderers is a football club based in Valparaíso, a founding member of the Chilean Football Federation. Their home ground, Estadio Elías Figueroa Brander, is in the north-west of the city. Wanderers have played their ...

. In 1949 he coached

and in 1953 he returned to Colo-Colo for a third time and won a third Chilean Primera División. For the 1955–56 season he returned to Barcelona with which he became runner up in the league one point behind Athletic Bilbao. His balance of 22 wins three draws and five defeats had been the best for the club yet. The series of ten straight wins in the league was only outdone under Frank Rijkard in the 2005–06 season. His downfall was a 3–1 defeat on 20 May in the cup quarterfinals against local rivals Español. The club concluded, the relationship between the team and Plattkó was broken, and replaced him for the return match, which ended 4-4, with

. The next years Plattkó spent in Brazil as talent scout and player observer. later he returned to Chile where in 1965 he took on a last coaching assignment when he took on lowly

first division 1st Division or First Division may refer to: Military Airborne divisions *1st Parachute Division (Germany) *1st Airborne Division (United Kingdom) * 1st Airmobile Division (Ukraine) * 1st Guards Airborne Division Armoured divisions *1st Armoure ...

outfit CD San Luis de Quillota from the region of

Valparaíso Valparaíso () is a major city, Communes of Chile, commune, Port, seaport, and naval base facility in the Valparaíso Region of Chile. Valparaíso was originally named after Valparaíso de Arriba, in Castilla–La Mancha, Castile-La Mancha, Spain ...

, with which he ended third from the bottom, which however was one up from the previous season.

Personal life and death

The Plattkó Brothers

Ferenc Plattkó also had two brothers, István Plattkó and Károly Plattkó who followed him to Spain and subsequently established themselves as coaches. Esteban coached, among others

Real Valladolid Real Valladolid Club de Fútbol, S.A.D., or simply Real Valladolid (), is a Spanish professional List of football clubs in Spain, football club based in Valladolid, Castile and León that will compete from the 2025–26 season in the . The club ...

(1928–31, 1934–40),

Granada CF Granada Club de Fútbol (), known simply as Granada or ''"Graná"'', is a professional List of football clubs in Spain, Spanish football club based in the city of Granada, in the autonomous community of Andalusia, that currently plays in Segunda ...

(1943–45) and

RCD Mallorca Real Club Deportivo Mallorca, Sociedad Anónima Deportiva, S.A.D. (, , ''Royal Sporting Club Mallorca''), commonly known as Real Mallorca or RCD Mallorca, is a Spanish professional association football, football club based in Palma de Mallorca, ...

while Carlos coached

(1941–43),

Celta de Vigo Real Club Celta de Vigo (; ), commonly known as Celta Vigo, is a Spanish professional football club based in Vigo, Galicia, that competes in La Liga, the top tier of Spanish football. Nicknamed ''Os Celestes'' (The Sky Blues), the club was fou ...

(1944–46),

Girona FC Girona Futbol Club, Sociedad Anónima Deportiva, S.A.D. ( ) is a Spanish professional Football team, football club based in Girona, Catalonia, Spain. Founded on 23 July 1930, the team plays in La Liga, to which they gained promotion in the 2022 ...

(1948–49) and

Sporting de Gijón Real Sporting de Gijón, S.A.D. (), commonly known as Real Sporting, Sporting Gijón, or simply Sporting is a Spanish professional association football, football club from Gijón, Principality of Asturias. Founded on 1 July 1905, it plays in the ...

. Plattkó died in

Santiago Santiago (, ; ), also known as Santiago de Chile (), is the capital and largest city of Chile and one of the largest cities in the Americas. It is located in the country's central valley and is the center of the Santiago Metropolitan Regi ...

, Chile on 2 September 1983.

Honours

Player

Barcelona *

: 1928–29 *

1925 Events January * January 1 – The Syrian Federation is officially dissolved, the State of Aleppo and the State of Damascus having been replaced by the State of Syria (1925–1930), State of Syria. * January 3 – Benito Mussolini m ...

1926 In Turkey, the year technically contained only 352 days. As Friday, December 18, 1926 ''(Julian Calendar)'' was followed by Saturday, January 1, 1927 '' (Gregorian Calendar)''. 13 days were dropped to make the switch. Turkey thus became the ...

1928 Events January * January – British bacteriologist Frederick Griffith reports the results of Griffith's experiment, indirectly demonstrating that DNA is the genetic material. * January 1 – Eastern Bloc emigration and defection: Boris B ...

* Catalan Champions: 1923–24, 1924–25, 1925–26, 1926–27, 1927–28, 1929–30

Manager

Barcelona * Catalan Champions: 1934–35 Venus București *

Divizia A Liga I (; ''First League''), also spelled as Liga 1 and officially known as SuperLiga for sponsorship reasons, is a professional association football league in Romania and the highest level of the Romanian football league system. Contested by 1 ...

: 1936–37 Colo-Colo * Primera División:

1939 This year also marks the start of the World War II, Second World War, the largest and deadliest conflict in human history. Events Events related to World War II have a "WWII" prefix. January * January 1 ** Coming into effect in Nazi Ger ...

1941 The Correlates of War project estimates this to be the deadliest year in human history in terms of conflict deaths, placing the death toll at 3.49 million. However, the Uppsala Conflict Data Program estimates that the subsequent year, 1942, wa ...

1953 Events January * January 6 – The Asian Socialist Conference opens in Rangoon, Burma. * January 12 – Estonian émigrés found a Estonian government-in-exile, government-in-exile in Oslo. * January 14 ** Marshal Josip Broz Tito ...

References

Literature

* Tamás Dénes, Mihály Sándor, Éva B. Bába: ''A magyar labdarúgás története I.: Amatorök és álamatorök (1897–1926)'', Campus Kiadó (Debreceni Campus Nonprofit Közhasznú Kft.), Debrecen (HU), 2014.

External links

* *
La Liga players stats
*
Franz Platko (1934-35 and 1955-56)
',