Ladislao Kubala

László Kubala Stecz (Budapest, Hungary, June 10, 1927-Barcelona, Spain, May 17, 2002), also known as Ladislav Kubala or Ladislao Kubala, was a Hungarian footballer and coach, who also had Spanish and Czechoslovak nationality. He was nicknamed "Laszy". He is widely considered one of the best players in history and a symbol of F.C. Barcelona.

Functional footballer, he played preferably as an attacking midfielder or forward and is one of the great legends of F. C. Barcelona, of Spanish football and one of the best European footballers of all time. Kubala was noted for his quick and skillful dribbling, calm and powerful shot, and accuracy from free kicks. During the 1950s, he was a leading member of the successful Barcelona team, scoring 280 goals in 345 appearances. During the club's centenary celebrations in 1999, a fan poll declared Kubala the greatest player to ever play for the Spanish club. After retiring as a player, he had two seasons as Barcelona manager and also coached Spain's senior team and the Olympic team.

He was part of the list of the 50 Best Players of the 20th Century prepared by FIFA and published by IFFHS in 2004. He is the fourth all-time goalscorer for F. C. Barcelona.

Holds the record of having defended the jersey of three different national teams (Hungary, Czechoslovakia and Spain) and of having been the coach who has directed the Spanish soccer team for the longest time (11 years), equaled with José María matthews.

Biography

Beginnings

He was born on June 10, 1927 in Budapest and the Second World War marked his youth, conditioning his evolution as a player. A man of deep religious convictions, this "Barcelona from Budapest", as a Catalan journalist dubbed him, had a reputation for being generous and familiar.

He made his debut in the Hungarian First Division with Ferencváros. He emigrated to Czechoslovakia and joined the ranks of SK Slovan Bratislava, where he played 6 times and scored 4 goals. He returned to his country to sign for Vasas in Budapest.

Political persecution

After playing a game in the Hungarian capital, he said goodbye to his mother without confessing that he had decided to cross the Iron Curtain. Accompanied by four other teammates and several other people, he crossed the border into Austria in a truck with Soviet license plates. It took him years to see his mother again.

Once in the West the problems continued. The Hungarian federation accused him of criminal and fraud, and FIFA suspended him for a year. During this period, the player joined Aurora Pro Patria 1919, the only team in Italy that gave him financial guarantees. Kubala ended up in a refugee camp in Cinecittà, where he was already accompanied by part of his family. Among others, there was his brother-in-law, the coach Ferdinand Daučík, who would found the Hungaria, a team made up of Hungarian exiles that traveled through Europe and in the late 1950s also to South America, very famous for its great game directed and organized entirely by Daučík.

After fleeing his native Hungary, Kubala was one step away from signing for Torino FC. The Italian club was living a sweet moment and was considered one of the best teams in Europe. Despite the good prospects and the player's delicate situation, the truth is that he did not reach an agreement with the Turin entity and the signing did not take place. Shortly after, that historic team made a triumphant tour of Europe. Back in Italy, the plane carrying the expedition suffered a terrible accident in Superga. Rescue teams found no survivors among the passage. Had he signed for Torino, Kubala would have been part of the squad that made that fateful tour.

F. C. Barcelona

She is in homage to Kubala at the F. C. Barcelona stadium.

In one of his tours with Hungaria, Kubala stopped in Barcelona to play a friendly against RCD Español. José Samitier, then technical director of F. C. Barcelona, was captivated by the evolution of that wonderful 23-year-old player. On June 15, 1950, he signed for Barça but due to various bureaucratic obstacles his official debut was delayed until April 1951, although he soon became the undisputed idol of the Barcelona fans. With him began a true golden age for F. C. Barcelona. Kubala displayed his game in the center of the field, and all his football qualities stood out for his superlative tone: unusual physical strength, juggler's technique, extraordinary vision of the game, finishing ability, unsurpassed mastery in taking free kicks and penalties and leadership skills on the pitch. With him the legendary "team of the 5 Cups" (1951-1952) where F. C. Barcelona won the League, the Spanish Cup, the Eva Duarte, The Latin European Cup and the Martini & Rossi Cup, in 1958 she was part of another "legendary team" which also included his compatriots and teammates Zoltan Czibor and Sandor Kocsis (who were Hungarian refugees in Spain together with him), Ramallets, Luis Suárez and Evaristo, winning the first European Fairs Cup in 1958 with a magnificent team, a Cup of Spain and La Liga making the "national double" in 1959 and a League and European Cup of Fairs making an "international double" In 1960.

With the azulgranas, Kubala only resisted the European Cup, although he played in the 1961 final against Benfica.

After Retiring

After retiring in 1962, he continued to be linked to the Barcelona discipline. Shortly after he became the top technical manager of the Catalan club. From the bench he won a European Fairs Cup, but a bad start in the 1962/63 League earned him his dismissal. Kubala then wanted to play again but the culé board refused outright. Offended, he signed for RCD Español and took down his boots at 35 years of age.

International with Spain, his adopted country; Hungary, his native country; and Czechoslovakia, the land of his ancestors (his parents came from Slovakia), soccer took Kubala to half the planet. First as a player and later as a coach.

After his definitive retirement as a player, he directed the Spanish National Team for 11 years, qualifying it for the 1978 World Cup and the 1980 Euro Cup. Later he returned to coach Barça, before beginning a new pilgrimage around half the world.

In 1993, the Montjuïc stadium was the scene of an emotional tribute to his figure.

Death

The one who was one of the best Barcelona players in all of history, Kubala, died at the age of 74 on May 17, 2002 at 1:00 p.m. at the Clínica del Pilar in Barcelona, as a result of a long disease. He was buried in the Les Corts Cemetery in Barcelona, along with other great Barcelona players such as José Samitier or Paulino Alcántara, several Barça insignia and a flag being placed in his grave. Joan Manuel Serrat went so far as to dedicate a song "Temps era temps" to him, a reference as an anthem for the Barcelona club.

Between 1950 and 1962 Kubala played a total of 256 official matches with the Barça shirt and scored 194 goals. He also holds one of the records (shared with Bata from Athletic Club) in the Spanish League by scoring seven goals in a match between the Catalans and Real Sporting de Gijón.

National team

• Selects where he played:
  • Hungary: 6 times international, in 1946 and 1947.
  • Czechoslovakia: 11 times international, in 1948
  • Spain: 20 times international. He scored 11 goals between 1953 and 1961.

Features

He spent hours and hours with the ball at his feet, training in morning and afternoon sessions, something unusual at the time.

He was the first specialist in set pieces. Nobody before had executed the fouls by hitting the ball with the inside of the foot to overcome the barrier. In training, he used to place bets with his teammates on how many times he managed to hit the crossbar.

Clubs and statistics

Trajectory

Equipment	Seasons	Parties	Goles	Average
Ganz Torna	1944	9	2	0.22
Ferencváros	1945-1946	49	33	0.67
Bratislava	1946-1948	36	15	0.42
Vases SC	1948-1949	20	10	0.50
Aurora Pro Patria 1919	1949-1950	0	0	0
F. C. Barcelona	1950-1962	256	194	0.75
RCD Espanyol	1962-1965	29	7	0.24
FC Zürich	1965-1967	1	0	0.00
Toronto Falcons	1967	19	5	0.26
TOTAL	1944-1967	419	266	0.63

National Cups

temp.	club	country	Drink.	part.	goals
1950/51	F. C. Barcelona	Spain	Copa del Rey	7	6
1951/52				7	12
1952/53				6	5
1953/54				3	3
1954/55				3	5
1955/56				2	1
1956/57				5	5
1957/58				6	5
1958/59				1	0
1959/60				5	4
1960/61				3	3
Total				48	49

International Championships

temp.	club	country	league	part.	goals
1955/56	F. C. Barcelona	Spain	European Fairs Cup	1	1
1956/57				0	0
1957/58				2	2
1958/59				2	0
1959/60				3	3
1959/60			European Cup	3	6
1960/61			European Fairs Cup	1	0
1960/61			European Cup	8	1
Total				20	13

Statistical summary

Humours as a player

National Championships

Title	Club	Country	Year
Copa del Rey	F. C. Barcelona	Spain	1951
Spanish League			1952
Copa del Rey			1952
Spanish League			1953
Copa del Rey			1953
Eva Duarte Cup			1953
Eva Duarte Cup			1954
Copa del Rey			1957
Spanish League			1959
Copa del Rey			1959
Spanish League			1960

International Championships

Title	Equipment	Country	Year
European Cup	F. C. Barcelona	Paris	1952
European Fairs Cup		Barcelona	1958
European Fairs Cup			1960

Kubala Trainer

Kubala was coach of the Fútbol Club Barcelona in two stages (1962-63 season and 1980-81 season). He also coached Málaga with which he obtained the club's all-time record of 60.61% wins in 33 games, RCD Español, Elche CF, Real Murcia, Córdoba, Zurich, Toronto City and Toronto Falcons.

He was the Spanish coach for 11 seasons (between 1969 and 1980), which is the second coach who spent the longest time in the national team after José María Mateos, who was the one who coached the Spanish team the most. Despite this dark and unsuccessful period for the Spanish national team, which failed to qualify for the 1970 or 1974 World Cups, he remained in charge throughout that decade.

He was also the coach of Paraguay in 1995 and of Saudi Arabia.

As coach of Paraguay, he has been recognized for being the one who initiated the change of mentality in soccer in this country, emphasizing discipline. qualify for the following France 1998, Korea-Japan 2002, Germany 2006 and South Africa 2010

Managed matches in the Paraguayan national team

Kubala led the Paraguayan National Team in 12 games with 6 wins, 4 draws and 2 losses. La Albirroja scored 15 goals and received 11. Added 22 points out of 36 possible, with an effectiveness of 61.11%.

Results				Place	Date	Tournament	Gol(es)
Bolivia	1	1	Paraguay	La Paz	14 May 1995	Chaco Peace Cup	Francisco Esteche
Paraguay	0	0	Bolivia	Assumption	9 June 1995
Argentina	2	1	Paraguay	Rosario	14 June 1995	Friendly	Richart Báez
Turkey	0	0	Paraguay	Iquique	17 June 1995	Centenary Cup of Chilean Football
Chile	0	1	Paraguay	The Serena	19 June 1995		Julio César Enciso
New Zealand	2	3	Paraguay	Santiago	22 June 1995		Jorge L. Campos (2) and José S. Cardozo
Paraguay	1	0	Ecuador	Assumption	30 June 1995	Friendly	Roberto Acuña
Mexico	1	2	Paraguay	Maldonado	6 July 1995	Copa America	José Cardozo and Adriano Samaniego
Uruguay	1	0	Paraguay	Montevideo	9 July 1995
Venezuela	2	3	Paraguay		12 July 1995		José Cardozo, J.C. Villamayor and Carlos Gamarra
Colombia	1	1	Paraguay		16 July 1995		Juan Carlos Villamayor
Japan	1	2	Paraguay		20 September 1995	Friendly	Néstor Isasi and Virgilio Ferreira

Awards, recognitions and distinctions

• Grand Cross of the Royal Sports Merit, granted by the Superior Sports Council (2000)