Izidor Kürschner
Encyclopedia
Izidor "Dori" Kürschner, in Brazil
primarily known as Dori Kruschner, (* ca. 1885; † 1941 in Rio de Janeiro
), was a Hungarian football player and coach.
As player he was successful with Budapest
club MTK and was also called on to play for his country. As coach he succeeded in Germany
with 1. FC Nuremberg, but his greatest triumphs were to follow in Switzerland
with the Grasshopper Club Zürich. There he won seven titles.
Kürschner's appearance on the Brazil
ian scene of brought a push of innovation to the jogo bonito, the "beautiful game", there and helped in the establishment of this country as one of the giants of world football.
He played for MTK in his hometown Budapest and contributed to their Championships in 1904 and 1908 as well as their three consecutive wins of the Magyar Kupa
between 1910 and 1912. Between 1907 and 1911 he also was called up five times to play for the Hungarian national football team.
in the south-west of Germany. There he stayed for two years and won in 1921 the championship of Württemberg
, which qualified the club for the Southern German Championship.
After this short term engagement FC Bayern Munich
hired Kürschner for the next season as successor to the great Englishman William Townley
. Bayern only managed second place in the Southern Bavarian Championship behind local rivals FC Wacker Munich, and thus failed to qualify for the national tournament. This freed Kürschner to guide Nuremberg through their play-off campaign once more.
He led the team to its third consecutive German Championship final where the ascending Hamburger SV
was the opponent. Two epic matches over altogether more than five hours in what is referred to in German football folklore as the "eternal final", did not produce a winner, and in the consequence no title was awarded in that season.
In the next season Kürschner was made the first full-time coach of Eintracht Frankfurt
. With only one defeat Frankfurt wins the Group I. of the North Main (→ river Main) league, which was then one of the many divisions that constituted first level football in Germany. However, in the matches for the over all North Main championship the local opponent Germania 94 Frankfurt prevails.
and Jimmy Hogan
to prepare the players of the Swiss national football team in regional groups for the Olympic Games in Paris. Of these coaches Hogan deserves particular attention as he is considered one of the great English football pioneers on the continent. His name will remain forever associated with the Austrian Miracle Team of the 1930s, and indirectly also with the rise of Hungarian football which led to the great triumphs of the Magic Magyars in the 1950s.
In Paris the team, under the leadership of Duckworth, made it all the way to the finals. Only the giants of that era Uruguay could eventually put a halt to the Swiss juggernaut when they defeated them 3–0 in a hopelessly overcrowded stadium and thus retained their Gold from the previous tournament. To date, this remains the greatest success in the history of Swiss football. Incidentally, in the semi-finals the Urus overcame the Dutch side led by the aforementioned William Townley, who, in those days was also associated with the Swiss club FC St. Gallen
.
Later in that year, Kürschner briefly became the first full time coach of Schwarz-Weiss Essen
in the west of Germany. In a friendly they defeated Kürschner's home team MTK 2–1.
The German language edition of Wikipedia notes in its article regarding the Grasshoppers, that in 1931 the club was voted the "fourth strongest European side by football experts from all over Europe".
After Kürschner's departure from Switzerland the legendary Austrian Karl Rappan
followed the Hungarian on the bench and expanded on the success of the club until 1948. Rappan was also a founding father of the European cup competitions.
in March 1937 and within a month saw himself at the helm of CR Flamengo which was then the team of the legendary striker Leonidas da Silva
, the famous Rubber Man.
who had been player-manager from September 1934 until January 1937. Costa became Kürschner's assistant and eventually his successor. Beyond this, Costa should once be regarded the probably greatest coach in Brazil in the earlier parts of the 20th century. He was to amass titles not only with Flamengo and local rivals CR Vasco da Gama, but he also led the Brazilian national football team to its then only third Copa América
title and even to the, albeit for the local audience anticlimactical, second place in the World Cup finals of 1950.
Kürschner promoted a more controlled, defensive style of the game in Brazil. He introduced not only things like training without ball, but most importantly also the WM system, which had been in use in England since the 1920s. In the course of the preparations for the World Cup 1938 in France – where Brazil was to debut amongst the top four – he familiarized the coaching staff of the association with state-of-the-art European football and training methodology.
His time with Flamengo came to an end on matchday one of the Campeonato Carioca
campaign 1938 on 4 September – a match that was also used for the opening of the club's new Estádio da Gávea
. Flamengo lost 0–2 to Vasco da Gama. This triggered a crisis and led to the almost instantaneous sacking of Kürschner.
Kürschner was the first of eventually only three European coaches that succeeded in Brazil. His compatriots Gyula Mándi
(sometimes also known as Julius or Gyula Mandel), with América FC in Rio and the famous Béla Guttmann
at São Paulo FC should follow in his path in the 1950s. Incidentally, both of them also used to play in the main for MTK in Budapest.
Derby of Flamengo versus Fluminense FC.
proved to be an ideal resounding board for the new ideas he brought from the old continent and helped in the establishment of Brazil as one of the giants of football.
Brazil
Brazil , officially the Federative Republic of Brazil , is the largest country in South America. It is the world's fifth largest country, both by geographical area and by population with over 192 million people...
primarily known as Dori Kruschner, (* ca. 1885; † 1941 in Rio de Janeiro
Rio de Janeiro
Rio de Janeiro , commonly referred to simply as Rio, is the capital city of the State of Rio de Janeiro, the second largest city of Brazil, and the third largest metropolitan area and agglomeration in South America, boasting approximately 6.3 million people within the city proper, making it the 6th...
), was a Hungarian football player and coach.
As player he was successful with Budapest
Budapest
Budapest is the capital of Hungary. As the largest city of Hungary, it is the country's principal political, cultural, commercial, industrial, and transportation centre. In 2011, Budapest had 1,733,685 inhabitants, down from its 1989 peak of 2,113,645 due to suburbanization. The Budapest Commuter...
club MTK and was also called on to play for his country. As coach he succeeded in Germany
Germany
Germany , officially the Federal Republic of Germany , is a federal parliamentary republic in Europe. The country consists of 16 states while the capital and largest city is Berlin. Germany covers an area of 357,021 km2 and has a largely temperate seasonal climate...
with 1. FC Nuremberg, but his greatest triumphs were to follow in Switzerland
Switzerland
Switzerland name of one of the Swiss cantons. ; ; ; or ), in its full name the Swiss Confederation , is a federal republic consisting of 26 cantons, with Bern as the seat of the federal authorities. The country is situated in Western Europe,Or Central Europe depending on the definition....
with the Grasshopper Club Zürich. There he won seven titles.
Kürschner's appearance on the Brazil
Brazil
Brazil , officially the Federative Republic of Brazil , is the largest country in South America. It is the world's fifth largest country, both by geographical area and by population with over 192 million people...
ian scene of brought a push of innovation to the jogo bonito, the "beautiful game", there and helped in the establishment of this country as one of the giants of world football.
The player
Kürschner was a defensive player on the left side of the field who also found use as centre half. He impressed less with his physique and technique then with his astute positioning and his penchant for headers. His game was marked by simplicity and decisiveness.He played for MTK in his hometown Budapest and contributed to their Championships in 1904 and 1908 as well as their three consecutive wins of the Magyar Kupa
Magyar Kupa
The Hungarian Cup is the Hungarian cup competition for football clubs. It has been incepted by the Hungarian Football Association, the Magyar Labdarúgó Szövetség in 1909, eight years after the commencement of the Hungarian League, the Nemzeti Bajnokság.Besides all of the professional clubs of...
between 1910 and 1912. Between 1907 and 1911 he also was called up five times to play for the Hungarian national football team.
Beginnings in Budapest and Stuttgart
Kürschner commenced his coaching career in 1918 with MTK in Budapest, but already the following year he moved on to Stuttgarter KickersStuttgarter Kickers
Stuttgarter Kickers is a German association football club that plays in Stuttgart, Baden-Württemberg, founded on 21 September 1899 as FC Stuttgarter Cickers...
in the south-west of Germany. There he stayed for two years and won in 1921 the championship of Württemberg
Württemberg
Württemberg , formerly known as Wirtemberg or Wurtemberg, is an area and a former state in southwestern Germany, including parts of the regions Swabia and Franconia....
, which qualified the club for the Southern German Championship.
Championship with Nuremberg
Stuttgart were ousted soon, thus Kürschner became available to lead title defenders 1. FC Nuremberg through the play-offs for the national German title. There the Nurembergers defeated in the final Vorwärts 90 from Berlin (a precursor club to today's SpVgg Blau-Weiß 1890 Berlin) with 5–0.After this short term engagement FC Bayern Munich
FC Bayern Munich
FC Bayern Munich , is a German sports club based in Munich, Bavaria. It is best known for its professional football team, which is the most successful football club in Germany, having won 22 national titles and 15 cups....
hired Kürschner for the next season as successor to the great Englishman William Townley
William Townley
William "Billy" Townley, , was an English football player and coach.He scored the first hat-trick in the history of the FA Cup final, but his lasting legacy is defined as an important pioneer of the game in Germany and as a journeyman coach on the continent.-Playing career:Townley's career as a...
. Bayern only managed second place in the Southern Bavarian Championship behind local rivals FC Wacker Munich, and thus failed to qualify for the national tournament. This freed Kürschner to guide Nuremberg through their play-off campaign once more.
He led the team to its third consecutive German Championship final where the ascending Hamburger SV
Hamburger SV
Hamburger Sport-Verein, usually referred to as HSV in Germany and Hamburg in international parlance, is a German multi-sport club based in Hamburg, its largest branch being its football department...
was the opponent. Two epic matches over altogether more than five hours in what is referred to in German football folklore as the "eternal final", did not produce a winner, and in the consequence no title was awarded in that season.
In the next season Kürschner was made the first full-time coach of Eintracht Frankfurt
Eintracht Frankfurt
Eintracht Frankfurt is a German sports club, based in Frankfurt, Hesse that is best known for its association football club.- Club origins :...
. With only one defeat Frankfurt wins the Group I. of the North Main (→ river Main) league, which was then one of the many divisions that constituted first level football in Germany. However, in the matches for the over all North Main championship the local opponent Germania 94 Frankfurt prevails.
Great success in Switzerland
After this Kürschner was to work for many years in Switzerland. His first appointment was in 1923–24 with FC Nordstern Basel, where he also was the first full-time coach in club history. Leading them to promotion to the first division laid the cornerstone to the grandest period in Nordstern's history.Olympic Silver for the national team
In 1924 Kürschner joined up with Teddy DuckworthTeddy Duckworth
Thomas Crook "Teddy" Duckworth was an English professional football player and manager. As a player, he was an outside right. He played in the Football League and the Southern League for Blackpool, West Ham United and Blackburn Rovers.-Playing career:Born in Blackpool, Duckworth began his career...
and Jimmy Hogan
Jimmy Hogan
James "Jimmy" Hogan was an English football player and coach of Irish descent...
to prepare the players of the Swiss national football team in regional groups for the Olympic Games in Paris. Of these coaches Hogan deserves particular attention as he is considered one of the great English football pioneers on the continent. His name will remain forever associated with the Austrian Miracle Team of the 1930s, and indirectly also with the rise of Hungarian football which led to the great triumphs of the Magic Magyars in the 1950s.
In Paris the team, under the leadership of Duckworth, made it all the way to the finals. Only the giants of that era Uruguay could eventually put a halt to the Swiss juggernaut when they defeated them 3–0 in a hopelessly overcrowded stadium and thus retained their Gold from the previous tournament. To date, this remains the greatest success in the history of Swiss football. Incidentally, in the semi-finals the Urus overcame the Dutch side led by the aforementioned William Townley, who, in those days was also associated with the Swiss club FC St. Gallen
FC St. Gallen
Football Club St. Gallen 1879 is a Swiss football club based in St. Gallen. The club is currently playing in the 2011/12 Swiss Challenge League.-Brief history:...
.
Later in that year, Kürschner briefly became the first full time coach of Schwarz-Weiss Essen
Schwarz-Weiss Essen
Schwarz-Weiß Essen is a German association football club based in Essen, North Rhine-Westphalia. The side has its origins in the gymnastics club Essener Turnerbund founded in 1881...
in the west of Germany. In a friendly they defeated Kürschner's home team MTK 2–1.
Decade of triumphs with Grasshoppers
From 1925 until 1934 Kürschner was in the employ of the Grasshopper Club Zürich. The three national championships in 1927, 1928, and 1931 plus four wins in the Swiss cup final made him the second most successful coach in the history of this club.The German language edition of Wikipedia notes in its article regarding the Grasshoppers, that in 1931 the club was voted the "fourth strongest European side by football experts from all over Europe".
After Kürschner's departure from Switzerland the legendary Austrian Karl Rappan
Karl Rappan
Karl Rappan was an Austrian footballer and coach. He played and managed mostly in Switzerland, where he won multiple titles. He had four tenures as coach of the Swiss national team, which he managed in three World Cups, and is the all-time leader in matches won as coach of the Swiss team...
followed the Hungarian on the bench and expanded on the success of the club until 1948. Rappan was also a founding father of the European cup competitions.
Innovator in Rio de Janeiro
He arrived in Rio de JaneiroRio de Janeiro
Rio de Janeiro , commonly referred to simply as Rio, is the capital city of the State of Rio de Janeiro, the second largest city of Brazil, and the third largest metropolitan area and agglomeration in South America, boasting approximately 6.3 million people within the city proper, making it the 6th...
in March 1937 and within a month saw himself at the helm of CR Flamengo which was then the team of the legendary striker Leonidas da Silva
Leônidas da Silva
Leônidas da Silva was an association footballer and commentator. He is regarded to be one of the most important players of the first half of the 20th century. He played for Brazil in two World Cups, and was the top scorer of the 1938 World Cup....
, the famous Rubber Man.
Flamengo
At the Mengão he succeeded Flávio CostaFlávio Costa
Flávio Rodrigues da Costa was a Brazilian football player and manager. He was born in Carangola, Minas Gerais....
who had been player-manager from September 1934 until January 1937. Costa became Kürschner's assistant and eventually his successor. Beyond this, Costa should once be regarded the probably greatest coach in Brazil in the earlier parts of the 20th century. He was to amass titles not only with Flamengo and local rivals CR Vasco da Gama, but he also led the Brazilian national football team to its then only third Copa América
Copa América
The Copa América —previously known as South American Championship—is an international football competition contested between the men's national teams of CONMEBOL, the sport's continental governing body...
title and even to the, albeit for the local audience anticlimactical, second place in the World Cup finals of 1950.
Kürschner promoted a more controlled, defensive style of the game in Brazil. He introduced not only things like training without ball, but most importantly also the WM system, which had been in use in England since the 1920s. In the course of the preparations for the World Cup 1938 in France – where Brazil was to debut amongst the top four – he familiarized the coaching staff of the association with state-of-the-art European football and training methodology.
His time with Flamengo came to an end on matchday one of the Campeonato Carioca
Campeonato Carioca
The Campeonato Carioca, also known as Campeonato Estadual do Rio de Janeiro, is the football league of the state of Rio de Janeiro, Brazil and is one of the most prestigious national football tournaments...
campaign 1938 on 4 September – a match that was also used for the opening of the club's new Estádio da Gávea
Estádio da Gávea
The Estádio da Gávea , also known as Estádio José Bastos Padilha is a football stadium, inaugurated on September 4, 1938, in the Lagoa neighborhood, of Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. It has a maximum capacity of 8,000 people, and is the home ground of Flamengo, its owner. Flamengo rarely play at Estádio...
. Flamengo lost 0–2 to Vasco da Gama. This triggered a crisis and led to the almost instantaneous sacking of Kürschner.
Botafogo
Kürschner's appointment with Botafogo FR, then based in a district close by to Flamengo, from 1939 to 1940 is the last knowledge we have about him. He died in 1941, presumably from a viral infection, in Rio de Janeiro at about 56 years of age.Kürschner was the first of eventually only three European coaches that succeeded in Brazil. His compatriots Gyula Mándi
Gyula Mándi
Gyula Mándi, also referred to as Mándi Gyula or Julius Mandel was a Hungarian footballer and manager.-Player:Mándi was part of the greatest era of MTK, the 1920s and 1930s...
(sometimes also known as Julius or Gyula Mandel), with América FC in Rio and the famous Béla Guttmann
Béla Guttmann
Béla Guttmann was a Jewish Hungarian footballer and coach. He played as a midfielder for MTK Hungária FC, SC Hakoah Wien, Hungary and several clubs in the United States. However he is perhaps best remembered as a coach and manager of some the world’s leading football teams, including AC Milan, São...
at São Paulo FC should follow in his path in the 1950s. Incidentally, both of them also used to play in the main for MTK in Budapest.
Film
Kürschner can be seen in the Brazilian movie Alma e Corpo de uma Raça ("Body and Soul of a Race") from 1938 by director Milton Rodrigues (1905–1972). In a scene describing real life in the young country he appears in the context of the famous Fla-FluFla-Flu
Fla-Flu is a football matchup between cross-town rivals Flamengo and Fluminense. Matches take place in the 95,000-seat Maracanã Stadium, located near downtown Rio, in the city's Maracanã district...
Derby of Flamengo versus Fluminense FC.
Summary note
Kürschner's appearance on the scene of brought a push of innovation to the "jogo bonito" in Brazil. Flávio CostaFlávio Costa
Flávio Rodrigues da Costa was a Brazilian football player and manager. He was born in Carangola, Minas Gerais....
proved to be an ideal resounding board for the new ideas he brought from the old continent and helped in the establishment of Brazil as one of the giants of football.
External links
- Izidor Kürschner at eintracht-archiv.de