Hungarian football mourns János Göröcs

Göröcs was born in Gánt on 8th May 1939 and by the age of ten was already a registered youth footballer with the Jutagyár team in Újpest. Two years later, he joined the Bp. Vasas Izzó club where, as a young footballer, he took part in a film entitled 'I and my Grandpa'. Göröcs joined Budapest Dózsa - soon to become known as Újpest Dózsa - aged 18 in 1957, marking his full debut with a goal against Salgótarjáni BTC on 25th August of that year.

He soon became a fixture in their forward line and made his Hungary international debut after the FIFA World Cup in Sweden in a 3-1 victory over Poland in Chorzow before being a part of the Hungary team which played in the first ever UEFA European Championship fixture, a qualifier against the Soviet Union, which, just like his first league match, ended in Göröcs scoring a goal in but losing the match 3-1.

The turn of the decade saw success start at club level, Göröcs's club winning the 1960 Hungarian league title and reaching the 1962 European Cup Winners' Cup semi-final, en route to which the 22 year-old topped the competition's scoring charts with eight goals.

The mid-Sixties was a transitional period for Újpest but Göröcs had already gained a reputation for superb vision, movement and a reading of the game. Dózsa generally finished in the top 3 of the Hungarian league in the 1960s and were unfortunate to miss out on the title in 1968 when they scored 102 goals in only 30 matches, the next most prolific team, Vasas, only scoring 66.

In an era when Hungary was heavy-laden with world-class forwards, Göröcs stood out as one who could across the five-man forward line but also as a creative midfielder too and it was in this latter role that he excelled as part of a thrilling Újpest Dózsa which came to be regarded as possibly the best in Europe in 1969, the Budapest club winning the domestic league and cup double and knocking out English champions Leeds on their way to the 1969 Fairs Cup final. That classic lineup, coached by Lajos Baróti, was as follows: Szentmihályi – Káposzta, Solymosi, Bánkuti – Dunai III, Noskó – Fazekas, Göröcs, Bene, Dunai II, Zámbó.

Together with Göröcs, the team went on to win consecutive Hungarian championships in 1970, 1970-71 and 1971-72, as well as the Hungarian Cup in 1969 and 1971. The season of 1971–72 turned out to be Göröcs' last one in a Dózsa shirt, a serious knee injury sustained for Hungary against Austria restricting him to just five league matches including against Ferencváros on 15th April, which turned out to be his last appearance.

For the first time in his adult career, a change of club was in the offing, Tatabánya Bányasz benefiting from his skills in 23 games across two years, a period in which the club won two Central-European Cups. At international level, the fleet-footed inside-forward made his debut in 1958 and won an Olympic football bronze medal in Rome in 1960. He was a member of the Hungary squad at the 1962 FIFA World Cup and scored 19 goals in 62 appearances overall.

Göröcs retired in 1974, later becoming an accomplished coach and winning the 1987 Hungarian Cup with his beloved Újpest Dózsa. Personal awards continued to be received, for example, the Official Cross of the Hungarian Republic's Order of Merit in 1994, the Freedom of Budapest in 2012, the Middle Cross of the Hungarian Order of Merit in 2015 and the Hungarian Football Association's Lifetime Merit award in 2016.

János Göröcs, born: Gánt, Hungary, 8th May 1939 – Budapest, Hungary, 23rd February 2020.