Elek Schwartz

Elek Schwartz initially started playing near his hometown Recaş, in Timişoara. Later he played professional football in the French Ligue 1 with FC Hyères (1932–1934), AS Cannes (1934–36), Racing Strasbourg (1936–38) and Red Star Olympique (1938–39).

Beginnings as coach on the Côte d'Azur

He started his coaching career in France with AS Cannes (1948–49) and from there continued to AS Monaco (1950–1952) and Le Havre AC (1952–53).

Early years in West Germany

In 1953 he was hired by SF Hamborn 07. In his second season with the club from the suburb of Duisburg he led the club to promotion to the western division of the five ways split first division of Germany, the Oberliga West. In 1955, he was appointed as manager by then German champions, Rot-Weiss Essen coaching among others Helmut Rahn there. In the next couple of years he led the team to ranks 4 and 8 in the Oberliga West.

Manager of the Netherlands national team

After leaving Rot-Weiss Essen, Schwartz joined the Netherlands football association, the KNVB and took on the reins of the Netherlands national football team. He guided the team through 49 matches. However, this was in an era when Dutch football had yet to achieve the standing it has held since the 1970s. Results varied extremely and included 7–0 defeat to Germany in 1959 in Cologne, as well as back to back 1–0 wins against France and world champions Brazil in 1963. He held the position of national coach until 1964, when Denis Neville replaced him.

European Cup Final with Benfica

In 1964–65, he coached Portuguese club S.L. Benfica, then with Eusébio. There he led them to their first third-consecutive league title. After this, Benfica overcame Real Madrid in the…