Ferenc Bene

Early career

Ferenc Bene was born on 17 December 1944 in Balatonújlak. He began to play football in 1958 in the youth ranks of MEDOSZ Marcali. Bene made his senior league debut for Dózsa in a fixture against Somogyszob in June 1959 at 14, scoring once. Just two months later, in August 1959, he scored a hat-trick in a league game against Siofok. In September 1959, Bene scored the only goal for Somogy regional team in a youth tournament match against Baranya. After protests from opponents, the result was annulled on the basis that the then-14-year-old Bene was too young to play for a U-16 selection U16. He was later allowed to play for the county's junior team, but banned from playing for the senior club until his 16th birthday. For this reason, he played only for youth teams for the next 12 months, from September 1959 to September 1960. Bene was then recruited by Kaposvár Kinizsi, a team from the third division, where he scored 16 goals in 16 matches, including 4 against Mazai Banyasz (4–0) and 6 against Szekszardi Petöfi (7–1).

Újpesti Dózsa

In 1961 the 17-year-old Bene was discovered by former Hungarian international István Avar, who recommended him to Újpest Dózsa. He then played with Újpest Dózsa for the next 17 years, from 1961 until 1978. In total, he scored 303 goals in 418 matches, thus being one of the main architects behind the team's dominance in the 1970s, as Dózsa won 8 Nemzeti Bajnokság I between 1969 and 1977-78, and also three Magyar Kupa in…

Bene made his debut for the Hungary national team against Yugoslavia on 14 October 1962, at the age of 17 years 9 months 27 days. He scored his first international goal two caps later, on 19 October 1963, which was the opening goal of a 2–1 victory over East Germany in the round of 16 of the 1964 European Nations' Cup qualifying. He also scored in the quarter-finals against France, and in the tournament, Bene scored in the semi-finals against Spain, which was not enough to prevent a 1–2 defeat. However, Bene scored one more goal at the tournament in the third place play-off against Denmark, thus finishing as the tournament's joint-top scorer alongside teammate Dezső Novák and Chus Pereda of Spain. In 1963 and 1964, Bene played with both the Hungarian main team and the Hungarian Olympic team simultaneously, overlapping between the two sides and scoring at a prolific rate for both of them. In fact, he scored a brace in each of his first three appearances with the Olympic side, two in friendlies and the other in a 4–0 win over Sweden in the first leg of the 1964 Olympic semifinal round of qualifying, thus helping his side reach the final round of qualifying against Spain in which he scored a brace in both legs as Hungary qualified for the 1964 Olympics. In the Olympic tournament, Bene played a crucial role in helping Hungary winning the gold medal, scoring twelve goals in five matches, including all six in the 6–0 thrashing of Morocco in the group stage, a four-goal haul…

Club

International goals

Goals for Hungary Olympic team

Hungary score listed first, score column indicates score after each Bene goal.

Goals for Hungary main team

Hungary score listed first, score column indicates score after each Bene goal.

Újpest Nemzeti Bajnokság I (8): 1969, 1970, 1970-71, 1971-72, 1972-73, 1973-74, 1974-75, 1977-78 Magyar Kupa: 1969, 1970, 1974-75 Hungary Olympic Games: 1964 Individual UEFA European Championship Team of the Tournament: 1964 Hungarian Footballer of the Year: 1964 and 1969 World XI: 1966, 1967, 1968, 1969 FUWO European Team of the Season: 1966 ADN Eastern European Footballer of the Season: 1966