UNKNOWN HISTORIES, EPISODE 34 From the Vulcan Miner to Bayern Munich and Marseille! » He coached from the USA to Tunisia. His tomb was recently restored by the Hungarian government

Andrej Prean Nagy, the hero of the current episode of “Unknown Histories”, is a name almost unknown to Romanian microbiologists. He had a spectacular life story, a true globe-trotter, which began in Romania, ended in Tunisia and was posthumously honored by his neighbors in Hungary.

Figures and trophies show that Andrej (the Hungarians used the variant Andras, and the French “baptized” him knitting needle) Nagy was not an expert in football. He won championship titles in Hungary and France, in both countries he also won the Cup. In addition, he caught matches in the Hungarian national team, which at that time was the finalist of the last World Cup.

In his old age, Nagy decided to donate some of his fortune to the club he loved the most, Ferencvaros, and his resting place was recently refurbished with the help of the Hungarian state.

Andrej Prean Nagy was registered for the first time at Minerul Vulcan

All biographies of Andrej Prean Nagy indicate that he was born on October 6, 1920, in Vulcan, Hunedoara County. There he also took his first steps in football, being registered as a junior at Minerul Vulcan.

Sometime around the age of 18, Nagy shows up as a registered member of Ganz-MAVAG SE, a club of zefferists in Budapest.

Five trophies in six years at Ferencvaros

In 1939, the year of the start of the Second World War, the young “Andras” Nagy made his debut at the club that remained in his heart for life, Ferencvaros Budapest.

Nagy Andras or Nagy II, as his Hungarian neighbors identified him, won two titles (1939-1940 and 1940-1941) and three Hungarian Cups (1941-1942, 1942-1943 and 1943-1944, the last one after a final with CFR Cluj, won by “Fradi” after 2-2 in Budapest and 3-1 in Cluj). In all these finals, Andras Nagy was integralist!

At the “green and white” he played with a lot of big names in Hungarian football, of which perhaps the most brilliant was Gyorgy Sarosi, scorer for Hungary in the 1938 World Championship final against Italy, lost 2-4.

Andras Nagy collected three selections in the Hungarian national team during his legalization at Ferencvaros. He made his debut on September 12, 1943, in Sweden – Hungary 3-2. On September 15, he performed in Finland – Hungary 0-3, and on November 7, 1943, he was on the field in the shameful Hungary – Sweden 2-7.

82of matches and 3 goals collected by Andras Nagy at Ferencvaros only in the Hungarian first league. He also played in the Hungarian Cup or the Mitropa Cup

The only footballer born in Romania who played for Bayern!

In 1945, Andras Nagy was leaving Ferencvaros after 6 years and 5 trophies. Very likely, he was convinced by coach Alfred Schaffer, whose story you can read in detail HERE, and thus ended up at Bayern Munich.

German football struggled after the world conflagration and not much is known about Andras Nagy's games for the Bavarian club.

There is only one mention that he was on the pitch in the 1-1 FSV Frankfurt v Bayern Munich game on November 18, 1945.

Andras Nagy did not stay very long at Bayern, perhaps because Schaffer, his protector, had died suddenly in August 1945.

Champion with OM

Nagy left Germany and stopped on the Cote d'Azur at AS Cannes where he made 22 appearances and 5 goals in the 1946-47 season.

Perhaps the best period of his career followed. Between 1947 and 1950, “André” Nagy was registered at Olympique Marseille.

In the 1947–1948 season, “OM” won their second title – the first had been in 1937 – and the next did not come until 1971, 23 years apart!

André Nagy made his debut for OM on August 31, 1947, in Nancy – Marseille 4-0. He scored a “double” each with Nancy, on the return, in a striking 5-0, and with Red Star Paris (3-0).

In the 1948–1949 season, Marseille finished in 3rd place. And Nagy scored only one more “double”, away from home, against those from Nice, beaten by a decisive 5-0.

In 1949–1950, Marseille dropped to 8th place and Nagy played less.

25of goals in the 74 games played was collected by André Nagy at Olympique Marseille

He scored in the French Cup final

In the 1950–1951 season, Nagy transferred to RC Strasbourg Alsace, and finished 9th in the league.

However, Strasbourg won the French Cup, the first important trophy in the club's showcase. On May 6, 1951, at the “Colombes” stadium in Paris, in front of more than 60,000 spectators, RC Strasbourg clearly defeated Valenciennes, score 3-0, with goals scored by Bihel (24), Krug (34) and knitting needle Nagy (87).

Relegated and promoted to LaLiga

In January 1952, André Nagy arrived at UD Las Palmas, in the Canary Islands. At the end of the 1951–1952 season, the “Canaries” were relegated from LaLiga. Two more seasons in the Segunda followed, and from 1954-1955 the team reappeared in the Spanish first league.

He played against Real Madrid in the debut of the “whites” in the European cups!

The 1955–1956 season found André Nagy in the jersey of the Servette Geneva group. Servette was not the champion of Switzerland, but it was the team entered in the newly established European Champions Cup competition.

The first opponent, even Real Madrid, who then, on September 8, 1955, in Geneva, against the Servette team, in whose ranks was Andre Nagy, born in Vulcan, was making his debut in the European cups.

Servette Geneva – Real Madrid finished with a score of 0-2. In return, the “galactics” had no emotions, they won 5-0. And they won the first edition of the European interclub competition, after a final with Reims. Four more trophies in a row for the Madrid team followed.

The end of the football career, in the fog

According to some sources, the last team in André Nagy's long and tumultuous career was Olympique Alès, who were promoted that season, 1956–1957, to Ligue 1.

Other sources indicate that another Nagy, a certain Gyula, also ethnically Hungarian, would have played at Ales.

Close to promotion from his first year as a coach

From 1957, André Nagy, who was 37, began his coaching career at FC Lengnau in the Swiss second division, with whom he finished the 1957–58 season in 4th place. He also stayed there in the 1959–60 season, when FC Lengnau finished in last place, 14th, and was relegated to the Swiss third tier.

In 1960, André Nagy changed the continent, arriving in Africa, in charge of the Club Sportif de Hammam-Lif team, from Tunisia. He returned to France, at a small club, US Forbach (1961-1962), followed by four years at Sfax RS, also from Tunisia, where he spent the period 1963-1967. And in 1967 he ended up for a short period on the bench at Club Africain, the second most successful club in Tunisia.

He didn't stay long in the USA, then he was the coach of Tunisia

In 1968, André Nagy changed the continent again, training the Washington Wips, from the United States. But he did not stay there for long, but returned to Tunisia, where he had three terms at Club Africain (1969 – 1971, 1977 – 1981 and 1984 – 1985), and in the 1976-1977 edition he moved to his neighbors, in Algeria, in charge of the JS Kabylie group. The last club that employed the coach born in Vulcan was Club Sportif de Hammam-Lif, in the 1986-1987 edition.

The coaching career did not reach the level of the playing one, but André Nagy reached “Everest” when he led the Tunisian national team to a few matches in 1974 and 1975.

10matches from September 1974 to February 1975, André Nagy was the coach of Tunisia

He donated part of his wealth to the Ferencvaros club

In 1994, André Nagy sent a letter to the Ferencvaros club in which he announced that he wanted to donate part of his fortune to the people of Budapest. Almost 50 years had passed since his last match for the “green and white”. “Fradi” remained in his heart, even if he never returned to Hungary.

He tried in the 60s, with a tourist visa, but was not accepted. In 1991, Nagy received a Hungarian passport, but never returned to Budapest. Andrej Prean Nagy died on September 5, 1997, at almost 77 years old.

The Hungarian government renovated his grave

Andrej Prean Nagy was buried in Tunis. In 2021, the Hungarian government helped restore the Nagy family chapel in Tunis.

Also then, Peter Szijjarto, the Hungarian foreign minister, went to the grave of the former footballer to lay a wreath.