The Greatest Tactician in History - Part 1

Márton Bukovi was a difficult, brilliant man, the sharpest brain in the most influential footballing culture of all. But he was also somebody of great courage

Márton Bukovi was not an easy man. He was quite happy with his own thoughts – seems indeed, often to have preferred them to conversation. He was driven and single-minded, demanded the highest standards form himself and could be brusque or dismissive of those who did not, in his opinion, measure up. He was also a genius, quite possibly the greatest tactical mind football has ever known. And, when it came to it, he was a man of great courage. When it came to it, he lived on the right side of history.

Yet Bukovi’s story is not well known. He, far more than any other individual, has a claim to have been the mastermind of the Aranycsapat, the Golden Squad of the early 1950s that won Olympic gold in 1952, hammered England twice and then lost in the 1954 World Cup final. But he was not the coach, nor did he have any official role; he was far too blunt to navigate the Communist committees, so the manager’s job went to Gusztav Sebes, a fine former player and an adept politician and organiser but, by his own admission, no great tactician.

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On It Was What It Was, the football history podcast, we look back at the decline and fall of Diego Maradona. Listen here.

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And, ever wanted the history of football tactics explained in one gorgeous poster? Or the Premier League as Fibonacci sequence? Then you’re in luck. Buy here.