Ferenc Deák (16 January 1922 – 18 April 1998) was a Hungarian footballer who played as a striker for clubs such as Szentlőrinci AC, Ferencváros and Budapesti Dózsa, and who played internationally for Hungary, scoring 29 goals in just 20 caps. His nickname was Bamba. He holds the European record for most goals scored in a single season in top division championships with 66 since 1946. With over 795 goals in official matches scored during his career, he is the eighth top goalscorer of all time. Including friendly and unofficial matches, he is also the seventh top goalscorer of all time with over 1374 goals in just 839 matches.

Early life He was born on 16 January 1922 in Ferencváros, Budapest. Deák, who also worked in his family's bakery, began his career as a goalkeeper at the age of thirteen, but his parents banned him from football when a shot hit him in the head and he lost consciousness. However, outside the field, his talent to strike a ball skilfully, powerfully and accurately was quickly noticed by a coach who was searching for talent, and that coach subsequently managed to convince his parents that the boy could continue playing, but they made a condition: he could no longer stand in between the posts.

Club career Deák continued his footballing career now as a striker, and he got off to a very good start as he scored six goals in his senior debut in 1940 in his place of residence, Pestszentlőrinc, playing for one of the local teams, Szentlőrinci AC, in the third division, and he was pivotal in helping the club to reach the top-flight in 1944. He then topped the European top scoring list three times, in the 1945–46 (66), 1946–47 (48) and 1948–49 (59) seasons. His best season was the 1945–46 league season, when he scored 66 goals in 34 matches, and because of it, he was voted the Hungarian Player of the Year. He still holds the record for the most goals scored in a single European league season with 66. In absolute terms, only American Archibald Stark did better with 67 goals in the 1924–25 season, but he needed 44 matches to reach that figure.

Because of these impressive numbers, Deák was eventually signed by Ferencváros in 1947, and he played for them as a center-forward for three years, from 1947 to 1950, winning the Hungarian championship at the end of the 1948–49 season. In this league season, the attackers of the team celebrated the half-century anniversary of the club's formation (Ferencváros was founded in 1899) with 140 goals in just 30 matches, of which Deák himself contributed with 59 hits. He scored 155 goals in 111 matches (121 in 83 matches in the league only) over three years in green and white.

Deák got the nickname "Bamba" from the fans because, as he later recalled in a report,

After three years (1947–50) at Ferencváros, he then moved to rival's Újpest (politics played a role in the move), and during his four years with the purple-whites, he did not stop scoring there either, scoring 53 goals in 77 matches. He spent the last years of his playing career at Spartacus Budapest, VM Egyetértés and Siófok. The "goalkeeper" Deák has a total of 303 league goals, winning three Hungarian League titles, and in 1997 he was awarded the title of goal king of the century in Munich.

In 1999 (posthumously) he received the Hungarian Heritage Award and became an honorary citizen of Pestszentimre-Pestszentlőrinc. Ferenc Deák is remembered for the goblet, which is handed over to the top scorer of the top championship every year, and a wandering cup has also been named after him. In 2007 he took his name in an XVIII. district primary and sports school youth football base. His legacy has been preserved by the Puskás Academy since 2015. His life novel was published in 1992 as The Bamba, with the subtitle The Greatest Goal King of All Time.

International career Deák Bamba was also excellent in the national team, playing in 20 matches for the Hungary national team from 1946 to 1949, scoring 29 goals, thus having a ratio of 1.45, which is a world record, being just ahead of Just Fontaine, who scored 30 goals in 21 matches for France for a ratio of 1.43.

He scored 3 hat-tricks for Hungary, including a poker against Bulgaria in the 1947 Balkan Cup, where the Hungarian team beat the Bulgarians 9-0. This 4-goal haul helped him to be the top goal scorer of the 1947 Balkan Cup with 5 goals as Hungary won the tournament in its first attempt. With 9 goals in the Balkan Cup, he is among the all-time top goal scorers in the competition's history. Then, in 1949, the newly appointed coach, Gusztáv Sebes, judged the excellent center to be politically unreliable (the same politic issues that forced him to leave Ferencváros in 1950), so he expelled him from the team and replaced him with Hidegkuti. Bamba was very worn out, as he missed Hungary's Olympic victory at the 1952 Summer Olympics, the match of the century in 1953, the 1954 World Cup which Hungary nearly won and all the successes that made the Hungarian national team the best team in the world for many years.

International goals Hungary score listed first, score column indicates score after each Deák goal. + List of international goals scored by Ferenc Deák No. Cap Date Venue Opponent Score Result Competition 1 1 6 October 1946 Üllői úti stadion, Budapest, Hungary 2–0 Friendly 2 3 2 30 October 1946 Stade Émile Mayrisch, Esch-sur-Alzette, Luxembourg 7–2 4 5 6 3 17 August 1947 Üllői úti stadion, Budapest, Hungary 9–0 1947 Balkan Cup 7 8 9 10 4 20 August 1947 3–0 11 6 21 April 1948 7–4 1948–53 Central European Cup 12 13 7 2 May 1948 Praterstadion, Vienna, Austria 2–3 14 8 23 May 1948 Üllői úti stadion, Budapest, Hungary 2–1 1948–53 Central European Cup and 1948 Balkan Cup 15 9 19 September 1948 Stadion Wojska Polskiego, Warsaw, Poland 6–2 1948 Balkan Cup 16 10 3 October 1948 Megyeri úti Stadion, Újpest, Hungary 2–0 Friendly 17 11 24 October 1948 Stadionul ONEF, Bucharest, Romania 5–1 1948 Balkan Cup 18 19 14 8 May 1949 Megyeri úti Stadion, Újpest, Hungary 6–1 1948–53 Central European Cup 20 21 15 12 June 1949 1–1 22 17 10 July 1949 Oláh Gábor utcai Stadion, Debrecen, Poland 8–2 Friendly 23 24 25 26 18 16 October 1949 Praterstadion, Vienna, Austria 4–3 27 28 19 30 October 1949 Megyeri úti Stadion, Újpest, Hungary 5–0 29 20 20 November 1949 5–0

Honours Club Ferencváros

Nemzeti Bajnokság I: Champions (1): 1948–49

International Hungary

Balkan Cup: Champions (1): 1947

Individual

Hungarian Football Federation Player of the Year: 1946 Seasonwise World Top Scorer (3): 1945–46, 1946–47, 1948–49Seasonwise World Top Scorer . rsssf.org Hungarian League Top Scorer (3): 1945–46, 1946–47 and 1948–49 Top goalscorer of the 1947 Balkan Cup with 5 goals.

Notes

See also List of men's footballers with 500 or more goals List of footballers who achieved hat-trick records

References

External links