BIO
Date of Birth:
Place of Birth:
Age at Death:
Position:
August 30, 1895
Budapest, Hungary
49 years
Goalkeeper
Click on the Title-Name to go Back
Year
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1909-
1910-'24
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15 years
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Club/Team
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MTK Budapest
Budai 33 (l/k/a33 FC)
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Total Club Games
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International Career
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Hungary
Appearances
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unknown
unknown
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unknown
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30
Goals
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40
Synopsis
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The Hungarian back-stopper that led the Magyar defense with 30 international appearances during one of the most financially constrained times in Hungarian sports. In fact, the Hungarian team was so poorly funded that they almost could not attend the 1912 Olympics as the Government was unable to procure the funds to send their team to Stockholm. In what was a 19th century “Go-Fund-Me” type effort, the Hungarian people raised the money without the Government’s assistance and sent their team to the Games.
Although Zsak’s impressive 30 International caps are bookended by being named in the Olympic squads for both 1912 and 1924, he did not feature in either of these events.
It would be fair to say that Zsak’s reputation as a player would have him being much better than the small club (Budai 33 later known as 33 FC) he was playing for would warrant. Still, Zsak remained intensely loyal to his Club and although he had many opportunities to move on for bigger/ better teams, he chose not to do so which undoubtedly contributed to him being one of Hungary’s most beloved players of that generation.
Zsak was more than a shot stopper, he was widely regarded as one of Hungary’s best free kick takers and managed to amass a startling amount of over 40 goals scored throughout his career.
As an example of how well Zsak was regarded by his peers, in 1913-’14, he was named the Hungarian Footballer of the year even though his club only finished a distant sixth place in the league table.
Zsak managed to extend his playing career well into the 1920s by choosing to amputate a previously broken finger that interfered with his playing as it had failed to heal correctly.
Zsak died at the young age of 49 during the last year of WWII’s European conflict however the cause of his early demise remains unknown.
Admittedly, the case for Zsak being on this list is really one of reliance on other author’s “All-Time Greats” lists more so than any substantive articles or material that I’ve been able to unearth in mass. Although only glimpses of Zsak’s history remain, it is obviously apparent that he was respected throughout all of Hungary for more than a decade with an impressive 30 international caps to his name and a well-earned reputation for loyalty, bravery and physical toughness.
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Notable Accomplishments & Honors
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Hungarian Footballer of the Year 1913-‘14
CARDBOARD NOTES
Unfortunately, Zsak played in a country at a time when football cards of individual players were not being manufactured. Although some Hungarian vintage stars (Sarosi, Takacs and Schaefffer) can be found, those players careers were a generation later and their cards were produced outside of Hungary. Zsak cardboard collectors would need to expand their search criteria into postal cards and press photos. Even still, most of these issues will either be Action or Team photos. Perhaps the best postal issue to own is from the rare 1912 Brekofort Olympic Set which was produced in Stockholm Sweden and has several cards memorializing the 1912 Olympic Football Squads as well as Action shots from that Tournament.
1912 Brekfort - Sweden
