István Nyers (Hungarian pronunciation: [ˈiʃtvaːn ˈɲɛrʃ]; 25 May 1924 – 9 March 2005), also known as Stefano Nyers, was a Hungarian footballer who played as a forward or as a winger. Although he played in only two international matches for Hungary, he is considered one of the greatest football legends of his country, reaching the peak of his career in the 1940s and 1950s.

István Nyers
Personal information
Full name István Nyers
Date of birth (1924-05-25)25 May 1924
Place of birth Freyming-Merlebach, France
Date of death 9 March 2005(2005-03-09) (aged 80)
Place of death Subotica, Serbia and Montenegro
Position(s) Winger, Forward
Youth career
1941–1942 III. Kerületi TVE
1942–1943 Kábelgyári SC
Senior career*
Years Team Apps (Gls)
1943–1944 Szabadkai VAC
1944–1945 Ganz 9 (3)
1945 ŽAK Subotica 0 (0)
1945–1946 Újpest 22 (20)
1946 Viktoria Žižkov 3 (1)
1946–1948 Stade Français 62 (34)
1948–1954 Inter Milan 182 (133)
1954 Servette 0 (0)
1954–1956 Roma 54 (20)
1956–1957 Barcelona 0 (0)
1957 Terrassa 11 (5)
1958 Sabadell 0 (0)
1959–1960 Lecco 36 (11)
1960–1961 Marzotto 12 (2)
International career
1945–1946 Hungary 2 (2)
*Club domestic league appearances and goals

Career

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Nyers was born in Freyming-Merlebach, Moselle, France into an immigrant Hungarian mining family; his younger brother was Ferenc Nyers. When he was 14 he moved with his family to Budapest where he started playing with III. Kerületi TUE. He will have his first official debut aged 17 and playing with Szabadkai VAC[1] which was a Yugoslav club from Subotica that played in the Hungarian league system after the Hungarian annexation of Bačka during World War II (1941–1944). When Yugoslavs retook Subotica, Nyers moved to Budapest where he had a short spell with Ganz-MÁVAG SE where he played along László Kubala.[2] In March 1945, Nyers played some friendlies for ŽAK Subotica (formerly Szabadkai VAC), before the club got disbanded by new Yugoslav authorities. Its players stayed together and went on a tour throughout Serbia as a representing team of Subotica.[3] Nyers scored several goals on this tour.[3] Later that year, Nyers left Yugoslavia and returned to Budapest, where he joined 1945 Újpest FC, winning two league titles.[4] In 1946, he transferred briefly to the Czechoslovakian team FK Viktoria Žižkov and then to the French club Stade Français.

After two years in Paris he was recruited by the Italian side Inter Milan. Here he developed to one of the strongest forwards in the history of Serie A. With 26 goals in his first season he became the top scorer of the league. In 182 games for Inter he scored a total of 133 goals. Twice, in 1953 and 1954, he became Italian champion with Inter.

After winning the championship for the second time Nyers left Milan and changed via Servette FC of Geneva to AS Roma, where he remained for two years. A season with the Catalan sides CF Barcelona, Terrassa FC and CD Sabadell followed before he played out the remainder of his career with minor league Italian clubs.

Nyers retired from the professional game in 1961. During his retirement he lived for several years in Milan before settling in Subotica, Serbia until his death in 2005 at the age of 80.[5]

Honours

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Club

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Újpest[4]

Internazionale[6]

Barcelona

Notes

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  1. ^ Nyers István Archived 3 March 2016 at the Wayback Machine at internazionale.hu, Retrieved 5-10-2012 (in Hungarian)
  2. ^ GANZ 1944–45 sezn at nela.hu
  3. ^ a b Istorija FK Spartak at FK Spartak Subotica official website, retrieved 21-8-2018 (in Serbian) (indicated as Njerš in Serbian)
  4. ^ a b "István Nyers". Nemzeti Labdarúgó Archívum (in Hungarian). Archived from the original on 9 June 2016. Retrieved 9 June 2016.
  5. ^ Addio Nyers at gradsubotica.co.rs, 22-3-2010, retrieved 16-10-2013 (in Serbian)
  6. ^ "Istvan Nyers". FC Internazionale - Inter Milan. Retrieved 1 February 2021.
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