Laszlo Kubala was a prolific forward that played for FC Barcelona in the 1950's. His brilliant goal scoring ability resulted in him becoming one of the most feared forwards of his time. By the end of his career, it was arguable that he was the greatest player Barcelona ever had. Unfortunately, not many around the world know about Kubala, or his achievements. This two part piece is a brief history of Kubala's career and life.
From Paulinho Alcantara to Lionel Messi, FC Barcelona can proudly lay claim to some of the greatest forwards in the history of football. Merciless finishers, to physically powerful strikers, to amazing dribblers, each forward has brought his own special and unique playing style. Each era of Barcelona's history has had one or more stand out players, and the stand out player of this generation is easy to spot; his name is Lionel Messi. Messi is known all across the globe, and not without reason. To many fans of Barca, he is considered the greatest player in Barca's 115 year history. While this may be true, it is sad to know that many fans don't know that he has quite a bit of competition for that title. Deep within the annals of Barca's history, there is another legendary player who puts his bid in for the greatest player in the clubs history. His name is László Kubala.
Early Life
Kubala, also known as László Kubala Stecz was born in the city of Budapest, Hungary on the 10th of June, 1927. He was born to humble surroundings, and grew up playing football in his spare time. Both of his parents had modest jobs; his father, Pál Kubala Kurjas, was a simple brick layer, and his mother, Anna Stecz, was a factory worker. Since the family couldn't afford a proper ball, his mother would make them for him using cardboard and paper. He soon became known in neighborhood as "the boy with the ball". László Kubala Stecz had started to hone his skills as a footballer at a young age.
Kubala started playing consistently at the young age of 11, already playing with children who were 5-6 years older than him. Playing football was taking large portions of his time, and was soon to be turned into a profession. At that time he was starting to get noticed by the larger clubs in Europe. His combination of speed, control, and a vicious right footed shot, made him a striking player to behold. A couple of years later he signed his first professional contract with Ganz TE in 1944, at the age of 17. After a year of playing for Ganz TE, Kubala soon had a new contract with another team in Hungary, Ferencvárosi TC, which he also only played for only one year. He made 49 appearances for the club, scoring a total of 27 goals.
Refugee
Having played in his home country of Hungary for a few years, Kubala decided the time was right to leave. Post World War two had not been kind to Hungary, and trouble was starting to stir. Hungary was being taken over by communists, and Kubala had to flee, only after making three international appearances for the Hungarian National Team.
Kubala allegedly escaped from Hungary in the back of a truck, and soon started his football career in other countries.
Early Career: Pre Barcelona
Kubala ended up traveling to Slovakia, where he signed with ŠK Slovan Bratislava, a club located in the city of Bratislava. He made 33 appearances for the club, scoring 14 goals, a mediocre amount for a player of his caliber. After an average season, Kubala moved around Central Europe even returning to Hungary for some time to play for Vasas SC, where he made 20 appearances, scoring 10 goals. He soon left after the situation became too precarious.
After his adventure with Vasas SC, Kubala was smuggled into Italy and reached Busto Arsizio, and then started training with a local club called Aurora Pro Patria. His playing style impressed many of the Italian giants in the Serie A at the time, namely Inter Milan and Torino. Eventually Torino invited to play a friendly for the club in Portugal, against Benfica. Kubala agreed to play, but was forced to miss the plane, due to his sons' sickness. This proved to be lifesaving as the plane carrying the Torino players tragically crashed, resulting in the deaths of everyone on board.
Having ambitions to play in Italy further, Kubala only ended up frustrated. The Hungarian FA had convinced FIFA to place a ban, not allowing him to play, which resulted in Kubala joining a group of Hungarian refugee footballers, on their way to Spain. After playing several friendlies in Spain, Kubala caught the eye of Spain's largest clubs, Real Madrid C.F and FC Barcelona. Madrid offered Kabala a contract, and on his way there, he chanced upon former Barca great Josep Samitier, a legendary midfielder in his own right. Samitier convinced him to join Barca, and a few days later, Kubala had landed in Barcelona, the club which would cement his place as football legend for eternity.
from Barca Blaugranes - All Posts http://ift.tt/1F11mAH
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