Géza Kertész

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Géza Kertész (18 November 1894 – 6 February 1945), also known as Kertész IV, was a Hungarian footballer and manager from Budapest. He is most noted for his career as a football manager in Italy at clubs such as Lazio, Roma and Atalanta.

Géza Kertész
Personal information
Date of birth 18 November 1894[1]
Place of birth Budapest, Hungary
Date of death 6 February 1945 (aged 50)
Place of death Budapest, Hungary
Position(s) Midfielder
Senior career*
Years Team Apps (Gls)
1911–1919 BTC Budapesti
1920–1923 Ferencváros 19 (8)
1925–1926 Spezia (player-manager) 13 (1)
International career
1914 Hungary 1 (0)
Managerial career
1925–1926 Spezia
1926–1928 Carrarese
1928–1929 Viareggio
1929–1931 Salernitana
1931 Catanzaro
1931 Salernitana
1931–1933 Catanzaro
1933–1936 Catania
1936–1938 Taranto
1938–1939 Atalanta
1939–1940 Lazio
1940–1941 Salernitana
1941–1942 Catania
1942 R.S.T. Littorio
1942–1943 Roma
1943–1944 Újpest
*Club domestic league appearances and goals

Death

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During World War II, Kertesz returned from Italy to Hungary in 1943, when he was recalled to serve as lieutenant-colonel in the Hungarian Army[2] in training role. In liaison with the American secret service he set up a clandestine resistance network with former teammate Istvan Toth which rescued many Hungarian partisans and Jews from deportation to Nazi concentration camps during German occupation and Arrow Cross Party rule, sometimes disguising himself as a German Wehrmacht officer for cover. He was denounced to the Gestapo by an informer for sheltering Jews and was executed at Budapest alongside Toth on 6 February 1945, a few days before the city was liberated by the Soviet forces.[3][4]

His body and that of Toth were reburied together with honour at Kerepesi Cemetery, Budapest, in April 1946.[4]

References

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  1. ^ RSSSF.com
  2. ^ Buemi, Antonio; Fontanelli, Carlo; Quartarone, Roberto; Russo, Alessandro; Solarino, Filippo (2010). Tutto il Catania minuto per minuto (in Italian). GEO Edizioni, Empoli. p. 110.
  3. ^ "AS Roma official website Remembering Geza Kertesz, Roma coach and war hero". Retrieved 14 March 2021.
  4. ^ a b [1] Archived 15 May 2021 at the Wayback Machine news archive in Hungarian, from Four Four Two, Toth-Potya, Brull, Kertesz - Soccer victims of the Holocaust, accessed 17 May 2021.