TWO GREAT BOMBERS
— István Novák | 1968 —

Goal scorers: Schaffer and Schlosser... But in many match reports, the two names were written down, both in national team and league matches! Both were formidable forwards, separately and together! At first in different clubs, then together, in the golden team of MTK, they scored almost countless goals. Their unparalleled goal-scoring prowess still gave Hungarian football the record goalscoring record it had been whipping in vain.

Imre Schlosser was the first to set the record, still in a green and white jersey, in the 11:3 match between FTC and III. kerület on 9 June 1912, scoring 8 goals on his own, and this is still a championship record today! There was no shortage of forward talent in the sport at that time either. Pataki, Kóródy, Tóth (FTC), Bodnár (MAC), Pótz (BTC), to name but a few of the standouts, but Schlosser's achievements seemed unattainable. József Horváth, the BTC forward, could only come close with 6 goals, catching up with the former top scorers in the spring of 1915, in the BTC-TTC 11-0 league championship match.

Alfréd Schaffer also scored 8 goals, setting a league record. The 18:0 MTKMAC match played on 10 December 1916 on Hungária út was not a contest between the two teams, but between two great forwards (Schlosser was already playing for MTK at the time). The real sensation of the match was the goal duel between Schaffer and Schlosser. Schlosser's five goals were answered by Schaffer's eight, setting a new record for goals scored in a league match! They had a similar duel a year later, on 11 November 1917, with the MAC team also on the losing side. In the 18:1 match Schaffer scored 7 goals and Schlosser 6.

Who were the two giants of Hungarian football? Every sports fan knows more or less about both of them, as two books have been published about Schlosser's life.

SLÓZI

Imre Schlosser owes a lot to our football. Born in Budapest on 11 October 1889, he grew up in the turn-of-the-century Pest Grund, from a skinny, scrawny kid with club feet to one of the world's greatest forwards. In 1904, he began his public career with the FTC, and on 7 October 1906 he was already a member of the Hungarian national team.

A brilliant game, a string of magnificent goals for the national team, in championship and international matches — that was Slózi. His game was not only a success at home, but was also recognised abroad, he was congratulated by kings, caught horses in confectionery at home and pulled by the enthusiastic crowds... From London to Moscow, from Barcelona to Stockholm, almost everyone knew him as — today — Pelé.

EIGHT-TIME TOP SCORER

1909-1917! From 1908 to 1909, he was the goalscorer in a row, the last time in 1916/1917. He starts with 20 goals and finishes with 38 goals. In the Hungarian championship, he was the first goalscorer in 1906/1907. In 1927/1928, he finished his career as a goal-scorer for Budai 11. We know the story of his 345 league goals, but the inaccurate press of the time "misappropriated" quite a few of them.

His last major public appearance was witnessed by hundreds of thousands. In 1955, in the 100th Hungary-Austria match, he kicked-off.

He died in Budapest in July 1959.

THE FOOTBALL KING

Alfréd Schaffer, MTK's Spéci was named after him. He was a teacher of Hungarian football, but not yet its king. It is true that the honour was bestowed on him not at home, but in Germany, at a time when kings were already going out of fashion...

Interesting, varied career of the Football King. Even older fans only know him as a member of MTK. Few people know that he played for FTC before MTK.

He started in Tipografia, the poor workers' team that was saved from bankruptcy by FTC. He paid off the debt of the printers and absorbed the team. That's how Spéci came to the Green and White. Of course, he was not yet able to make the five-time champions, playing in the two, as the reserves were affectionately known. The young Schaffer was due to make his debut against Celtic, despite his protests, as a inside right. In the end, he was told before the exit that Weinber would be in the team — for a farewell game... Schaffer, who was all nerves, took off the green and white jersey for good. After that he played for Tatabánya for a while, then for the first division BAK, and from there — also because of some insult — he went to MTK.

In the spring of 1915, in the league championship, he scored the most goals in a blue and white shirt, sixteen, becoming the first ever goalscorer. He won the Hungarian goalscoring title three more times, in 1917/1918 with 42 goals.

In 1919, MTK visited Nuremberg, Schaffer stayed there and never came home. He played for another decade, but also coached. He was adored by the Germans, who gave him the title of football king. But he also played and coached in Austria and Switzerland. He stood out as a inside left, but was also a national team player as a centre-forward. Despite his large stature, he was a mobile, powerful and drifting striker. He could shoot with pinpoint accuracy. He also holds a prominent place in the absolute ranking of Hungarian footballers.

In the mid-1930s, he returned home to coach his former team Hungária (now MTK). His outstanding expertise was rewarded by the fact that he made them two champions in a row. In the 1940s, when Hungária was disbanded, he moved to Ferencváros. He returned home, but too late...

The war took him to the West, and the former Bratislava boy, football's great wanderer, died in Germany.


See also: István Novák: Following the goal scorers
See also: The forward line of MTK Aranycsapat