László Harsányi
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| Personal information | |||||||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Full name | László Harsányi | ||||||||||||||||
| Date of birth | August 10, 1951 | ||||||||||||||||
| Place of birth | Újpest, Budapest, Hungary | ||||||||||||||||
| Height | 1.91 m (6 ft 3 in)[1] | ||||||||||||||||
| Position | Centre-back | ||||||||||||||||
| Youth career | |||||||||||||||||
| 1964–1967 | Vasas Izzó | ||||||||||||||||
| 1968–1971 | Újpesti Dózsa | ||||||||||||||||
| Senior career* | |||||||||||||||||
| Years | Team | Apps | (Gls) | ||||||||||||||
| 1971–1975 | Újpesti Dózsa | 100 | (4) | ||||||||||||||
| 1976–1978 | Westfalia Herne | 35 | (2) | ||||||||||||||
| 1978–1979 | San Diego Sockers | 56 | (2) | ||||||||||||||
| 1978 | → New York Cosmos (loan) | 0 | (0) | ||||||||||||||
| 1980 | Rochester Lancers | 29 | (9) | ||||||||||||||
| 1981–1982 | Cercle Brugge | 14 | (0) | ||||||||||||||
| International career | |||||||||||||||||
| 1968–1969 | Hungary U19 | (0) | |||||||||||||||
| 1973–1974 | Hungary U23 | 3 | (0) | ||||||||||||||
Medal record
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| * Club domestic league appearances and goals | |||||||||||||||||
László Harsányi (born August 10, 1951) is a retired Hungarian footballer. He played as a centre-back for various clubs in different national leagues throughout the 1970s. He is most known for his careers with Újpesti Dózsa in his native Hungary and the San Diego Sockers in the United States. He also represented Hungary internationally on three occasions during the 1974 UEFA European Under-23 Championship.
Growing up in Újpest, alongside his father, he was a fan of Újpesti Dózsa as well as several players of the 1950s and 1960s including János Göröcs and Ferenc Bene. He began his football career in the youth sector of Vasas Izzó as he became a recognized player by the age of 13 before switching to play for Újpesti Dózsa in 1968 and would win with them the national youth championship later that year. He made his debut in the top flight of Hungarian footballer in the second half of the 1971–72 Nemzeti Bajnokság I. By 1975, he had won four consecutive championship titles and the 1974–75 Magyar Kupa with the Újpest team, playing alongside other club icons such as László Fazekas, Ede Dunai and Ferenc Bene. In October 1975, Újpesti Dózsa played their away match against FC Zürich in the 1975–76 European Cup. Taking advantage of this opportunity, he and his teammate and friend József Horváth sought political asylum in Switzerland. The club would later make the second round of the tournament although were later defeated by Benfica.[2][3]
After his one-year ban, he was signed by Westfalia Herne within the 2. Bundesliga as he played for the club for two seasons. Despite receiving offers to play in Switzerland, he travelled abroad to play in the United States between 1978 and 1981. He played for the San Diego Sockers in 1978–79, on loan to the Cosmos in 1978 and for the Rochester Lancers in 1980. He was signed for a tour with the Cosmos, where his teammates included Carlos Alberto Torres, Franz Beckenbauer, and Giorgio Chinaglia with Beckenbauer himself bidding farewell to Harsányi when his tenure with the club expired.[4] In the meantime, he also played for the New York Arrows in 1979–80 and the Baltimore Blast in the 1980–81 season. He ended his active football career with the Belgian team Cercle Brugge in 1981–82.[2][3][1]