Jozef Vengloš

Jozef Vengloš
Personal information
Date of birth	18 February 1936
Place of birth	Ružomberok, Czechoslovakia (now Slovakia)
Date of death	26 January 2021 (aged 84)
Place of death	Bratislava, Slovakia
Position(s)	Midfielder
Senior career*
Years	Team
1954–1966	Slovan Bratislava
International career
	Czechoslovakia B
Managerial career
1966	Sydney FC Prague
1966–1967	New South Wales
1967	Australia
1969–1971	VSS Košice
1970–1972	Czechoslovakia U23
1973–1976	Slovan Bratislava
1973–1978	Czechoslovakia (assistant)
1978–1982	Czechoslovakia
1983–1984	Sporting CP
1985–1987	Kuala Lumpur FA
1986–1987	Malaysia
1988–1990	Czechoslovakia
1990–1991	Aston Villa
1991–1993	Fenerbahçe
1993–1995	Slovakia
1996–1997	Oman
1998–1999	Celtic
2002	JEF United Ichihara
	*Club domestic league appearances and goals

Jozef Vengloš (18 February 1936 – 26 January 2021^[1]) was a Slovak professional football player and manager. He held a doctorate in Physical Education and also specialised in Psychology. He was selected by FIFA on various occasions to lecture at the FIFA academies throughout the world.

Playing career

Born in Ružomberok, Czechoslovakia (now in Slovakia), Vengloš played as a midfielder for Slovan Bratislava 1954–1966, and later captained the team, and also played for Czechoslovakia at the B level. After his playing career was prematurely ended by hepatitis, he began his managerial career in Australia, first in club football, before going on to manage the national team.^[2] He then returned to Czechoslovakia and coached at club and Under-23 national level.^[3]

Coaching career

In 1973, Vengloš was appointed as manager of Slovan Bratislava. During his three years in charge, he twice won the championship. He was also assistant manager of Czechoslovakia from 1973–1978. As assistant to Václav Ježek, he helped guide the team to victory in the Euro 1976, beating the Netherlands in the semi-finals and West Germany in the Final.

As manager of Czechoslovakia from 1978 to 1982, Vengloš led his side to 3rd place in the 1980 European Championship. He also led them to the 1982 World Cup Finals, where they went out in the first round. He then coached Sporting Lisbon from 1983 to 1984, before coaching in Malaysia (Kuala Lumpur FA & Malaysia). In 1988, he was re-appointed to manage Czechoslovakia and took them to the quarter-finals of the 1990 World Cup.

Following the 1990 World Cup, he took over at Aston Villa, becoming the first manager born outside Britain or Ireland to take charge of a top division club in England.^[4] He left after one season after they finished just two places above the First Division relegation zone. He then moved to the Turkish league, where he managed Fenerbahçe from 1991 to 1993. He was the first manager of the Slovakia national team from 1993 to 1995, before managing Oman 1996–1997.

Vengloš was appointed as Head Coach of Celtic on 17 July 1998 following a prolonged search. Initial reaction from supporters was of anger, hundreds congregating outside the stadium and citing his doctorate by chanting "Dr Who?"^[5]

Season 1998–99 saw his Celtic team in some excellent form, but they failed to qualify for the Champions League. At the end of the season, Vengloš left to take up a new position as a European technical adviser and as a scout for Celtic. He is most credited with signing fans' idol Ľubomír Moravčík during his season as manager. Other successful signings include club legend Johan Mjällby and while not winning a trophy, he is still looked upon fondly by fans for bringing such players to the club. The stand-out of his reign came as his Celtic side inflicted a punishing 5–1 defeat on arch-rivals Rangers in the first half of the season. In the new year of 1999, he also took Celtic to Ibrox where they held their Old Firm rivals to a 2–2 draw on their own soil.^[6]

He later managed Japanese side JEF United Ichihara (now JEF United Chiba) briefly in 2002.

Other roles

Venglos also served as president of the European Coaches Union,^[7] chairman of the UEFA Commission for Technical Progress, a technical adviser to FIFA, a member of the SFZ executive committee, and an adviser to the President of the Slovak Republic and the Minister of Education of the Slovak Republic.^[8]

He also ran for president of the Slovak Olympic Committee (SOV) in 1999, but lost out to František Chmelár.^[8]

Honours

Player

Slovan Bratislava

Czechoslovak First League (1): 1955^[9]
Czechoslovak Cup (2): 1961–62, 1962–63^[9]

Assistant

Czechoslovakia

UEFA European Championship (1): 1976^[10]

Manager

Sydney FC Prague

Ampol Cup: 1969^[11]

Czechoslovakia U23

UEFA U-23 Championship (1): 1972^[12]

Slovan Bratislava

Czechoslovak First League (2): 1973–74, 1974–75^[10]
Czechoslovak Cup (1): 1973–74
Slovak Cup (2): 1973–74, 1975–76

Czechoslovakia

UEFA European Championship bronze medal: 1980^[10]
1990 FIFA World Cup: quarter-final

Kuala Lumpur City

Malaysian First Division (1): 1986^[13]
Malaysia Cup runner-up: 1985^[13]

Malaysia

Merdeka Tournament: 1986^[14]

Fenerbache

Chancellor Cup runner-up 1992

Celtic

Scottish Cup runner-up: 1998–99^[15]

Individual

Slovak Olympic and Sports Committee (SOSV)
- Chairman's Fair Play award (1993)^[8]
- Bronze Rings award (2001)^[8]
- Silver Rings award (2009).^[8]
- Honorary member of SOSV (2011)^[8]
CIFP Honorary Diploma of the UNESCO (1993)^[8]
Laureate Crystal Wing award (2001)^[8]
UEFA Diamond Order of Merit (2007)^[16]
FIFA Centennial Order of Merit (2014)^[16]
Slovak Football Hall of Fame (2017)^[17]