Alexander Neufeld-Nemes

Alexander Neufeld- Nemes (25 September 1899 - 27 October 1977) ( also known as Sandor Nemes) was a Hungarian football player and manager. He played in Hungary, Austria, Switzerland, United States and Yugoslavia. He played for the the national teams of Hungary and Austria.
Playing career
He was born in Budapest to a Jewish family. Neufeld started playing football for a local club named ILK. 1916 he joined Ferencvarosi TC Due to his skills he got promoted to the senior squad. At first he played as striker but s changed his position to right-winger. In both 1918 and 1919 they finished second in the Hungarian Championship behind the then dominating MTK Budapest. With Ferencvaros he played a total of 57 league matches having scored 18 goals
Due to the the political situation after the First World War many Hungarian players left the country. Neufeld signed with second league Austrian club SC Hakoah Vienna.
He played his first match with Hakoah in November 1919 and became soon one of the most important players in their aspiration to get promotion to the first league. The Hungarian Football Federation had a confrontation with Austrian clubs over the players that begin playing for Austrian clubs without being officially released from their origin clubs in Hungary. Until the end of 1919 these players, among the Neufeld, were not allowed to play. This situation lasted until March 1920 when all players were allowed to play again. In his first season with Hakoah he reached the semi-finals of theAustrian Cup.
1920 Nemes went back to Ferencvaros as they played in Switzerland. He decided to stay in Switzerland and went to FC Basel, Nemes played only one month with the team in two test games. He received an invitation from the German businessman Otto Eidinger to participate in a newly formed Hungarian professional team. He planed to play exhibition matches all over Europe. Neufeld accepted the invitation along with a number of other notable players . After only a few weeks it was stopped with players complaining about not being paid. Most of the players returned to Austria and Hungary. They were sanctioned by the federations.Nemes received a suspension to last until April 1921. He moved to Czechoslovakia and signed with Maccabi Brno. Soon afterwards an agreement was reached about an amnesty for players that would accept to return. Nemes returned to Hakoah in summer 1921 and became part of Hakoah team that this time played in the Austrian Bundesliga.
In his first complete season in 1921-22 Hakoah finished second in the league. In the next season Hakoah finished in mid table. Neufeld scored 16 goals and finishing in third place as league top scorer. In 1924 Hakoah won the first professional Austrian championship.
By then, Nemes had already played four times with the city selection of Vienna, and Austria national team manager Hugo Meisl convoked him for the match on 5 July 1925, in Stockholm against Sweden, where he made his debut for the Austria national football team in the 4-2 win. He will play his second match for Austria on 8 November, that same year, in a 0-2 loss against Switzerland in Bern. He played both matches under the name of Alexander Neufeld.
In spring 1926 Hakoah made a successful tournee in the United States. Nemes returned to Austria and finished that season. He informed the club that at the end of the season he will leave Hakoah and move to the United States by accepting the offer of Brooklyn Wanderers. After one season in America, Nemes returned to Hakoah. Nemes returned to the States in 1929 and played with Hakoah All-Stars until 1930. In fall of 1930 he played with Fall River F.C. helping them to win the 1930 American Soccer League.
He finished his player career with BSK Belgrade in the Yugoslav Championship and Alexandria in Egypt.
International
On 12 May 1918 he made his debut for the Hungarian national team playing in attack along Alfred Schaffer and Imre Schlosser in the 2-1 win over Switzerland in Budapest. A few weeks later, on 2 June, in Vienna, he played again this time winning Austria by 2-0. On 5 October 1919, he played his third match for the Hungarian national team, again in Vienna against Austria, however this time they were defeated by 0-2.
He played his first match for the Austrian national football team on 5 July 1925, in Stockholm against Sweden in the 4-2 win. His second and last match for Austria was on 8 November in a 0-2 loss against Switzerland in Bern.
Coaching career
In 1930 Nemes moved to the Kingdom of Yugoslavia He became coach of one of the strongest clubs in the country BSK Belgrade and soon he makes his first major coaching success by winning the 1930-31 Yugoslav Championship. Then he returned to Austria in 1931 and worked one season as coach with a Second league Jewish club named Hasmonea. After that he returned to BSK.
1935 he went to Hapoel Hatzair in Palestina. 1936 he returned to Belgrade where he will win another championship in 1939. Afterwards he had a brief spell coaching Turkish Galatasaray Then he went back to Israel in 1950 to coach Hapoel Tel Aviv.
Name
His real name is Sandor Nemes. For unknown reasons he begin to be known by the mid-1920s as Alexander Neufeld.
Honours
As player:
Hakoah Vienna
Austrian Championship (1): 1925
Fall River F.C.
American Soccer League(1): 1930
BSK Belgrade
Yugoslav Championship (1): 1933
As coach:
BSK Belgrade
Yugoslav Championship (4): 1931, 1933, 1936, 1939
References
1899 births
1977 deaths
Hungarian footballers
Austrian footballers
Players of the Austrian national football team
Austrian football managers
Hungarian football managers