Celtic vs Ferencvaros: Flórián Albert, Jinky & the 1967 Ballon d'Or
The 1966/67 season has been indelibly etched in the hearts of all Celtic fans. The club completed an extraordinary domestic clean sweep, winning the League Cup, Scottish Cup, Glasgow Cup, and Scottish League Championship. In Europe, Celtic’s finest hour came when Billy McNeill lifted the European Cup at the Estádio Nacional in Lisbon, after Jock Stein’s Lions had defeated Inter Milan. Jock Stein was widely recognised as the British Manager of the Year, and the Lisbon Lions were crowned as Team of the Year at the BBC Sports Personality Awards in December 1967.
However, there was one accolade that eluded the Lions, and one member of that glorious team in particular.
The 1967 Ballon d’Or did not go to Jimmy Johnstone - "Jinky", our Wizard on the Wing. Instead, it was won by Ferencváros’ Hungarian forward, Flórián Albert. And, perhaps surprisingly given everything Celtic achieved that year, Jinky did not even finish second. Albert won the award with 68 points, well ahead of Manchester United and England star Bobby Charlton on 40. Johnstone finished third, just a single point behind Charlton on 39.
To Celtic supporters, particularly those who regard Jinky as the greatest player ever to wear the Hoops, that might seem almost incomprehensible. But Flórián Albert was no ordinary footballer.
While Albert's name will likely be unknown to most readers, he is widely regarded as one of, if not the best, players to have pulled on the Zöld és Fehér (Green and White) of Ferencváros. To this day, he remains the only Hungarian to have won the Ballon d’Or. A one-club man, much like our own Billy McNeill and long-serving stalwarts Callum McGregor and James Forrest, Albert made over 400 career appearances for Ferencváros, scoring just shy of 300 goals for the club.
Internationally, Albert earned 75 caps for the Hungarian national side and was part of the squad that returned from the Rome Olympics in 1960 with a bronze medal, scoring five goals at the tournament.
Birth of The Emperor
Born in the humble surroundings of Hercegszántó near the border with the former Yugoslavia, Albert’s father moved the family to Budapest while he was still an infant. He was signed by Ferencváros at age 11 and made his senior debut at 17, bursting onto the scene with two goals against Diósgyőr in November 1958. From that moment, the boy they would later call "The Emperor" never looked back.
He steadily gained a reputation not only as a deadly goalscorer, but also for his elegant technique and devastating ability on the ball. Arriving at a time when the famous Aranycsapat (Golden Team) was in decline following the Hungarian Revolution of 1956 and the loss of star players such as Ferenc Puskás, Albert’s emergence saw him carry the weight of a nation's football expectations on his young shoulders.
However, as with his club debut, Albert made an instant impression on his maiden appearance for the national team. Playing against a Swedish side that had finished runners-up in the previous year's World Cup, Albert set up two goals in a 3-2 victory for the Magyars, instantly announcing himself as the star player for Hungary’s next generation.
The early 60s were among the most successful of Albert’s career as he established himself as one of Europe’s finest attacking players. The decade began with the Olympic bronze medal in 1960, followed by a share of the Golden Boot at the 1962 World Cup, before he won his first Hungarian League title in 1963.
The 1964/65 season brought Albert his most notable continental success when he was part of the Ferencváros side that defeated Juventus 1-0 in Turin, thanks to a goal from Máté Fenyvesi, to secure the Inter-Cities Fairs Cup.
Flórián Albert's Ballon d’Or
For those of us of a Celtic State of Mind, it is difficult to look beyond Jimmy Johnstone when considering the outstanding footballer of 1967. Jinky had just helped Celtic achieve something no British club had ever done before by winning the European Cup. He had been central to a team that swept away everything before them domestically and on the European stage, and just two weeks after Lisbon, he produced one of the most celebrated individual performances of his career against Real Madrid at the Santiago Bernabéu.
Few players of the era had the complexity, ability, or audacity to steal the limelight from the legendary Alfredo Di Stéfano on the night of his testimonial. Jinky was one such player. Unfortunately for Jinky, the Ballon d’Or votes did not reflect his remarkable season, but rather the remarkable decade of Flórián Albert.
The year 1967 saw Albert enjoy another successful season on the domestic front as he helped Ferencváros to another Hungarian Championship. On an individual level, he scored 28 times in 27 games and also picked up the Hungarian Player of the Year Award for the second successive year.
However, Albert’s Ballon d’Or was more than simply recognition of a solitary year of excellence; it was closer to a lifetime achievement award for a player who had become the heartbeat for club and country over the previous decade. He had starred at two World Cups, won the Inter-Cities Fairs Cup, and developed a level of technical brilliance so profound that his standout performance against Brazil at the 1966 World Cup made the Goodison Park audience forget about the great Pelé’s absence for 90 minutes.
By the time the votes were cast for the 1967 award, Flórián Albert had a decade-long body of evidence to support his claim to be considered one of the top players in the world. Yes, Jinky had won it all and stolen the limelight from Alfredo Di Stéfano at his own testimonial match; however, in Flórián Albert, Hungary had replaced the Galloping Major with The Emperor. That deserves global recognition.
Legacy
Albert’s Ballon d’Or win could not have come at a more apt moment in his career. In 1968, he scored a creditable 20 goals in 36 appearances across all competitions for Ferencváros but was on the losing side of the Inter-Cities Fairs Cup as Leeds United emerged victorious over the two-legged final, thanks to a 1-0 win at Elland Road.
However, in June 1969, while on international duty against Denmark, Albert suffered a broken leg after colliding with Danish keeper Knud Engedal. After a year on the sidelines, he returned to action, but despite a solid 1971/72 campaign, he was never able to fully recapture his pre-injury form.
He retired in 1974, and in 2007 Ferencváros renamed their stadium after the man they called The Emperor, immortalising a talisman of the club forever in its history.
Flórián Albert passed away in October 2011. Ferencváros played Paks FC on the day of his funeral. In honour of his life, Fradi played in a special all-black kit, and the floodlights were turned off before the game, leaving candles lit by the fans as the only lights in the arena. The national team also played a memorial match against Liechtenstein in his honour, with a five-minute compilation of Albert’s best moments played before kick-off. Fittingly, Hungary won the game 5-0 to send The Emperor off in style.
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