Yozhef Sabo

Yozhef Yozhefovich Sabo (Ukrainian: Йожеф Йожефович Сабо; Hungarian: Szabó József; born 29 February 1940) is a former Soviet football player, Soviet and Ukrainian football manager. He is of Hungarian background. He is baptized as a Greek-Catholic.

Playing career

Club

Sabo made his name as a player at Dynamo Kyiv, appearing at the club from 1959 to 1969. A four-time USSR domestic champion, Sabo appeared in 315 games in the competition, scoring 49 goals.

International

Aside from being named one of the 33 best players in the USSR for five years, Sabo capped 40 times for the USSR national side, scoring 8 goals.

Coaching career

However, Sabo became most famous for his coaching, coaching various sides in the late 70s (such as Zorya Luhansk in 1977 and Dnipro Dnipropetrovsk in 1978–1979), he has coached Dynamo Kyiv numerous times (from 1993–1997 and 2004–2005, with breaks in between). He is also arguably the second-most successful coach of the Ukrainian national team, compiling 16 wins and 12 draws in 34 matches as coach of the side in 1994 and 1996–1999. On 20 September 2007 he was appointed as Dynamo Kyiv's manager after Anatoliy Demyanenko resigned. However, Sabo resigned in early November that year due to personal health problems. He left Dynamo Kyiv by the end of 2007 and has no longer been involved with the club since that time.

Awards and achievements

Player

• USSR Championship: 1961, 1966, 1967, 1968
• USSR Cup: 1964, 1966
• Participant of World Cup 1966
• In the list of the 33 best players — 5 times (twice №1)

Coach

• Ukrainian Championship: 1994, 1995, 1996, 1997
• Ukrainian Cup: 1995-96, 2004-05.