Illés Spitz

Illés Spitz (Hungarian: Spitz Illés, Serbo-Croatian: Ilješ Špic / Иљeш Шпиц, Bulgarian/Macedonian: Илеш Шпиц) (2 February 1902, in Budapest – 1 October 1961, in Skopje) was a Hungarian international football player and manager.

Playing career

Illés was part of the Újpest FC first "golden era" helping the club win the Coupe des Nations 1930 and three championships. In 1935 he moved to Switzerland where he played one season in FC St. Gallen and another in FC Zürich. During his playing career he played over 1000 matches and scored over 600 goals.

Spitz also played a total of six matches for the Hungary national football team, having scored three goals.

Managerial career

After finishing his playing career in Switzerland, Illés moved to Yugoslavia where he had a long managerial career. In 1937 he took charge of HNK Hajduk Split, one of the four dominant clubs of the Yugoslav Championship. Despite not winning any titles during the period of time he spent there, he is remembered in Split for having formed the generation that will later win the Croatian League in 1941 and end the years of disappointment the club had during the 1930s. In 1939 he moved to Gragjanski Skopje playing back then in the Serbian League from which the top clubs qualified to the final stage of the Yugoslav Championship.