Imre Szabics

Imre Szabics
	Szabics playing for Sturm Graz in 2013
Personal information
Date of birth	22 March 1981 (age 43)
Place of birth	Szeged, Hungary
Height	1.78 m (5 ft 10 in)
Position(s)	Striker
Youth career
1990–1995	Szeged LC
1995–1999	Ferencváros
Senior career*
Years	Team
1998–1999	Ferencváros
1999–2003	Sturm Graz
2003–2005	VfB Stuttgart
2005–2006	1. FC Köln
2006–2007	Mainz 05
2007–2010	FC Augsburg
2010–2013	Sturm Graz
Total
International career
1996–1997	Hungary U15
1999–2000	Hungary U18
1998–2000	Hungary U21
2003–2013	Hungary
Managerial career
2014–2015	Hungary (assistant)
2016–2017	Sturm Graz (assistant)
2018–2021	Austria (assistant)
2021–2022	Fehérvár
	*Club domestic league appearances and goals

Imre Szabics (born 22 March 1981) is a Hungarian football manager and former professional footballer.

Szabics was born in Szeged where he played as a youngster. He was spotted by Ferencváros and signed for them in 1990, making his professional debut in 1998. He spent only one season at the club before moving to Austrian club Sturm Graz. Good form led to an international call-up in 2003, after which he signed for German side VfB Stuttgart. He had a disappointing season in 2004–05 in which he was mostly only used as a substitute, before joining 1. FC Köln in 2005.

After initially being a first-team striker, Szabics had little later success at this club and left when his contract expired in 2006. He was signed by Mainz 05, but was once again unsuccessful. In the summer of 2007, Szabics joined newly promoted 2. Bundesliga side FC Augsburg spending three years with the club. In May 2010, Szabics returned to his former club Sturm Graz.

In 2014 Pál Dárdai appointed Szabics as an assistant coach of the Hungary national football team. Dárdai's successor, Bernd Storck, replaced him with Andreas Möller.

Club career

Ferencváros

Imre Szabics was born in Szeged and started to play football at local club Szeged LC in 1990. He spent five years with the club before leaving it for Ferencvárosi TC in 1995. Szabics immediately became the favourite player of the fans of the club since he scored 12 goals in 24 matches.

Sturm Graz

In 1999 Szabics was signed by the

UEFA Champions League 1999–00 season where Sturm qualified for the second group stages. His last season at Sturm was especially successful, as he became the club's top goalscorer by scoring 11 goals in 27 Bundesliga appearances that season. In May 2003 Szabics was sacked from Sturm because of his "non-compliance with work regulations".^[1]

VfB Stuttgart

Szabics subsequently moved to Germany signing with

Manchester United. After a less successful season 2004–05, in which he was mostly only used as a substitute, the striker moved to another Bundesliga side, 1. FC Köln

, in the summer of 2005.

1. FC Köln

In June 2005 Szabics was signed by the German 1. FC Köln.^[3] Szabics had little success at this club, collecting only 11 Bundesliga appearances and scoring one goal in the league before they were relegated to the 2. Bundesliga with a 17th-place finish. He went on to sign a two-year contract with Bundesliga side 1. FSV Mainz 05 in early August 2006. After initially being a first-team striker, he got unlucky again later on, being relegated to the bench in the second half of the season.

FC Augsburg

After having played in 20 games for Mainz, scoring twice, Imre was transferred to 2. Bundesliga newcomers FC Augsburg in the summer of 2007. There, he played in eight games at the start of the season, scoring twice before he was sidelined by an injury at the end of September.

Sturm Graz

On 1 May 2010, it was announced that Szabics would return to

Videoton in the qualifiers of the 2010–11 UEFA Champions League season. It was a special tie for Szabics because he had not played against a Hungarian club since he left his home country.^[4]

He scored the first goal for his team, which beat Videoton by 2–0 at home. In the away match, Sturm lost to 3–2 but qualified for the next round. In September 2013 Szabics announced his retirement from football.

International career

Szabics made his debut for the

Euro 2004 qualifying, including a brace in his competitive debut and the team's 3–1 home victory over Latvia on 7 June 2003. He also played for Hungary in five matches of the 2006 World Cup qualifying and scored one goal, the 3–2 winner against Iceland

at home in the team's second match of the qualifying. Hungary failed to qualify for any of the two tournaments by finishing fourth in their groups in both of the two qualifying campaigns.

After the injuries of

Euro 2012 qualifying by 2–1.^[7]

Managerial career

On 18 September 2014, Pál Dárdai was appointed as interim manager of the Hungary national team,^[8]^[9] and he appointed Szabics as an assistant coach. In an interview with the ORF, Szabics stated that it was a big honour to be the assistant coach of the Hungary national team.^[10] In an interview with Nemzeti Sport, he said that he was not important in this story, but the national team was.^[11] He was replaced by Andreas Möller in October 2015. Assistant manager in Austria national team.

Career statistics

Scores and results list Hungary's goal tally first, score column indicates score after each Szabics goal.

List of international goals scored by Imre Szabics
No.	Date	Venue	Opponent	Score	Result	Competition
1	30 April 2003	Budapest	Luxembourg	2–1	5–1	Friendly
2	30 April 2003	Budapest	Luxembourg	5–1	5–1	Friendly
3	7 June 2003	Budapest	Latvia	1–1	3–1	UEFA Euro 2004 qualification
4	7 June 2003	Budapest	Latvia	2–1	3–1	UEFA Euro 2004 qualification
5	11 June 2003	Serravalle	San Marino	4–0	5–0	UEFA Euro 2004 qualification
6	11 October 2003	Budapest	Poland	1–1	1–2	UEFA Euro 2004 qualification
7	18 February 2004	Paphos, Cyprus	Armenia	1–0	2–0	Friendly
8	8 September 2004	Budapest	Iceland	3–2	3–2	FIFA World Cup 2006 qualification
9	24 May 2006	Budapest	New Zealand	2–0	2–0	Friendly
10	3 June 2011	Luxembourg	Luxembourg	1–0	1–0	Friendly
11	7 June 2011	Serravalle	San Marino	2–0	3–0	UEFA Euro 2012 qualification
12	2 September 2011	Budapest	Sweden	1–0	2–1	UEFA Euro 2012 qualification
13	6 February 2013	Belek, Turkey	Belarus	1–0	1–1	Friendly