Ferenc Bene

Ferenc Bene (17 December 1944 – 27 February 2006) was a Hungarian football player of Újpesti Dózsa, who was a member of the team that won the gold medal at the 1964 Summer Olympics in Tokyo, Japan. A striker, he was the top scorer of the tournament (12 goals in 5 matches).

Ferenc Bene

Personal information
Date of birth	(1944-12-17)17 December 1944
Place of birth	Balatonújlak, Hungary
Date of death	27 February 2006(2006-02-27) (aged 61)
Place of death	Budapest, Hungary
Height	1.71 m (5 ft 7 in)
Position(s)	Striker
Senior career*
Years	Team	Apps	(Gls)
1961–1978	Újpesti Dózsa	417	(303)
National team
1962–1979	Hungary	76	(36)
Teams managed
1992–1993	Újpesti TE
Medal record Men's football Representing  Hungary Olympic Games 1964 Tokyo Team competition UEFA European Championship 1964 Spain
* Senior club appearances and goals counted for the domestic league only

Bene was born in Balatonújlak. He played his first international match against Yugoslavia on 14 October 1962, and his last against Czechoslovakia on 12 September 1979. He obtained 76 caps and scored 36 goals. He was bronze medallist at the European Championship of 1964, and a quarter-finalist at the World Cup of 1966 (at the latter event he was the top scorer of the Hungarian national team). Bene was named Hungarian Footballer of the Year in 1964 and 1969. He died in Budapest, after a lengthy treatment following a fall at the end of 2005. His son Ferenc Bene jr. is also a former player, currently working as a coach.

He played for the following teams:

• Újpesti Dózsa (1961–1978)
• Volán SC (1978–79, 1983–84)
• Sepsi-78, Finland (1981–82)
• Soroksári VOSE (1984)
• Kecskeméti SC (1985)