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The Greatest Comeback

David Bolchover

Why was so little known about the Holocaust experiences of legendary football coach Béla Guttmann?
How does the story contradict common Holocaust misconceptions? 
Why is  the huge Jewish contribution to football not recognised?

David Bolchover is an author and commentator. His latest book, The Greatest Comeback: From Genocide to Football Glory, a biography of the legendary football coach Béla Guttmann, was shortlisted for the William Hill Sports Book of the Year. David has also published three high-profile business books, including the best-selling The 90-Minute Manager, and has written opinion columns for several leading newspapers.He is currently writing a book on the lives of great Jewish footballers throughout Europe who were murdered in the Holocaust. His website can be viewed at www.davidbolchover.com

Béla Guttmann was the first superstar football coach, achieving great success in Europe and South America before Pep Guardiola and José Mourinho were even born. He was also a Holocaust survivor. In 1944, he hid in an attic near Budapest as thousands of fellow Jews in the vicinity were being deported to Auschwitz. He then escaped from a brutal slave labour camp. His father, sister and wider family perished at the hands of the Nazis. But by the early 1960s, Guttmann had completed the most remarkable turnaround, twice winning the coveted European Cup as coach of Benfica of Lisbon.