Podcast: The Remarkable Story of Ernö Erbstein

Ernö Egri Erbstein is a name you may not be familiar with, but the Hungarian coach was the architect of one of the greatest post-war teams. Il Grande Torino (The Great Torino) won five successive Italian titles after World War II but the entire team perished, along with Erbstein, in the first major football air disaster at Superga in 1949.

The story of Erbstein, a Hungarian Jew who had taken a string of small teams to promotion in Italy against mounting anti-semitism and survived the holocaust, had been largely forgotten for decades. Until now.

Dominic Bliss is the author of Erbstein: The Triumph and Tragedy of Football’s Forgotten Pioneer. We caught up with Bliss to discuss Erbstein’s remarkable life and legacy, and learn about the Egri Erbstein Tournament named in his honour. The tournament revives The Corinthian Cup donated by English touring side The Corinthians, whose 1904 tour of Hungary was instrumental to the game taking off in that country.

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