| Personal information | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Full name | Alexandru Schwartz | ||
| Date of birth | 23 October 1908 | ||
| Place of birth | Timişoara, Austria-Hungary (now Romania) | ||
| Date of death | 2 October 2000 (aged 91) | ||
| Place of death | Haguenau, France | ||
| Senior career* | |||
| Years | Team | Apps† | (Gls)† |
| ?–? | CA Timişoara | - | (-) |
| ?–? | Kadima Timişoara | - | (-) |
| 1932–1934 | FC Hyères | - | (-) |
| 1934–1936 | AS Cannes | - | (-) |
| 1936–1938 | Racing Strasbourg | - | (-) |
| 1938–1939 | Red Star Olympique | ||
| National team‡ | |||
| Romania | |||
| Teams managed | |||
| 1948–1949 | AS Cannes | ||
| 1950–1952 | AS Monaco | ||
| 1952–1953 | Le Havre AC | ||
| 1953–1955 | SF Hamborn 07 | ||
| 1955–1957 | Rot-Weiss Essen | ||
| 1957–1964 | Netherlands | ||
| 1964–1965 | SL Benfica | ||
| 1965–1968 | Eintracht Frankfurt | ||
| 1969–1970 | FC Porto | ||
| 1971–1972 | Sparta Rotterdam | ||
| 1972–1973 | 1860 Munich | ||
| 1976–1977 | Racing Strasbourg | ||
| 1977–1979 | SR Haguenau | ||
| * Senior club appearances and goals counted for the domestic league only and correct as of 19 March 2007. † Appearances (Goals). |
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Alexandru "Elek" Schwartz (23 October 1908–2 October 2000) was a Jewish-Romanian footballer and coach of the Dutch national football team. With SL Benfica he won the national Championship and Cup trophies of 1965 and led the club into the final of the European Cup of Champions.
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Elek Schwartz initially started playing in his hometown of Timişoara. Later he played professional football in the French Ligue 1 with FC Hyères (1932–1934), AS Cannes (1934–1936), Racing Strasbourg (1936–1938) and Red Star Olympique (1938/39).
He started his coaching career in France with AS Cannes (1948/49) and from there continued to AS Monaco (1950–1952) and Le Havre AC (1952/53).
1953 he was hired by SF Hamborn 07. In his second season with the club from the suburb of Duisburg he led the club to promotion to the western division of the five ways split first division of Germany, the 'Oberliga West.
1955 he was appointed as manager by the then German champions, Rot-Weiss Essen. In the next couple of years he led the team to ranks 4 and 8 in the Oberliga West.
After leaving Rot-Weiss Essen, Schwartz joined the Dutch football association, the KNVB and took on the reins of the Dutch national football team. He guided the team through 49 matches.
However, this was in an era when Dutch football had yet to achieve the standing it has held since the 1970s. Results varied extremely and included 7-0 defeat to Germany in 1959 in Cologne, as well as back to back 1-0 wins against France and Brazil in 1963. He held the position of national coach until 1964, when Denis Neville replaced him.
In 1964/65 he coached SL Benfica in Lisbon, then with the legendary Eusébio. There he led the team to the championship of Portugal.
After this Benfica overcame Real Madrid in the quarterfinals of the European Cup of Champions and eventually even made it all the way to the final, where the "Eagles" had to yield to the masters of the Catenaccio, the Helenio Herrera coached team of Inter Milan, if just 0-1.
From July 1965 to June 1968 Schwartz coached - as successor to Ivica Horvat Eintracht Frankfurt in the German Bundesliga. There he introduced the 4-2-4 system. Nevertheless, place 4 was as good as it got in the league. During the 1966-67 season he won the UEFA Intertoto Cup and the Coppa delle Alpi Trophy.
In 1969/70 he coached FC Porto. Not only that the Dragons exited already in the first round of the national cup competition and in the second round of the Inter-Cities Fairs Cup - in the end Porto was only 9th in the League. This is still their hitherto worst rank ever.
In the season 1972/73 Schwartz coached 1860 Munich, but he could not help them to fulfill their aspirations to return to the Bundesliga after then three years of absence.
He had more luck in 1976/77, when in the course of his last professional engagement he led Racing Strasbourg to promotion to the French Ligue 1.
After this he guided the Alsatian amateur side SR Haguenau, today's FCSR Haguenau, through the 1978/79 season.
Haguenau, he decided, was also a nice place for him to spend the rest of his life.
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