Yozhef Sabo is a Ukrainian former football player and manager.
Sabo began to play in 1954 for a team of Uzhhorod bread factory and his first coach was Zoltan Gyorfi. Later until August 1957 he played as a forward for Khimik Kalush in competitions among KFK of the Ukrainian SSR. From September 1957 to May 1959 Sabo played in Class B (second tier) for Spartak Uzhhorod.
Sabo made his name as a player at Dynamo Kyiv, appearing at the club from June 1959 to 1969. A four-time Soviet Top League champion, Sabo appeared in 317 games in the competition, scoring 51 goals. His first game he played in a friendly against Tottenham Hotspur on 1 June 1959. In July 1963 Sabo was disqualified for a year for a rough play, but in February 1964 it was changed to a conditional disqualification. Also in 1968 he was disqualified again for refusing to play for the Soviet national team.
Sabo was a member of Dynamo Kyiv when the club in 1961 for the first time gained the Soviet title, breaking the Muscovite spell. He arrived along with two other Uzhhorod players Andriy Havasi and Vasyl Turianchyk.
Aside from being named one of the 33 best players in the USSR for five years,[clarification needed] Sabo capped 76 times for the USSR national side, scoring 16 goals. He played in 41 official matches and 35 friendlies. Sabo made his international debut in an away game against Greece on 3 October 1965. While his official first appearance for the Soviet team was in 1965, Sabo was on the 1962 Soviet team roster for the 1962 FIFA World Cup and is now the last surviving member in that roster.
However, Sabo became most famous for his coaching, coaching various sides in the late 70s (such as Zorya Luhansk in 1977 and Dnipro Dnipropetrovsk in 1978–1979), he has coached Dynamo Kyiv numerous times (from 1993 to 1997 and 2004–2005, with breaks in between). He is also arguably the second-most successful coach of the Ukraine national team, compiling 16 wins and 12 draws in 34 matches as coach of the side in 1994 and 1996–1999.
On 20 September 2007 he was appointed as Dynamo Kyiv's manager after Anatoliy Demyanenko resigned. However Sabo resigned in early November that year due to personal health problems. He left Dynamo Kyiv by the end of 2007 and has no longer been involved with the club since that time.
