Miklós Fehér
| Personal information | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Position(s) | Striker | ||
Miklós "Miki" Fehér (Tatabánya, July 20, 1979 – Guimarães, January 25, 2004) was a Hungarian football player.
Fehér started his career at Győri ETO FC and went on to represent FC Porto, SC Salgueiros and SC Braga, before moving to SL Benfica. He made his first international appearance for Hungary on October 1998 against Azerbaijan and went on to score seven goals in 25 international matches. Fehér died during a match with his team SL Benfica against Vitória Guimarães, on January 25, 2004.
Career
Fehér was first seen by F.C. Porto scouts while playing in Hungary at Győri ETO FC. He was signed in 1998 but he never really made a breakthrough in the team, and being relatively young he was loaned to gain experience. He joined another Porto club, SC Salgueiros on loan. Having an average season he was loaned this time to S.C. Braga where he had his best season scoring 14 goals in 26 matches. After the F.C. Porto chairman Jorge Nuno Pinto da Costa quarreled with agent José Veiga (Fehér's agent amongst other players), Fehér refused to let go his agent and left Estádio das Antas as Persona non grata. He joined Lisbon side S.L. Benfica scoring 7 goals in 28 matches.
Death
On January 25th 2004, Benfica travelled to Guimarães to play Vitória S.C.. The game was being broadcast live on television and Benfica were leading 1-0. Fehér received a yellow card in injury time and suddenly bent forward seemingly in pain and then fell backwards to the ground. As the club doctors realized that he had suffered a cardiac arrest they performed immediate CPR on him, by which point the audience realized the gravity of the situation. An ambulance entered the field to take Fehér. His condition was covered by the Portuguese media throughout the day, and before midnight Fehér's death was confirmed. The Public Prosecutor (the Portuguese agency responsible for the release of autopsy details) announced that Fehér died from cardiac arrhythmia brought on by hypertrophic cardiomyopathy. He was 24 years old.
In memory of him, Benfica have retired the number 29 shirt which he wore during his time at the club. This shirt number will never be worn again by a Benfica player. He was remembered by many and his death caused a profound shock in Portuguese sport.
Seasons, clubs, matches, and goals
- 1995/1996 Győri ETO FC (8 matches, 2 goals)
- 1996/1997 Győri ETO FC (29 matches, 8 goals)
- 1997/1998 Győri ETO FC (25 matches, 13 goals)
- 1998/1999 FC Porto (5 matches, 0 goals)
- 1999/2000 FC Porto (5 matches, 1 goal)
- 1999/2000 SC Salgueiros (14 matches, 5 goals)
- 2000/2001 Sporting Braga (26 matches, 14 goals)
- 2001/2002 FC Porto (3 matches, 1 goal)
- 2002/2003 SL Benfica (16 matches, 4 goals)
- 2003/2004 SL Benfica (12 matches, 3 goals)
Total: 143 matches, 51 goals