Full name Miklos Feher Name Miklos Feher Years Team Buried January 28, 2014 | Height 1.84 m Role Footballer | |
 | ||
Date of birth (1979-07-20)20 July 1979 Date of death 25 January 2004(2004-01-25) (aged 24) Parents Miklosne Feher, Miklos Feher | ||
Place of death Guimaraes, Portugal Place of birth Tatabanya, Hungary Similar Marc Vivien Foé, Antonio Puerta, Piermario Morosini Nationality Hungarian Zodiac Sign Cancer 1995–1998 Győri ETO 1998–2002 Porto 1999–2002 Porto B 2000 Salgueiros (loan) 2000–2001 Braga (loan) 2002–2004 Benfica 1996–1997 (International career) Hungary U18 1996–2000 (International career) Hungary U21 1998–2003 (International career) Hungary | ||
Miklós "Miki" Fehér ([ˈmikloːʃ ˈfɛheːr]; 20 July 1979 – 25 January 2004) was a Hungarian professional footballer who played as a striker.
Contents
- Sudden Cardiac Arrest Strikes Hungarian Footballer Miklos Feher
- IN MEMORIAM MIKLOS FEHER 1979 2004
- Club career
- Death and legacy
- International career
- Club
- Individual
- References
He spent most of his nine-year career in Portugal, representing four clubs and amassing Primeira Liga totals of 80 games and 27 goals. He represented Hungary at international level.
On 25 January 2004, Fehér died of a cardiac arrest during a match between Vitória de Guimarães and his team Benfica in Guimarães.
Sudden Cardiac Arrest Strikes Hungarian Footballer Miklos Feher
IN MEMORIAM MIKLOS FEHER 1979-2004
Club career
Born in Tatabánya, Fehér started his playing career at Győri ETO FC, where he was spotted by FC Porto scouts. He was signed in 1998 but never really made a breakthrough onto the first team, being loaned to gain experience from ages 20–21 to another two northern sides, S.C. Salgueiros and S.C. Braga.
At Braga Fehér had his best professional season, scoring 14 Primeira Liga goals in 26 games in 2000–01. After Porto chairman Jorge Nuno Pinto da Costa quarrelled with his agent José Veiga, the player refused to part with his agent and left, joining Lisbon side S.L. Benfica and going on to net eight official goals during two seasons.
Death and legacy
On 25 January 2004, Fehér was in Guimarães with Benfica to play against Vitória de Guimarães. The game was being broadcast live on television, and Benfica were leading 1–0. Fehér had just come on as a substitute and assisted another player just off the bench, Fernando Aguiar, for the match's only goal, but received a yellow card in injury time and suddenly bent forward, seemingly in pain; he then fell backwards to the ground.
Members of both teams rushed immediately to aid Fehér before medical personnel arrived on the pitch. Cardiopulmonary resuscitation was performed, an ambulance arrived on the pitch and he was rushed to the hospital. His condition was covered by the Portuguese media throughout the day and, before midnight, his death was confirmed, the cause of death being cardiac arrhythmia brought on by hypertrophic cardiomyopathy. To honor his memory, Benfica retired the number 29 shirt, which he donned while at the club. His passing deeply affected the Portuguese sports community, eliciting widespread mourning. Notable figures, including Porto's director of football Reinaldo Teles and manager José Mourinho, paid their respects at the Estádio da Luz, where the player's body lay in state before being laid to rest in his homeland of Hungary.
Benfica's delegation, which included president Luís Filipe Vieira, coach Giovanni Trapattoni and the entire first-team squad, travelled to Hungary, presenting Fehér's parents with the 2004–05 league championship medal, in respect for the player and his time with the club. On 9 October 2009, the day before their 2010 FIFA World Cup qualifier against Portugal in Lisbon, the Hungarian national team squad laid a wreath next to a metal bust of him at Benfica's homeground, in tribute to his memory.
International career
Fehér gained his first cap for Hungary on 10 October 1998, in a UEFA Euro 2000 qualifying match against Azerbaijan. He came on as a sixth-minute substitute for Ferenc Horváth at the Tofiq Bahramov Stadium in Baku, and scored the final goal of the 4–0 win.
On 11 October 2000 Fehér netted a hat-trick in a 6–1 away routing of Lithuania, for the 2002 FIFA World Cup qualifiers. In total, he scored seven goals in 25 appearances.