Attila Abonyi

Born in Hungary in 1946, Attila Abonyi arrived in Melbourne in 1957 and played junior football with St Kilda in 1958. In 1960 he made his senior debut aged just 15 with Melbourne Hungaria. A polished striker, Abonyi cites three World Cup campaigns and hitting the crossbar against West Germany in the 1974 World Cup Finals as personal highlights. Abonyi played most of his major league matches with St George Sydney from 1969 and Sydney Croatia from 1977 until retiring in 1979.

His distinguished international career included 88 appearances for Australia between 1967 and 1977, scoring 36 goals and playing more than 500 first grade matches. His skills were also recognised by English giant Manchester United, who invited him as a guest player in the last game of their 1975 Australian tour. After retiring, Abonyi switched to a coaching career at state and national level, assisting Frank Arok between 1985 and 1986.