Csaba Laszlo
Manager Profile

Biography

Born to Hungarian parents in Odorheiu Secuiesc, one of the historic centres of Szekelyland, Tansylvania, Romania, László started his playing career with Szekelyudvarhely FC. In 1984, aged 20, he fled communist Romania to West Germany on a tourist's visa to live with his uncle and start a new life. As a central midfielder he played for several clubs including Bayer 05 Uerdingen, before travelling to Hungary to continue his career with Volán FC and BVSC Budapest, but was forced to retire at age 27 due to a knee injury.

He started coaching in Germany with BW Kerpen, Tus Grevenbroich and Borussia Mönchengladbach's B and Youth teams. He joined the coaching staff of the Hungarian national team, where he was assistant to Lothar Matthäus, from June 2003 to January 2005, during which time he was appointed as the manager of Hungarian league side Ferencvárosi TC in June 2004. In the UEFA Cup that season, the Hungarian side defeated FA Cup finalists Millwall in the first round, and faced Heart of Midlothian in the group stages, where they beat the Edinburgh side 1-0 at Murrayfield. When Ferencváros ran into financial trouble in 2006, he left to join FC Sopron. He lasted only a matter of months at Sopron and left to become manager of the Uganda national squad later that year.

During his time with Uganda, they finished third in the CECAFA Cup in December 2007. He returned to Scotland in July 2008 when he was appointed Hearts manager, and spent 18 months with the SPL side, finishing third in the league. Departing Hearts in January 2010, he spent some time with Belgian Pro League side RCSC Chalesroi before being appointed head coach of the Lithuanian national football team at the start of 2012. After a year and a half in the job he resigned in September 2013 after a run of poor results.

He returned to Hungary in June 2015 to take charge at MTK Budapest, where he turned the clubs fortunes around, but after a fall out with the board over the transfer policy, he left by mutual consent. He was then appointed head coach of Slovak Liga team Dunajská Streda October 2016, who were sitting bottom of the table. By the end of the season they just narrowly missed out on a Europa League place.

After the departure of Ray McKinnon, Lazlo was appointed manager at Tannadice in November 2017.