Ferdinand Daučík: a Red and White champion

One of the most important connections between Athletic Club and Slavia Praha is the Slovakian-born Ferdinand Daučík.

Born on 30 May 1910 in the small town of Sahy (then part of the Austro-Hungarian, but now in Slovakia), Daučík was the Athletic Club head coach for three seasons from 1954/55 until 1956/57. During his time in charge, he won one LaLiga title, two Copas and oversaw the Lions' first European Cup campaign.

Ferdinand came to Bilbao after a heralded spell as coach at FC Barcelona, where he led the likes of László Kubala (who was also his brother-in-law), Antoni Ramallets, Cesar Rodriguez and Estanislau Basora through a golden period, winning a total of nine trophies from 1950/51 until 1953/54.

In an interview with Athletic Club, Canito's children remembered that their father "liked Daučík very much because he was a great coach", but that "he was very demanding".

He joined Athletic ahead of the 1954/55 campaign and made an immediate impact in Bilbao, ending a five-year trophy drought when Athletic defeated Sevilla FC 1-0 in the Copa final.

A 22-year-old Ignacio Uribe scored the winning goal to cap off a season which saw Athletic finish third in the league table whilst also bringing through a new generation of Lions.

During Daučík's first season, iconic forwards like Telmo Zarra, Panizo and Venancio Perez, crucial to the club's successes in the 1940s, made way for Uribe, Eneko Arieta and Jose Luis Artetxe.

In the celebrations after the Copa win, Ferdinand stepped out on to the balcony at Bilbao's City Hall in front of thousands of fans and promised them that the following year his players would return with two trophies.

He wasnt' wrong. In 1955/56, the Slovak head coach guided Athletic to a sixth LaLiga title, pipping Barça to the top spot by one point, whilst they also retained the Copa with a 2-1 victory over Atlético Madrid in the final.

Added to that, the Lions were runners-up in the Latin Cup, a predecessor to the European Cup featuring the league champions from Spain, France, Portugal and Italy. Athletic defeated Nice in the semi-finals, but were beaten 3-1 by AC Milan in the final.

In 1956/57, Athletic competed in the European Cup for the first time. They started their campaign with a 3-5 aggregate win over FC Porto in the preliminary round before knocking out Hungarian outfit Budapest Honved 6-5 on aggregate in the round of 16. However, the Lions' run ended with a quarter-final knockout at the hands of Manchester United's famed Busby Babes. The Zurigorri won 5-3 in a snowy thriller at San Mames but lost 3-0 in Manchester.

Athletic had started off strongly in the league, but mid-season dip in form saw them drop off and eventually finish fourth. Ferdinand left Bilbao at the end of the campaign, taking charge of Atlético Madrid soon afterwards.

The Slovak went on to have a long managerial career in LaLiga, coaching teams like Real Betis, Sevilla, Real Zaragoza, Elche, Espanyol, and others, before retiring in 1977.
 

Slavia Praha captain

Prior to becoming a coach, Ferdinand had been an important central defender at Slavia during the 1930s.

'Nandi' as he was known in his homeland, got his first break as player at 1. ČsŠK Bratislava (now called Slovan Bratislava). A strong centre-back who read the game well, Daučík's performances in Slovakia caught the eye of the Czech giants and in 1934 he swapped the Slovak capital for the Czech one

In total, he 231 appearances for Slavia between 1934 to 1942, winning three league titles (1935, 1937 and 1940)

Eventually, he also took over the armband from legendary goalkeeper František Plánička and then in 1938 he captained the Red & Whites to Mitropa Cup (the Central European Cup) victory as they defeated Hungarian side Ferencváros 4-2 on aggregate over two legs in the final.

He won 15 caps for Czechslovakia, helping them finish as runners-up at the 1934 World Cup and taking part in the 1938 World Cup. Daučík was also just the third Slovakian in history to ever play for the Czechslovakian national team.
 

Coaching, prison and exile

Ferdinand's first managerial job saw him move back to Slovan Bratislava, where he lifted Slovakian league titles in 1942 and 1948. At the same time, he coached the Slovakian national team.

After the 1948 Czechoslovak coup d'état, Daučík was arrested and served time in prison as well as a labour camp. He escaped to Italy via Austria and soon after made his way to Spain whilst managing a team called Hungaria, which was made up of refugees from Eastern bloc countries, such as himself and Kubala.

 

*Photos from Ferdinand's time at Slavia belong to Slavia Praha and photos from his time in Bilbao belong to Athletic Club.