Date: 1987 Subject: Johan Cruyff took with him Van Basten in Barcelona. Jenő Békeffy in front of Racing Club Anderlecht stadium – where he managed player transfers for over 17 years. First european football manager with more than 300 big transfers. Johan Cruyff, Rob Rensenbrink, Johan van Loen, Gerrie Mühren, Arie Haan, Luc Nilis, Martin Jol, Johnny Rep, Ruud Geels, Wim Suurbier, Attila Ladinszky. Clubs: RSC Anderlecht, AFC Ajax, RWDM, FC Brugge, FC Lierse, PSV Eindhoven, Juventus FC, FC Köln, FC Barcelona, FC Utrecht, Valencia FC, FC Feyenoord, Bayern München FC
In the shadowy, often impenetrable world of football agents, Jenő Bekeffy still enjoys the greatest prestige. On the one hand, because Bekeffy has handled transfers for virtually all the top clubs in the Netherlands, Belgium, and France for years; on the other hand, because Bekeffy never conducts his business secretly, unlike so many of those shady operators who try to grab a piece of the European football pie. Bekeffy’s name has been associated with top transfers since 1969, and since then he has arranged around 300 transfers. Peter Ressel, for instance, changed clubs no fewer than six times thanks to Bekeffy. Now that the European football market — especially in the countries where Bekeffy earns his living — is suffering from the economic recession, the Hungarian who became a naturalized Belgian claims that he is busier than ever. What will happen in the coming months on the international transfer market? In a world where the motto is “Whispering is silver” and “Silence is golden,” Jenő Bekeffy still makes a few strikingly open remarks, such as: “Next year Cruijff is going to Barcelona — and he’s taking Van Basten with him. Isn’t that common knowledge?” We had agreed to meet at the Anderlecht restaurant — for practical reasons, since Jenő Bekeffy had just completed another transfer for the club. Although “transfer” might be a bit of an overstatement in this case: this time he brought a 14-year-old talent from RWDM to Belgium’s biggest club. “This once again shows how much Anderlecht focuses on the future,” Bekeffy says with a smile. He is accompanied by his assistant, Paul Stefani, who has also just handled another deal for Anderlecht: Luc Nilis, one of Belgium’s brightest young prospects, has moved from Winterslag to Brussels. Bekeffy’s name was already well known — he recently arranged Frank Arnesen’s transfer to PSV Eindhoven, one of the biggest deals in Dutch football. The story, however, began much earlier. After the Soviet army brutally crushed the Hungarian revolution in 1956, Bekeffy decided to stay in the Netherlands, where he was playing with the Hungarian youth national team in a tournament. At that time, he was a player for Vasas SC, but after his escape the FIFA suspended him temporarily. “I couldn’t play for a while,” he recalls, “but later I started again — I played a few matches for Sportclub Enschede and HVC.”
