17 Facts About Josef Masopust

Josef Masopust was a Czech football player and coach.

Josef Masopust played as midfielder and was a key player for Czechoslovakia, helping them reach the 1962 FIFA World Cup Final.

Josef Masopust was capped 63 times, scoring ten goals for his country.

Josef Masopust was named European Footballer of the Year in 1962.

In November 2003, to celebrate UEFA's Jubilee, Masopust was selected as his country's Golden Player by the Football Association of the Czech Republic as their most outstanding player of the past 50 years.

Josef Masopust was named by Pele as one of the top 125 greatest living footballers in March 2004.

Josef Masopust is regarded as one of the greatest midfielders of all time.

Josef Masopust won eight league championships and three national cups with Dukla.

Josef Masopust subsequently had a spell in Indonesia where he coached their national Olympic football team with Milan Boksa between 1988 and 1991.

Josef Masopust made his international debut in October 1954, in a friendly match against Hungary.

Josef Masopust helped Czechoslovakia qualify for the 1958 FIFA World Cup, but the team were knocked out after a play-off match against Northern Ireland.

In 1962, Josef Masopust led the Czechoslovakia team that reached the 1962 FIFA World Cup Final, losing to Brazil.

Early in his career, Josef Masopust played as a left half.

Josef Masopust was in a similar mould to that of the Hungarian Jozsef Bozsik; a workhorse of his team, who created attacking opportunities.

Josef Masopust had excellent ball control, which he utilised for both recovering the ball in defence and dribbling past opponents.

Josef Masopust was not great at tackling opponents, but he compensated for this by anticipating his opponents' actions and intercepting their passes.

Josef Masopust died on 29 June 2015 at his home in Prague at the age of 84.