Few facts are as clear, in the complicated biography of István Nyers, as that he was born in Merlebach in 1924. In French territory, Moselle department, direct border with Germany. An area that belonged to the German empire from 1871 to 1918, which Hitler recovered in 1940 and returned to France after the Second World War. Nyers was the son of a Hungarian couple, with a miner father who worked in the rich excavations of the region. When the family returned to Hungary and settled in Budapest, Nyers began to stand out as a footballer, in the youth ranks of Ujpest.
But nothing could be simple in the life of our protagonist, and he was a good specialist in inventing or distorting details. When Hungary and the USSR went to war (1941), Nyers moved to the south of the country and started playing for an amateur team in Subotica, later integrated into Yugoslavia. There he married, which, over time, would give him access to a third passport, after the French one and the Hungarian one, the Yugoslavian one, through his wife.
After the armistice he returned to Budapest. He began to be a recognized footballer, a different player, a left winger with devilish speed, great physical strength cultivated in boxing and finishing with both legs. He scored goals with such ease that he often lined up as a center forward as well.
In Budapest it is said that he met Kubala, three years younger, at the Ganz-MAVAG. His eccentricities were increasing. He tells himself that they did not trust Nyers because of his erratic character. One day they decided to line him up and after getting the ball he dribbled past everyone, including the goalkeeper. But then, before the goal line, he turned around. Again at Ujpest he won two leagues in a row and, although he had a provisional license because the federations were not clear about his nationality, in the 1945-46 season he played two friendlies with the Hungarian team and was suspended. He moved to Prague and enrolled in Viktoria Zizkov, where his career crossed paths with an infallible talent scout: Helenio Herrera. The legendary HH was then the coach of Stade Français, a renowned Parisian club in post-war Europe, and, taking advantage of Nyers’ French origin, he obtained the incorporation of the unstoppable winger, then known as Étienne Nyers. Both Ujpest and Viktoria claimed ownership of Nyers, but FIFA, chaired by Frenchman Jules Rimet, did not intervene. In Paris he shared a dressing room with figures such as goalkeeper Marcel Domingo, with Louis Hon (Madrid player from 1950 to 1953) and the Franco-Moroccan star Ben Barek, future star of At. Madrid.
In 1948, the wandering Hungarian received a juicy offer from Calcio and moved to Inter, where he lived his best period. Now known as Stefano Nyers, l’apolide (the stateless person), in seven seasons with the black and blues he won the scudetto twice and left luxury scoring records. In his first year he was even a capocannoniere, with 26 goals. And in the next two he went over 30, but beaten by the Swede Nordahl, from Milan. In total there will be 182 League games and 133 goals. Upon his arrival at Inter he showed up with a sky blue Studebaker, an unattainable luxury in post-war Italy, and proclaimed “here you have me, I am the great Nyers.” He debuted against Sampdoria (4-1) and scored a hat-trick. His exploits spread from word to mouth, like that Milan derby in which Inter lost 1-4 in 20 minutes and ended up winning 6-5, with two of his goals.
Then he spent two seasons at Roma, where he coincided with the legendary Alcides Ghiggia, the Uruguayan footballer who silenced Maracaná, and with the Dutchman Wilkes, later a Valencian star. Nyers concluded his Italian journey with an average of 0.65 goals per game that still ranks him among the most effective of all time. A teammate from the Interista stage, Sergio Brighenti, recalled a few years ago in La Gazzetta dello Sport: “he had a criminal change of pace. But he needed to be recognized off the field. He spent everything he earned, always had surprising initiatives, spectacular cars that he changed as often as his love affairs. He lost a lot of money in poker, but he didn’t care, he played and paid, paid and played.
In 1956, Nyers sought new horizons. He was already 32 years old and the trail of him is blurred. In some biographies he is placed in Switzerland, in the Servette. In others in Spain, in Sabadell. The only thing that is indisputable is that at the end of 1956 he played two test friendlies with Valencia and then tried to convince Barcelona in a friendly against Ferrol, on February 7, 1957 (7-3), with a brilliant start. After two minutes he scored a goal against Villaverde and at 9 minutes he scored the second, exhibiting the legendary power of his shot. There was no agreement and 48 hours later he signed with Terrassa, then a good second. The Mundo Deportivo correspondent was headed by Juanita Biarnés, a young 21-year-old journalist and photographer who would become a famous photojournalist. Nyers told him that she was 30 years old (there were 32) and had been capped seven times (there were two). Perhaps the most sincere answer was to say that he signed for Terrassa to stay active. He didn’t do badly: he played eleven league games and scored five goals, he still retained some of the magic about him.
Already retired, he settled in Bologna and then moved to Subotica, where on March 9, 2005, at the age of 80, he died bankrupt, trying to collect a pension from Italy. As it was said then in the Italian press, Nyers “was Best before Best, he was Ibra before Ibra.”
