One hundred years ago, on August 29, 1926, the Fiorentina football club was founded. To celebrate its 100th anniversary, the organization has planned many events. Among the football legends of the past, it would be fitting if someone found a moment during the celebrations to honor Gyula Feldmann, one of the first coaches to sit on Fiorentina’s bench. Feldmann, a Hungarian, was one of many Danubian football experts who helped teach Italian players the technical and tactical aspects of the game between the 1920s and 1930s. Many of these coaches were Jewish, including Árpád Weisz, Ernő Erbstein, and Feldmann himself.
Florence was Feldmann’s first experience with Italian football. After a difficult relegation to Serie B in the 1928–1929 season, Fiorentina finished fourth the following year. Feldmann brought the team back to Serie A, and in June 1931, Fiorentina won the Serie B championship with the same number of points as Bari. One of the players who helped him in midfield was Bruno Neri. Neri was openly anti-fascist and refused to perform the Fascist salute. He later joined the Italian Resistance and lost his life near Marradi. The goalkeeper was also named Bruno. His full name was Bruno Ballanti, and he was known as “the Black Cat” because of the color of his shirt. Feldmann was born in Szeged, Hungary, in 1890. He started his career as a football player. He ended his playing career at Maccabi Brno, where he began his coaching career. After his time in Florence, Palermo, a Serie B team, called him to coach. Once again, Feldmann managed to win promotion to Serie A.
In 1934, he moved to Ambrosiana-Inter. He lost the Italian league title with the club on the final matchday of the season. Finally, he became the coach of the Torino football team.
Torino was Feldmann’s final Italian team before the fascist regime established the Racial Laws in 1938. He had his final experience in football with MTK Budapest during the 1939–1940 season. Feldmann died in Budapest in 1955.
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Translated by Elizabeth El Khoury and revised by Caterina Mansani, students at the Advanced School for Interpreters and Translators of the University of Trieste, trainees in the newsroom of the Union of the Italian Jewish Communities – Pagine Ebraiche.