Tóth Zele József
Füzesabony 1936. január / January 26
Madrid, Spanyolország/Spain

József Zele Tóth is a former professional soccer player from Heves County, Hungary, who took an active part in the 1956 Hungarian Revolution, fleeing the country on November 23 of that year. After a brief stay in Vienna at a refugee center, József was recruited to play on the Hungaria soccer team alongside players like Ferenc Puskás, Sándor Kocsis, and Zoltán Czibor, who were also refugees in 1956. He was later recruited to play for a French Premier League team in Grenoble and subsequently drafted by Atlético Madrid. Due to an injury at the age of 27, he could no longer play soccer and instead became a youth recruiting coach for Real Madrid, a position he held for over 30 years.

He successfully recruited players from all over Spain for Real Madrid, including José Antonio Camacho, a key player for Real Madrid during the late 1970s and 1980s and also served as the captain of the Spanish national team as well as Emilio Butragueño, a forward who played a crucial role in Real Madrid's success in the 1980s, particularly during the team’s "La Quinta del Butter" era, becoming an iconic figure in Spanish football. In addition to Camacho and Butragueño, Zele Tóth also recruited other notable players for Real Madrid, including Raúl González, one of the club's all-time top scorers, Iker Casillas a legendary goalkeeper and a key player for both Real Madrid and the Spanish national team, and Roberto Carlos, a renowned left-back known for his speed and powerful shots.

For the past 16 years, he has brought Real Madrid’s U17 team to play in the Puskás-Suzuki tournament in Felcsút, Hungary—a yearly tournament held with all the teams Ferenc Puskás, Hungary’s most well-known soccer star, played for or coached during his soccer career. Tóth was friends with Puskás, as they were both 1956 refugees, soccer players, and lived in Madrid.

József Zele Tóth is originally from Füzesabony (northeastern Hungary). He later worked and played professional soccer for a second-division team in Heves while also working as a controller in the local city council. He spent the majority of his life in Spain, marrying and having three children there.