Dominik Szoboszlai is a hero in his native Hungary and is buddies with Erling Haaland as the two reconnect in England. But what else is there to know about the former RB Leipzig playmaker as he joins Liverpool? The holes are filled by bundesliga.com.
Football in the family
Given that Szoboszlai’s father, Zsolt, was formerly a professional football player, there must be something special about their hometown of Szekesfehervar. Dominik began playing at a young age and even put aside other toys since he loved the game so much. In his own words, “I never had any Lego or anything like that, the only thing I was interested in was a football,” he told Four Four Two.
In 2007, he even started his own young team, Akademie Fönix Gold FC, to better manage his son’s growth. His father took it upon himself to be his coach.
As soon as the team’s training sessions were over, he continued to train me, according to Szoboszlai. I constantly go above and beyond what everyone else does.
And it worked. We started working together when I was three because he “always had the ambition to become a coach,” the man told Goal. He was my coach up until I joined the Red Bull Academy, with the exception of one year. He was and still is a major source of inspiration for me.
“My father was the key factor in my development. The [huge number of] hours he has spent practicing and advising me are impossible to forget.”
Friends with Haaland
Szoboszlai and Haaland spent a year together at Salzburg in 2019, and he claims they are “very good friends” with the Manchester City and former Dortmund star striker. Along with Takumi Minamino, the pair made up a sizable attacking trident, and given Szoboszlai’s penchant for scoring goals himself and assisting others, the two get along like old friends. In his last full season at Salzburg, the right-footer scored 12 goals and provided 18 assists in 40 games.
“He often told me what I needed to do and how to do it best, like a leader,” Szoboszlai said of Haaland, three months his senior, in an interview with kicker while the striker was making waves with Dortmund.
“I miss him. We’re still in touch. If I have time then I pay him a flying visit, or vice versa. We’ve stayed in contact.”
Set-piece specialist
When asked about his abilities, Szoboszlai responded to kicker with a significant understatement, “I don’t think I’m that bad in terms of technique. He previously referred to himself as “a very versatile player who can shoot well and thread the final pass through.” He was at ease on the left wing or more centrally as an offensive playmaker. He continued, “Free kicks and set-pieces, in general, are among my strengths.” He added another distinguishing characteristic.
In August 2021, against Stuttgart, he promptly followed that up with his second goal of the evening on a devilishly arrowed free kick from outside the box that evaded everyone but the goal. Of course, he wasn’t done there and has since displayed his prowess in set pieces on numerous occasions, including sinking a free-kick against Stuttgart in January 2023 from 30 meters away.
He said, modestly, “My intention was always to score a goal, and luck was on my side. Michael Boris, who coached Szoboszlai when he was 16 years old for the Hungary U21 team, believes that perseverance and confidence are the keys to his success as a dead ball specialist.
“He knows exactly what he’s capable of,” he said to Goal. “Not in a haughty sense; he always had a very realistic opinion of his ability, even when he was younger. That was just amazing.
We had many players in the 21s who were already competing for senior teams in the premier league. Dominik, although younger than everyone else, would always simply grab the ball during a free-kick as if it were the most normal thing in the world, and he would take it.
Tattoo reminder, thankful to Rose
Despite the fact that Szoboszlai’s talent, vision, and comfort with the ball are obvious to all, he also possesses another crucial quality for any young player seeking to rise to the top: hard work and determination.
But that wasn’t always the case, and he is appreciative of the current Dortmund coach Rose for establishing those traits in him.
The playmaker enrolled in Salzburg’s development system in 2017 at the age of 16, and following a productive campaign with the club’s feeder team FC Liefering in the Austrian second division, where he netted 16 goals in 42 appearances, he believed he was ready to break through to the first squad.
However, things didn’t exactly work out that way; Szoboszlai confesses that the stalled progress “was my mistake. I had previously played for Liefring in the second division, so when I switched to the pros, I figured I could just carry on how I had been,” he added. I believed that my performance up until that point qualified me for the first division.
But Rose, who led Salzburg from 2017 to 2019 before moving on to lead Borussia Mönchengladbach, had other plans and made sure the attacker understood he couldn’t just glide to the top: Marco is a different type of person, but if he hadn’t made me realize that I needed to change and alter my perspective, I probably wouldn’t be here today.
That lesson meant so much to Szoboszlai that he received a tattoo on his left arm that serves as a constant reminder: “Talent is given by God. But it is useless without tenacity and sacrifice.
Hungarian hero
The month of March 2019 was the one that launched Szoboszlai’s career on an ascent. Szoboszlai made his UEFA Europa League debut on March 14 against a capable Napoli team led by Carlo Ancelotti in the second leg of the round of 16 at home. Szoboszlai, who was only 18 at the time, seizes the opportunity and emerges as the greatest player on the field, contributing an assist to a 3-1 victory.
In Hungary, where his fierce skill had always been well-known, Szoboszlai made his first full international debut exactly one week later. The logical progression of the narrative was free-kick goals in the red Hungary jersey, which promptly occurred against Slovakia and Turkey.
By November 2020, the youngster had cemented his spot in Hungry’s illustrious football history. In a thrilling 2-1 victory over Iceland in the European qualifying play-off, a curling goal that went in off the post secured Hungary’s spot at UEFA Euro 2020. Szoboszlai scored in the second minute of stoppage time.
Hungary had their first major tournament berth in 48 years as a result, and although Szoboszlai missed UEFA Euro 2020 due to injury, he quickly resumed where he left off. He made the game-winning penalty in Hungary’s 1-0 triumph over England in June 2022, the Three Lions’ first defeat in fifty years.
Szoboszlai was picked as the new captain of Hungary in November of that year by his international teammates and coach Marco Rossi, following in the footsteps of legendary Ferenc Puskas and former Hoffenheim, Mainz, and Schalke striker Adam Szalai.