Izidor "Dori" Kürschner, in Brazil primarily known as Dori Kruschner, (29 June 1885 – 8 December 1941), was a Hungarian football player and coach. As player he was successful with Budapest club MTK, and also played for the Hungary national team. As coach he succeeded in Germany, winning the national championship with 1. FC Nürnberg. His greatest triumphs were to follow in Switzerland with the Grasshopper Club Zürich, where he won seven titles. Kürschner's arrival to Brazilian football brought tactical innovations which helped to establish the country as one of the world leaders in the sport.
Kürschner was born in Hungary and was Jewish.
Kürschner was a defensive player on the left side of the field who also found use as centre half. He impressed less with his physique and technique then with his astute positioning and his penchant for headers. His game was marked by simplicity and decisiveness.
He played for MTK in his hometown Budapest and contributed to their Championships in 1904 and 1908 as well as their three consecutive wins of the Magyar Kupa between 1910 and 1912. Between 1907 and 1911 he also was called up five times to play for the Hungary national football team.
In 1911, to supplement his income, along with fellow MTK player Gyula Kertész he set up a photographic studio.
Beginnings in Budapest and Stuttgart
Kürschner commenced his coaching career in 1918 with MTK in Budapest taking over from the previous coach Jimmy Hogan, but departed the following year, moving on to Stuttgarter Kickers in the south-west of Germany. There he stayed for two years and won in 1921 the championship of Württemberg, which qualified the club for the Southern German Championship.
Stuttgart were ousted soon, thus Kürschner became available to lead title defenders 1. FC Nürnberg through the play-offs for the national German title. There the Nürnbergers defeated in the final Vorwärts 90 from Berlin (a precursor club to today's SpVgg Blau-Weiß 1890 Berlin) with 5–0.
After this short-term engagement FC Bayern Munich hired Kürschner for the next season as successor to the great Englishman William Townley. Bayern only managed second place in the Southern Bavarian Championship behind local rivals FC Wacker Munich, and thus failed to qualify for the national tournament. This freed Kürschner to guide Nürnberg through their play-off campaign once more.
He led the team to its third consecutive German Championship final where the ascending Hamburger SV was the opponent. Two epic matches over altogether more than five hours in what is referred to in German football folklore as the "eternal final", did not produce a winner, and in the consequence no title was awarded in that season.
In the next season Kürschner was made the first full-time coach of Eintracht Frankfurt. With only one defeat Frankfurt wins the Group I. of the North Main (→ river Main) league, which was then one of the many divisions that constituted first level football in Germany. However, in the matches for the overall North Main championship the local opponent Germania 94 Frankfurt prevails.
After this Kürschner was to work for many years in Switzerland. His first appointment was in 1923–24 with FC Nordstern Basel, where he also was the first full-time coach in club history. Leading them to promotion to the first division laid the cornerstone to the grandest period in Nordstern's history.
Olympic Silver for the national team
In 1924 Kürschner joined up with Teddy Duckworth and Jimmy Hogan to prepare the players of the Swiss national football team in regional groups for the Olympic Games in Paris.
In Paris the team, under the leadership of Duckworth, made it all the way to the finals. Only the giants of that era Uruguay could eventually put a halt to the Swiss juggernaut when they defeated them 3–0 in a hopelessly overcrowded stadium and thus retained their Gold from the previous tournament. To date, this remains the greatest success in the history of Swiss football. Incidentally, in the semi-finals the Urus overcame the Dutch side led by the aforementioned William Townley, who, in those days was also associated with the Swiss club FC St. Gallen.
Later in that year, Kürschner briefly became the first full-time coach of Schwarz-Weiss Essen in the west of Germany. In a friendly they defeated Kürschner's home team MTK 2–1.
Decade of triumphs with Grasshoppers
From 1925 until 1934 Kürschner was manager of Grasshopper Club Zürich. The three national championships in 1927, 1928, and 1931 plus four wins in the Swiss cup final made him the second most successful coach in the history of this club.