Hungarian keeper Fulop dies of cancer at 32

BUDAPEST, Nov 12, (AFP): Tributes poured in on Thursday for former Hungary goalkeeper Marton Fulop, who played for a string of English Premier League clubs, after he died from cancer aged just 32.

“It is with deep sadness and grieving that we inform that after a long illness Marton Fulop has passed away,” Fulop’s former club MTK Budapest said on its website.

“We are devastated to hear of Marton’s passing,” Margaret Byrne, chief executive of Sunderland, Fulop’s club between 2006 and 2010, said in a statement.

“He was a genuinely lovely man, liked and respected by everyone at the club during his four years with us.

“It is desperately sad when we lose a member of our Sunderland family but to lose one so young and in such circumstances is simply heart-breaking,” Byrne said.

Hungary’s national team, currently in Oslo preparing for Thursday’s first leg of the Euro 2016 playoff with Norway, will wear black armbands during the game, Hungarian sports daily Nemzeti Sport reported.

Spotted at MTK’s youth academy before having played a top flight game in Hungary, Fulop was signed by Premier League side Tottenham Hotspur in 2004 as backup to England international Paul Robinson.

A series of loan moves brought the Hungarian to Chesterfield, Coventry City and Sunderland, who signed Fulop in 2007 before loaning him out again to Leicester City, Manchester City and West Bromwich Albion.

The player also had a short stint in Greece with Asteras Tripolis, whom he helped reach their highest ever league finish of fourth position in the 2012-2013 season.