Missing Former QPR Midfielder Akos Buzsáky Sparks Concern

Hungarian police are searching for former Queens Park Rangers midfielder Akos Buzsáky after he was reported missing more than a week ago.

The 44-year-old, once a familiar figure in English football, has been the subject of an active search since August 18, according to official police records cited in reports from Hungary.

Former QPR favourite missing

Buzsáky, a Hungary international during his playing days, built his reputation in England with Plymouth Argyle before moving to QPR, where his technical quality and long-range shooting made him a crowd favourite in the late 2000s.

He featured for Rangers in the Premier League during the 2011/12 season, scoring twice in the top flight, and later saw out his professional career with Portsmouth in League One before retiring in 2013.

Once the boots were hung up, his life moved away from football. Buzsáky is reported to have been working as a construction contractor, spending long stretches of time in Greece and, according to his family, spending almost the entire last year there.

Family caught by surprise

The news of the police search has stunned those closest to him.

His father, Ákos Buzsáky Sr., said he only learned of the investigation when contacted by Hungarian outlet Blikk. He said he had no idea his son had been reported missing or that the authorities were involved.

"I didn't know that the police were also looking for my son. He basically spends a lot of time in Greece, where he works as a construction contractor. He spent almost the entire last year there," he told the publication.

Reports in Hungary state that Buzsáky no longer lives with the mother of his two daughters. His own mother has also been trying to find him in recent days and is believed to be the family member who first alerted the police and filed the missing person report.

For now, there are no further official details on his whereabouts, only the stark confirmation that police are actively trying to trace a player who once lit up Loftus Road and the Championship.

A troubling summer for former pros

The concern around Buzsáky comes in the same period that football has been shaken by the death of Quevin Castro, the former West Bromwich Albion midfielder.

Castro collapsed during a pre-season friendly in Portugal and later died, a tragedy that cut short the life and career of a 25-year-old who had only just celebrated his birthday days earlier.

One former midfielder missing, another gone far too soon. It leaves a harsh question hanging over the game: how many more shocks can football absorb in a single summer?