Pál Csernai left Hungary after 1956 and spent most of his playing career in West Germany and Switzerland before becoming a coach there. He is best remembered for Bayern Munich, whom he ran from 1978 to 1983, winning two Bundesliga titles and reaching the 1982 European Cup final, and for importing zonal marking into German football — the 'Pál system', a hybrid of man-marking and zonal defence that was genuinely novel in the Bundesliga.

After a season at PAOK he took over at Benfica in July 1984, following Sven-Göran Eriksson. The championship went to Porto, but Csernai signed off with silverware: Benfica beat Porto in the 1985 Taça de Portugal final, a trophy won in what turned out to be his farewell match at the club.

He left that summer for Borussia Dortmund and later coached Fenerbahçe, Eintracht Frankfurt, Hertha BSC and, unusually, North Korea. Recognisable to the end by his trademark silk scarf, he died in Budapest in September 2013.