It has been seven years since you retired. What is Gabor Kiraly up to these days?
"I started building a sports centre 23 years ago, and every single year we have developed it. We now have seven football pitches, a four-star hotel, conference rooms and a rehabilitation centre with 12 doctors. We have our own sports club with 400 kids, and 70 people work at the sports ground.
"I am the president and the owner, so I handle the strategy, the structure, everything. Our first team has been promoted to the third league for the first time in our history, which is the highest level we wanted to reach. That was our dream. We also have youth teams from kindergarten groups, from five-year-olds, all the way up to the adult teams. It is a family-built training ground, and we develop every year."
You retired at 43, which is a remarkable age for a footballer...
"I started at 17 with my first professional game and finished at 43. In 26 years I played 882 professional games. A lot of action, a lot of goals, a lot of positive and negative experiences, but I am simply happy to have been part of the football world. Every single year, every single club was a great experience and I took it all in. When I started out, my dream was that when I finished I wanted the feeling that I had reached the maximum form from my body and my knowledge.
"I did it, because there is nothing left in football for me. I made mistakes, I made great saves, I reached the 2016 European Championship with the national team, I played in the Bundesliga and the Premier League. Everything I wanted, I took the experience and I use it for the future, to show people what level they can reach."
We have to talk about the thing most synonymous with you, the tracksuit pants. Is it true you got them by accident, that someone at your club forgot to wash your shorts?
"Not just mine, everybody's! The washing machine was not working, so the bottoms were not washed. The next day there was a first league game in Hungary, so I had to wear the grey ones, and we won. At that time our team was in a relegation position, and we won.
"After that game everything was clean again for the next match, so I went back to the black shorts. But I remembered we had won with the grey bottoms, so I wore them again, and we won again. We climbed to the middle of the table, around eighth or 10th. I said to myself, these grey bottoms bring luck, and I have worn them ever since. That is the whole story."
Did a coach or referee ever tell you that you had to wear regular shorts, or did nobody question it?
"Some people tried. A club would sign me and then say, "Gábor, we do not want these grey bottoms." And I would say, "You signed me, you took me with the long bottoms, so I have to play in the long bottoms." There were jokes, of course, but I trained every day in them as well, so it was no different. I used them in training too."
When a piece of equipment becomes part of your brand, like the tracksuit bottoms for you or the helmet for Petr Cech, do you take it in stride or do the questions become annoying after all these years?
"It is a very interesting question. I always just used them for work. I played 26 professional years, 23 of them in the grey bottoms. But people would ask me, "Can I have a pair of grey bottoms, for Christmas?" I said yes, and every year more and more people wanted them, just as a piece of memorabilia.
"Later I thought maybe we should build a brand after my career, because people wanted it. Even today we produce the grey bottoms and people order them from us. It is good fun, a good story. But during my career, for me the grey bottoms were the same as my boots, my gloves or the ball. I used them for my work, not for show."
You played for over two decades. How do you think goalkeeping has evolved from your peak years to the keepers at the top today?
"The goalkeeping position always develops. Every year keepers are quicker, stronger, faster. But goals are always decided by the same thing: do you catch the ball or not, are you in the right position or not. A lot has changed, but I feel people no longer focus on the right position and the right movement.
"They focus on making a big save for the cameras. The analysis today is much greater, but it is not always about the right way, and that is what I miss in modern football. You see goalkeepers diving behind the goal line, or backwards, instead of going forward and attacking the ball."
Tradition always comes back
Let's turn to your career. You caught the eyes of fans at Hertha Berlin in the Bundesliga. Karl-Heinz Rummenigge once said on TV you were better on your line than Oliver Kahn, and you had that great game at the San Siro against AC Milan in Hertha's debut Champions League season. How do you look back on those breakout years with Hertha?
"It was a great experience, but I was very young, 22 or 23, without much experience. I learned a lot and the steps came very quickly. I played in the Hungarian league, then suddenly I was in the Bundesliga. In my first year we stayed in the league, in my second we finished third and qualified for the Champions League, so by the start of the third year I was playing against big stars, Bergkamp, Del Piero, Rivaldo... All of that in three years was very fast!
"I miss those days because I got to play against big stars, big characters who are not very common in modern football. It was a great experience and I built it into my mentality to make the next steps."
What do you make of Hertha's situation now, relegated to the 2. Bundesliga? It seems strange that a club of that size from the capital is not in the top flight.
"Hertha Berlin is still number one in Berlin, it does not matter which league they play in. I know Union Berlin are in the first league at the moment, but Hertha are the bigger club, with big history, and they need to come back. A lot of traditional clubs have played in the second, third, even fourth league. But tradition always comes back. That is the main thing. Small clubs sometimes go up and stay at the top for some years, but they always come back down. Tradition always remains."
There were reports in 2001 that Arsenal wanted you and Hertha priced you at 7.5 million euros. How close was that move?
"The two clubs talked about the deal, but I had no idea what they were discussing. I had a lot of options. I spoke with Kevin Keegan when he was at Manchester City, with Baresi at AC Milan, with Trapattoni about Fiorentina, and Gianluca Vialli was the manager at Chelsea at the time. We were playing in the Champions League and Hertha were among the best 16 clubs, so naturally there was focus on us. But I always felt good in Berlin. It was a good opportunity, but in the end the two clubs did not reach a deal."
Palace built for the long term
You ended up going to Crystal Palace, where international and English fans know you best, and formed a partnership and a rivalry with Julian Speroni. You both became Palace legends. What is your relationship with him?
"Julian is a great person and a great goalkeeper. We arrived at Crystal Palace together. After three years I left, and I think Julian stayed for around 15 years at the club. We still keep in touch, as I do with people from a lot of my clubs. Every time I played for a club, I gave everything - work, power, time... I always like to remember the good times and keep in touch with people from those days. It is a simple good feeling."
From a goalkeeper's perspective, is it better to have a clear number one role, or a situation like you and Speroni had, challenging each other to be better, fighting for that starting spot?
"It depends on the person. For me, whenever I joined a club, I never spoke about number one, two, three or four. You are the goalkeepers, the goalkeeping union. Sure, only one keeper stands in the goal, but three goalkeepers work all week for the club's success. That is what matters. You are not the important one, the club is important. You can produce a good performance and decide some games, but the club and the tradition come first.
"Players and coaches come and go, but the club's tradition and the fans always remain. You have to understand that you play for every club, because every club has a history. That was always my approach. Even when I was at Leverkusen for just half a year, I gave 100 per cent, because I cannot work any other way. You have to play for every club with your heart, and I did."
The Palace you played for was a yo-yo club. Now they have won three trophies in two years under Oliver Glasner. What do you make of their success, and did you ever imagine these seasons?
"The success of this club is down to mister Steve Parish. He made this club so big, because he has a great strategy and structure and he builds for the long term. He started building Crystal Palace around 2010, and it is unbelievable how far they've gotten. They won the Conference League and the FA Cup, it's amazing. I know some of the people that still for for the club, some of them have been there for 20 or 30 years, and they are proud of going forward step by step.
"The values always stay strong, and that is important. It does not matter what league Palace played in, the identity is very important. I am still a fan of Crystal Palace, I am part of that club, just as I am part of Hertha Berlin or 1860 Munich, because I have the connection. After my career I sometimes worked for Crystal Palace in the VIP rooms with their guests, like many ex-players. That helps to stay connected to the clubs even after your career."
Dean Henderson has become the undisputed starter for Palace. What do you make of him after his journey through Manchester United?
"He is a great person and a great goalkeeper, and his performances have been very important for Crystal Palace. In very difficult situations he was there, saving penalties and a lot of shots. He is the greatest goalkeeper at Crystal Palace right now, that is not a question."
Understand the work
In 2016 you went to the Euros with Hungary and became the oldest player at the tournament, a record later broken by Pepe, though you remain the oldest goalkeeper to play at the Euros. What did representing your country at 40 at such a big stage mean to you?
"Every football career has ups and downs, and that is important to learn. When I was 30, a lot of people said Gábor is too old and should retire. I said no, I want to play, I want to enjoy football, and I started building up my performance again and again. At 40 I was working in the national team alongside players who were around 20, that's a big difference. We qualified through the playoff against Norway, and I was very happy. I just enjoyed it. I saw it as work, not as a big show, and finishing my national team career at a European Championship was a great feeling. I was very happy."
Hungary now has a talented generation centered around the likes of Szoboszlai or Kerkez. What do you make of the current national team and the job Marco Rossi has done?
"Marco Rossi is the right manager for Hungary, because he knows it well here. He won the Hungarian championship with Honvéd, he knows how Hungarian people and Hungarian players think. He is a great person for the national team. We have some great young players in the team, they need time to make mistakes and need to learn. The Hungarian Football Federation and its president, Mr Csányi, gave Rossi the opportunity to develop Hungarian football, and that is long-term work. If you work long term, you will be successful."
What makes Dominik Szoboszlai so special, and what makes him the engine of both Liverpool and Hungary?
"For me the main thing is that he wants to work for football. He does not want to be just a showman, he wants to work, and he knows that if you work, you will be successful. Whether you play right back or central midfield, it does not matter, you do your job. He understands that, and that is why he is so successful."
Hungary now has two big talents at top clubs, Pecsi at Liverpool and Yaakobishvili at Barcelona. How do you rate them, and could there be a battle between them to become Hungary's number one?
"We have always had young, talented goalkeepers, but the important thing is to stay at the highest level. I was 18 years in England and the Bundesliga, from 21 until 39, at the highest level. Every player at this level is talented at something, but every single year you have to fight. You have to show you are better, year after year.
"In my career I tried to show people I was the better keeper for 26 years. Sometimes I did not manage it, and that is no problem, but you have to try. These young goalkeepers have a good opportunity, but they have to work and keep coming up to the highest level. I hope they will be good for our national team."