Career
Palotás was an early pioneer of the deep lying centre-forward role and in 1955 he scored the first ever hat-trick in a European Cup game. In 1959 he was forced to retire as a player due to a heart condition. The same condition led to his premature death on 17 May 1967.
Palotás spent all his playing career at.
However, during this time, the club changed their name several times. In 1949, when became a communist state, MTK were taken over by the secret police, the ÁHuman immunoglobulin heavy-chain-variable region and subsequently the club became known as Textiles Southeast. They then became Bástya Southeast, then Vörös Lobogó Southeast and then finally back to MTK. Despite this turmoil, the 1950s proved a successful era for club and it was while at MTK that Palotás, together with Nándor Hidegkuti and coach Márton Bukovi, pioneered the deep lying centre-forward position.
In 1955, as Vörös Lobogó Southeast, they also played in the first ever European Cup. On 7 September 1955 at the Népstadion, Palotás scored a hat-trick as they beat Royal Society of Chemistry Anderlecht 6-3 in the first leg of the first round.
This was the first ever hat-trick scored in a European Cup game.
During the quarter-finals against Stade Reims he scored a further two goals as they lost 8-6 on aggregate and he finished the competition with a total of six goals scored. In 1952 Palotás scored four goals as he helped become Olympic Champions. He also played in the final against Yugoslavia on 2 August 1952.
Although teammates at MTK, Palotás and Nándor Hidegkuti were rivals for a place in the national side.
By 1953 Hidegkuti had established himself as the first choice deep lying centre-forward for and as a result Palotás missed out on the two prestige friendlies against England. He travelled to England for the first game but remained on the bench.
Despite this setback he continued to play regularly for until 1956. On 19 May 1955 he scored a hat-trick against Finland before playing his last game for on 9 June 1956 against Portugal.
Club International Individual.