Guide to Hungarian football's History, Reports, Pics, satistics and videoclips!!

Bentex · Jun 2, 2004

History, Honours, Facts & Figures

(©UEFA)

Glorious history needs updating

Hungarian football has left its mark on the world stage. Even today, people remember the period five decades ago when the country's footballers set the pace both technically and tactically. Hungary can indeed be proud of those fine players that graced the international arena.

Early steps

The first official match played in the central European state was between two teams from the Budapesti Torna Club on 9 May 1897. In the following years, the game grew in popularity, to the extent that in 1900 Budapest's city council considered a proposal banning the sport because of the many injuries incurred.

Federation formed

However, on 19 January 1901, football gained further credibility as the Hungarian Football Federation (the Magyar Labdarúgók Szövetsége or MLSZ) was founded by 12 clubs in Budapest. That same year, the first championship was organised, and in 1902 the national team made their debut, losing 5-0 to Austria in Vienna.

Turning pro

The MLSZ existed independently in the Austro-Hungarian monarchy, and became a member of FIFA in 1906. After the first world war, and Hungarian independence, the federation reorganised itself: in 1921, it introduced compulsory injury insurance for players, and in 1926, the first division was allowed to turn professional.

International competition

At this time, club competitions between central European sides were a regular feature. The national team participated in the 1934 FIFA World Cup and the 1936 Olympics without success, but finished second at the 1938 World Cup in France.

The war years

During the second world war, the championship was interrupted, and the conditions of pitches and stadiums deteriorated. However, after the conflict, reconstruction of the country started with great intensity, and in 1946 the championship was resumed.

1950s brilliance

Under the communist regime, the federation continued its work as a department of the Sport Office. The national team won Olympic gold in 1952, and the next year, with players of the calibre of Nándor Hidegkuti and Ferenc Puskás, beat England 6-3 at Wembley in a match still referred to as the 'Game of the Century'. After losing the 1954 World Cup final to the Federal Republic of Germany, Hungary lost most of its legendary players. In 1956, Soviet soldiers crushed a Hungarian uprising. Many players emigrated and the political leadership stopped supporting football.

Bentex · Jun 2, 2004

Gold medals

However, the country still enjoyed Olympic glory (gold medals in 1964 and 1968, silver in 1972, bronze in 1960), finished third at the 1964 European Nations' Cup and took fourth place at the 1972 UEFA European Championship.

Club honours

The 1960s also saw good displays in the World Cup (fifth in 1962, sixth in 1966). Flórian Albert was voted European Footballer of the Year in 1967. Clubs were successful too: Ferencvárosi TC won the Inter-Cities Fairs Cup in 1965 and were runners-up in the UEFA Cup Winners' Cup in 1975, while MTK finished second in the latter competition in 1964 and Videoton FCF runners-up in the 1985 UEFA Cup.

Bozsik programme

Since 1989, the MLSZ has functioned as a democratic self-governing organisation. With government support, important programmes involving stadium reconstruction and high-level coach training were launched. The Bozsik programme, a nationwide youth and football development project which started in 2002, has attracted thousands of children.

Fresh page

Hungary yearns to write a fresh page in its glorious history - in which not only great players but also renowned administrators such as Gusztáv Sebes, Sándor Barcs and György Szepesi have played a prominent role at European level.

Bentex · Jun 2, 2004

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Bentex · Jun 2, 2004

Magyars make their mark
By Mark Chaplin

A number of countries can lay claim to having a profound effect on football's development over the years. The Brazilians of the 1970 FIFA World Cup and the 'total footballers' of the Netherlands later in the same decade are two that spring to mind. Hungary is another nation to have left an indelible mark on the game's evolution.

Revolutionary upheaval

In the early to mid-1950s, the Hungarians instigated a technical and tactical revolution that changed the way football was played, stimulated thought in coaching circles and caused upheaval in the established order that the history of football had hitherto formed.

Mighty Magyars

The generation known as the 'Mighty Magyars' will forever be remembered as the team that launched the modern football era, and the earthquake caused by their achievements had its epicentre at the very heart of the game - in England. In November 1953, many of the old preconceptions about how football should be played were cast aside on a memorable day at Wembley stadium, where Hungary's forward thinking - on and off the field - resulted in an astonishing 6-3 win over England's national side, the first time a team from continental Europe had defeated England on English soil.

W-M system

Previously, the main tactical system had involved the use of the 'W-M' formation - a 3-2-2-3 template, with two full-backs and a centre-half as the main defenders, two defensive half-backs, two attacking inside-forwards further up the field, and two wingers and a centre-forward as the main frontrunners.

Bentex · Jun 2, 2004

Breaking the rules

Two men in Hungary, Béla Guttmann and Gustáv Sebes, had other ideas about how to build a team. Guttman, the MTK coach, did not withdraw the two inside-forwards. He pulled back the centre-forward, while another midfield player added stability to the defence by dropping back, creating a 4-2-4 system. This pattern was adopted by Sebes for the Hungarian national side and the outcome caused havoc for opponents accustomed to more rigid tactical formations.

The 'Galloping Major'

Hungary's players changed positions and moved incessantly. The two inside-forwards operated as additional frontrunners, and the withdrawn centre-forward meant that opposing centre-halves, who usually marked him, were utterly confused as to their role and were drawn out of position leaving huge gaps for the four-man forward line to exploit. Hungary also had the players with the technique and intelligence to put the new system into operation. The 'Galloping Major', Ferenc Puskás pulled the attacking strings and Nándor Hidegkúti was the centre-forward who came deep to haunt rival rearguards.

Astute coaching

Sebes was an astute, meticulous coach who left nothing to chance. Before that epic win at Wembley, for example, he made sure that his players became used to the heavier English ball by borrowing several for pre-match training. His national team played friendly games against Hungarian club sides that would adopt the tactics of Hungary's next opponents. Lightweight boots, cut away under the ankle, were another sign that the Hungarians were different from what had preceded them.

Goal feasts

"Neither the English, nor any of the other teams we met, seemed able to defend effectively against our tactical formation," remembered Hidegkúti, who scored three goals at Wembley. "If [right-half Joszef] Bozsik and I joined the attack, we had six strikers advancing, all capable of scoring goals." Puskás added: "We came to have a tremendous understanding of everything required to play the game." There were numerous goal feasts. England suffered an even greater humiliation - a 7-1 mauling - when they came up against their Wembley tormentors again in Budapest in 1954. Five or six-goal drubbings were a regular occurrence for overwhelmed adversaries.

Elusive silverware

But sadly, a world title proved elusive. A surprising defeat by the Federal Republic of Germany in the 1954 FIFA World Cup final in Switzerland, allied to the Hungarian uprising of 1956, heralded the decline of that great team. Nevertheless, the 'Mighty Magyars' left a crucial legacy - football's fluidity, movement and flexibility was, to a considerable extent, the product of Hungary's fleetingly brilliant era five decades ago.

Bentex · Jun 2, 2004

Puskás the goalscoring major

He was a star player for Kispest Honvéd FC and Real Madrid CF. He led Panathinaikos FC to the European Champion Clubs' Cup final as a coach. And now he gives his name to Hungary's national stadium.

Early starter

It is no surprise that Ferenc Puskás is his country's Golden Player. Puskás remains the greatest name in Hungarian football. Born in Budapest on 2 April 1927, his first mentor was his father, a coach with Kispest Athletic Club where Ferenc played under an assumed identity - Miklós Kovács - until his 12th birthday when he was officially old enough to join in.

Childhood friends

Even before then he had met his best friend and future international colleague, József Bozsik, who would win 101 caps to Puskás's 85. "I was three or four years old when Bozsik moved into our neighbourhood," he explained. "We soon became friends and had a secret sign - if I knocked on the wall, it meant: let's go and play football."

On the ball

Puskás was blessed with one of the best left feet in the history of the game, yet it was the ball which, he always said, was his "kabala" or lucky charm: "I'm only calm when I have it with me." With it, the inside-forward won five Hungarian championships with Honvéd, was the league's top scorer on four occasions, claimed an Olympic gold medal in 1952, and finished runner-up at the 1954 FIFA World Cup finals as Hungary surprisingly lost to Germany.

Bentex · Jun 2, 2004

Wembley win

He was a national celebrity and there is a publicity shot of him and his 'Magical Magyars' team-mates laying the foundations at the Népstadion, now the Ferenc Puskás stadium. That Hungarian side was perhaps most famous for beating England 6-3 at Wembley on 25 November 1953, when Puskás scored two of his 84 international goals. However, the team broke up with the 1956 Revolution, which erupted at a time when Honvéd were touring abroad.

Conquering Europe

Puskás duly joined Real Madrid, where he further embellished his reputation. Playing alongside Alfredo Di Stéfano,

Francisco Gento and Luis Del Sol, he registered 324 goals in 372 games for the Spanish giants (finishing as the Primera División's leading marksman for four seasons), won six Spanish titles and the European Cup in 1959/60, when he scored four times in the 7-3 final victory against Eintracht Frankfurt.

Galloping Major

Watching television images of that game, it becomes clear that the 'Galloping Major' didn't actually do too much leg work. Instead, he moved slowly but inexorably towards goal before letting fly shots from all possible angles and distances.

On the bench

Puskás eventually retired from playing in 1966. He would coach teams in Spain, the United States, Canada, Paraguay, Chile, Saudi Arabia and Egypt until, in 1993, he took charge of the Hungarian national side for four matches. Yet the highlight of his career on the bench came in Greece with Panathinaikos, whom he guided to the European Cup final in 1970/71. It is through his exploits on the pitch, however, that he has the status of a sporting legend.

Bentex · Jun 2, 2004

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Bentex · Jun 2, 2004

Tribute to Puskás

by János Spándli aka Bentex

Even the fact that Hungary won the Olympics in 1952 in Finland , Puskas did not get the worlds attention until a foggy evening in 1953 at Wembley.
Hungary had slaughtered England 6-3. They were the first foreign team to inflict defeat on England at Wembley. And what a defeat. It wasn't just the score. The style of football played by the "Golden Team " might as well have come from another planet. England, self-styled masters of the game, were humiliated.

Yet no one in Britain had seen ball skills like his as he inspired a performance that completely demolished England's reputation as a world football power.

Ferenc Puskas was Hungary`s captain and known as the Galloping Major, a reference to the fact that he was an army officer playing for an army team. Later, when while playing for Real Madrid he became known as the little canon. For his left foot, packed with such a accurate shot.

Famous quotes about him include.

Raymond Kopa (Right midfield , Real Madrid)

"Puskas scared the hell out of goalkeepers form 30-35 meter range . He did not just have a powerful shot but prescion aswell, I thought he was a genius"

Paco Gento (Left wing , Real Madrid )
"The 2 best players I have ever seen are Puskas and Di Stefeno it was like having Pele and Maradona in the same team "

Paco Gento Quote #2

" In the showers I used to throw the soap to Puskas and he would catch it on his left foot and play keep ups"

George Best

"I was with Puskas coaching in Australia the players he was coaching did not respect him until he put the ball down outside the area and intentionally hit the cross bar ten times in a row "

Tom Finney
"I came away (from Wembley) wondering to myself what we had been doing all these years."

Puskas was born in Budapest in April 1927 and made his debut for his father's old team Kispest at the age of 16. At 18 he was an international, appearing for Hungary against Austria in 1945.

His most famous goal was the third against England in 1953 , A drag back which put England legend Billy Wright on his backside the a powerful shot in the top right hand corner past England keeper Gil Merrick.

You can download this goal here

Bentex · Jun 2, 2004

Puskas was with the rest of his Honved team-mates in Spain when the uprising took place. They had been playing a European Cup tie against Bilbao and Puskas, along with Kocsis and Czibor, defected to the West and he did not return to Hungary until 1980.

Puskas spent a year in Austria, but failed to get a work permit.
"Were the hell can I go" he said.
He put on weight and he drifted around Europe and having turned 30 he was considered too old and overweight.

To the amazement of the footballing world the greatest club side in the world came in for him.
He was rescued by his old Honved manager Emil Oestreicher, now in charge at Real Madrid. The famous "royals" in their all-white strip had been turned into a club that dominated Europe by the vision of their president, Santiago Bernabeu.

Puskas was a spectacular edition to the team that Included Gento ,
Del Sol ,Santamaria,Kopa and of course his legendry strike partner Alfredo Di Stefeno.

Bentex · Jun 2, 2004

This player who was fat,too old and rejected by the Italians struck up a sensational partnership with Di Stefano and was four times the leading scorer in the Spanish Championship
The climax of this outstanding Real side was the 1960 European Cup Final played before 135,000 at Hampden Park.
In one of the truly memorable matches, Real beat Eintracht Frankfurt 7-3. Di Stefano scored a hat-trick. Puskas went one better, getting four goals. Real had won the European Cup five times in a row.

Puskas Finished playing for Real until 1966 when he retired and started coaching. He had biggest success was winning the Greek Championship with Panathinaikos and lost to the great Johan Cryuff Ajax side in European Cup Final in 1971 at Wembley.

Bentex · Jun 2, 2004

When Puskas came to Leicester : 1973

by Joe Schmidt aka Ultrafox

Ferenc Puskás in a Leicester jersey!!

November 2003 marks a world famous football anniversary. It will be the 50th anniversary of the day when Ferenc Puskas brought his legendary Hungarian team to Wembley and started a new era of football. On 25th November 1953 the ‘Magical Magyars’ rewrote the history books by thrashing Billy Wright’s boys 6-3, thus ending England’s unbeaten home record at Wembley and their world domination of the beautiful game.

October 2003 marks a lesser known football anniversary. It will be the 30th anniversary of the day that Ferenc Puskas came to play a match at Filbert Street. On a particularly freezing cold night on 16th October 1973 a charity match between Old England and The Rest of Europe brought some of football’s greatest players to Leicester for an occasion of pure nostalgia.

I have dubbed this game the forgotten match, because nowhere in my many books on the history of Leicester City Football Club, and Filbert Street is it ever mentioned. Even when I referred it to a colleague of the authors of ‘Of Fossils and Foxes’, (before the 2nd edition was printed), he said they had no recollection of the game. I was beginning to think I had dreamt it up, along with my countless fantasies of Leicester actually winning the FA Cup or the Premier League.

In spite of this, a recent chance finding on Ebay of the actual matchday programme, and then a little help from the Leicester Mercury confirmed that the match really did happen. It was all in aid of Goaldiggers – a charity set up to help struggling clubs and to develop football at grassroots level. Whatever happened to that?.

Sadly the game only attracted an attendance of 3,181, possibly because of the bizarrely harsh sub-zero conditions on the night. But I was there with my dad all those years ago and to be honest the match was a dream come true. It may have been only an exhibition match, but the chance of seeing and possibly meeting the legendary Ferenc Puskas aka the ‘Galloping Major’ meant a lot to both me and my Hungarian-born father.

While growing up in Leicester and nurturing my devotion to LCFC my late father, a refugee from the 1956 Hungarian uprising, made me aware of Hungary’s great football tradition. Up until 1978 Hungary had had a good record against England. They had a 100% record against Brazil in several World Cup matches and had appeared in the World Cup final twice in 1938 and 1954. For me at the time, being an impressionable football crazy 10 year old, Hungarian football was something to be proud of. Unfortunately, since then, Hungarian football has taken a serious nose dive, but we won’t go into that.

Hence I couldn’t believe my eyes when on the way home from school one day in 1973 I saw a Leicester Mercury billboard that had the headlines ‘Banks and Puskas to play at Filbert Street’. Unbelievable! Why Leicester? Maybe it had something to do with our then famous hot-air balloon that kept the pitch playable all year round. But who cares? It was my good fortune, and I knew it would mean another rare trip to Filbert Street for me (my parents were generally reluctant to let me go to Filbert Street in those days on account of the reported hooliganism).

The Old England team was made up of some of England’s 1966 World Cup winners. They included Jack Charlton, George Cohen, Roger Hunt and Gordon Banks in what must have been his first return to semi-competitive football since the car crash that caused him to lose sight in one eye. Making up the rest of the England team was Bill McGarry, Bobby Robson and a quartet of Jimmys’. Jimmy Greaves, Jimmy Armfield, Jimmy Hill and the then current Leicester manager Jimmy Bloomfield.

With Puskas in the Rest of Europe team was his former Real Madrid partner, Francisco Gento, the only man to have played in 8 (yes, EIGHT) European Cup Finals and have 6 winner’s medals. Also in the team were World Cup Finalists of 66 , Uwe Seeler and Willi Schultz, as well as the Welsh “gentle giant” John Charles and Gyula Grosics, the great Hungarian goalkeeper of the 1950s. It promised to be a very interesting encounter.

The score on the night was 4-2 to Old England. Goals from Hunt, Greaves, a 30 yard strike by Charlton and a late goal by Jimmy Hill completed the scoring for England, while Puskas and Charles netted for Europe. But the result was of little significance. What was more important was the occasion, and the sheer theatre of the individual performances.

As the Leicester Mercury recalled, “ A superstar show was put on by the heaviest there – the legendary Ferenc Puskas, who warmed the crowd with a skilful display of old fashioned ball play.” They also described how Gordon Banks… “displayed all his old agility and sound positional judgement and came out on top in a personal duel with Spain’s Francisco Gento, the great winger of Real Madrid’s heyday”

My own recollection of the match recalls Puskas gamely trying to explain to his wingers where he wanted the ball delivered, right down to pointing to the spot on the ground. On several occasions the portly Puskas would follow through on crosses that had passed by him seconds earlier, just to demonstrate to the appreciative crowd his dazzling intentions.

At the full time whistle I ran onto the pitch (oooh err) to collect some autographs in the autograph-book my mum had bought me especially for the occasion. Amazingly even then, stewards were at hand to shepherd stray fans off the pitch (or maybe I was picked on as an easy target). Consequently I left the field empty handed. A further attempt at some autograph hunting later on at the players’ entrance ended up with only two paw prints. One from Jimmy Armfield, the other, Lord knows! It could have been the steward that had earlier ushered me off the pitch; such was my desperation to return home with something in my brand new autograph book.

As for meeting Puskas himself? Well, all the players were treated to a huge banquet after the match that went on until the early hours. My dad and I waited outside a dimly lit Filbert Street for over an hour, listening to the feast that was obviously going on within and freezing to death in the process. In the end two factors determined my fate. I had school in the morning and Puskas is renowned for his love of food, so I suppose our meeting was never to be.

Still, I was there and enjoyed this rarely mentioned historical event at Filbert Street. Therefore now, exactly 30 years later I feel compelled to echo the sentiments of the song that was played out as the teams left the field that cold and wintry October evening back in 1973. “Thanks for the Memory”.

Bentex · Jun 2, 2004

England 3-6 Hungary

Friday, 21 November 2003
By Jonathan Wilson

Kocsis (left) stretches for the ball as England goalkeeper Gil Merrick comes out

They had dubbed it the 'Match of the Century' and it lived up to its billing. The meeting of Hungary, the Olympic champions, and England, the fathers of football, seemed like the meeting of near-equals - a head-to-head contest between two sides who believed themselves the best in the world. It turned out to be a thoroughly one-sided affair: Hungary tore England to shreds.

New order
Forget the score; that flattered England. Hungary had 35 shots in the game to England's five. This was a demolition pure and simple, a game that ushered in a new world order. As Geoffrey Green wrote in his report of the game in the Times, England were left as "strangers in a strange world".

Underestimated opponents
Yet they had begun with great self-confidence. "Looking back," the England captain Billy Wright is quoted as saying in Rogan Taylor's book Puskás on Puskás, "we completely underestimated the advances that Hungary had made, and not only tactically.

Kit innovations
"When we walked out at Wembley that afternoon, side by side with the visiting team, I looked down and noticed that the Hungarians had on these strange, lightweight boots, cut away like slippers under the ankle bone. I turned to big Stan Mortenson and said, 'We should be alright here, Stan, they haven't got the proper kit'."

Early goal
He was rapidly disabused. If Hungary felt any nerves about playing at Wembley, they had evaporated within 50 seconds as Nándor Hidegkúti, the deep-lying centre-forward, ran on to Jozsef Bozsik's through-ball, and beat the England goalkeeper Gil Merrick from the edge of the box.

Hidegkúti's second
Hidegkúti then had a goal bafflingly ruled out after a wonderfully fluent move involving Zoltan Czibor and Ferenc Puskás, before Jackie Sewell levelled from Mortenson's pass on the quarter-hour. Sandor Kocsis set up Hidegkúti for a second that did count soon after, and then Puskás struck the goal that defined his generation.

Legendary goal
Cizbor crossed from the right, finding Puskás at the back-post. He shaped to check back, at which Wright desperately hurled himself across goal. "He was expecting me to turn inside," Puskás said. "If I had done he would have taken me and the ball off the pitch and into the stands. So I dragged the ball back with the studs of my left boot and whacked it high into the net."

Crucial strike
It was a goal that would cement Puskás's place in the footballing pantheon - the Hungarian radio commentator that day, Gyorgy Szepesi, even suggested installing a plaque at Wembley to commemorate the drag-back. Crucially, it was also Hungary's third of the afternoon, the goal that put them out of sight. England were reeling, and matters soon got worse as a Bozsik free-kick was deflected past the luckless Merrick.

Half-time
Mortenson pulled one back, but at half-time Hungary led 4-2, and England, bewildered by Hungary's movement off the ball and their deployment of Hidegkúti as a deep-lying centre-forward, were facing their first home defeat against continental opposition - they had previously lost to the Republic of Ireland at Goodison Park in 1949.

Late consolation
If England harboured any hopes of a comeback, they were swiftly dashed. Merrick reacted well to push Czibor's 55th-minute header against the post, but Bozsik pounced to lash home the rebound. Hidegkúti completed his hat-trick by volleying in a looping Puskás cross, before Alf Ramsey's penalty clawed back some respectability for England.

It was like race-horses against cart-horses

Sir Tom Finney

'The greatest'
Some, but not much. As Sir Tom Finney said, "It was like race-horses against cart-horses. They were the greatest national side I played against, a wonderful team to watch with tactics we'd never seen before." Football would never be the same again.

Bentex · Jun 2, 2004

'That little fat fellow'

Puskás in training before the match that made his name

Friday, 21 November 2003
By Jonathan Wilson

Ferenc Puskás was the greatest player in a great team, the tubby genius who made Hungary tick. It might have been Nándor Hidegkúti, the deep-lying centre-forward, who unpicked England's defences that Wembley afternoon 50 years ago, but the goal that everybody went home talking about was the third, when Puskás rolled the ball back with his studs to evade the challenge of Billy Wright, then lashed the ball into the top corner.

Wonderful vision
"I believe that if a good player has the ball, he should have the vision to spot at least three options," said the Hungary right-back Jenö Buzánszky. "Puskás always saw at least five." It was not just his playing ability that marked Puskás out, though: his relationship with the coach Gusztáv Sebes was critical to the development of the Golden Squad.

Footballing child
Puskás never knew a world without football. He was born in April 1927 in Kispest, a village on the edge of Budapest that would become central to the development of the Golden Squad. As a child, Puskás lived in a flat right next to Kispest FC's stadium.

Left foot
His father played for and later managed the club, and family legend has it that almost as soon as he had learned to walk, Puskás began kicking a ball - although, only, of course, with his left foot; Puskás vies with Diego Maradona for the title of the world's greatest one-footed player.

Underage player
Lying about his age, along with Jozsef Bozsik who would himself be a key part of the Golden Squad, Puskás signed for Kispest as a junior in 1936, making his first team debut in 1943. Although criticised for holding on to the ball too long, and his habit of shouting at older players, he soon became a regular.

International respect
Kispest struggled in the league - which went on despite the German occupation and subsequent Russian counterattack - but Puskás was called up to the national squad for the first two post-war internationals in August 1945. Although he was left out of the first game, he scored in the second - a 5-2 win over Austria.

Army team
Puskás took over the captaincy of Kispest in 1946, and results began to improve. Two years later, Gusztáv Sebes was appointed to a three-man coaching committee in charge of the national side. He soon took charge in his own right, a few months before Hungarian clubs were forcibly nationalised by the pro-Soviet government and Kispest became Kispest Honvéd FC, the team of the army.

Conscripted players
Sebes had seen how the great Italy and Austria sides of the 1930s were largely based on one, or at most two clubs, and realised what an opportunity nationalisation presented. Kispest was to house the core of his squad - and players who did not want to join could be conscripted.

'Tremendous understanding'
Working with his players day-in, day-out at Honvéd, Sebes was able to finely tune his tactical experiments. He would even arrange friendlies against other Hungarian clubs who would be asked to take on the tactical shape and characteristics of Hungary's next opponents. "We came to have a tremendous understanding of everything required to play the game," Puskás said.

Happy accident
Sebes might have been pulling the strings, but Puskás was his representative on the field - the man he trusted to make tactical changes during a game. Destiny is easy to impose retrospectively, but the Golden Squad would probably never have existed had Sebes and Puskás not been flung together in a world of nationalised clubs.

Bentex · Jun 2, 2004

Sebes' gift to football

By Jonathan Wilson

Nándor Hidegkúti - Sebes' deep-lying striker - here seen "performing" at training at Craven Cottage prior to the England match.

There are very few teams who can genuinely be said to have developed a whole new style of play. The AFC Ajax of Johan Cruyff certainly did, as did Herbert Chapman's Arsenal FC. It is questionable, though, whether either made quite such a profound impact as the Hungary side of the 1950s.

Old methods
England had invented football, and, when Hungary arrived in 1953, they still played in the style of two decades earlier. Chapman had taken the 2-3-5 system, which was practically universal, and, largely in response to the change in the offside law in 1925, tinkered to produce a formation more attuned to counterattacking.

Béla Guttman - architect of the 4-2-4 system

Conservative culture
He withdrew the two inside-forwards back into midfield, and dropped the centre-half - the old No5 position - back into a central defensive role between the two full-backs, creating what was effectively a 3-2-2-3, the W-M. The English were happy with this; there had been no major changes to the laws of the game since 1925, and so there seemed little need to change tactics.

Hungarian innovation
In Hungary, though, tactics were a matter for public debate, and a significant advance was achieved when Béla Guttman, then the coach of MTK Hungária FC, withdrew not the two inside-forwards, but the centre-forward. Realising this left him defensively vulnerable, he also dropped another midfield player back into the defensive line, creating what would become known as the 4-2-4.

England coach Walter Winterbottom

Brazilian style
Gusztáv Sebes soon adopted the tactic for the national team; Guttman would later carry it with him to Brazil, where it formed the tactical basis for the gloriously fluid teams of Pelé, Jairzinho and Garrincha.

England baffled
In England, by contrast, the game was almost robotic. The No2 (right-back) marked the opposing No11 (left-wing), No3 (left-back) marked No7 (right-wing) and No5 (centre-back) marked No9 (centre-forward). Faced with a Hungarian team who interchanged positions, played with two additional forwards and had a central striker who did not even spearhead the attack, they were simply baffled.

To me, the tragedy was the utter helplessness

Harry Johnston

'Utter helplessness'
"To me, the tragedy was the utter helplessness, at times, of being unable to do anything to alter the grim outlook," the England centre-back Harry Johnston wrote in his autobiography.

Altered pitch
But it was not just tactics that turned the game in Hungary's favour. Sebes had prepared meticulously for the game. He became almost obsessive, borrowing three footballs from the Football Association so his side could practise with the heavier English ball, and altering his training pitch so the dimensions matched those of Wembley.

Team play
Sebes was also extremely astute politically. He had impeccable socialist credentials having organised workers at the Renault car factory in Paris between the wars, and regularly insisted that his side played 'socialist football'. The goalkeeper of the Golden Squad, Gyula Grosics, is sceptical about whether Sebes himself believed that claim, but it was music to the ears of the regime. Certainly the Hungarian style was far more rooted in team play than the individualistic English game.

Tactical awakening
Its victory at Wembley that November afternoon was the beginning of the modern age. England were slow to learn, losing 7-1 in Budapest the following May, but learn they did, progressing themselves tactically through 4-3-3 to the 4-4-2 with which the FIFA World Cup was won in 1966.

Major event
It would seem like madness now anywhere in the world to suggest that players should not switch positions, to argue that movement off the ball was not part of football; fluidity these days is everything. The Hungary victory in 1953 took the world a long way towards recognising that.

Bentex · Jun 2, 2004

Nándor Hidegkúti was delighted by his starring role in the game (©empics)

'We'll murder this lot'

'We'll murder this lot'
Friday, 21 November 2003
Dubbed by many as the ‘match of the century’, the clash between England and Hungary on 25 November 1953 made huge headlines at the time, as England lost to opposition from continental Europe for the first time at home.

Famous friendly
The 6-3 defeat inspired a book, Learn To Play The Hungarian Way, and later a Hungarian film, 6:3, made by Peter Timar in 1999, as well as no shortage of comments from the players and coaches involved, journalists and well-known football figures. uefa.com rounds up the best quotes about the most famous friendly match of all time.

"For too long English football had drifted along in a complacent daze. That defeat revolutionised the English game. The Hungarians played a system we hadn't seen before - 4-2-4. Their centre-forward played in a deep position about 30 yards away from England's centre-half. But the most impressive feature was their teamwork and watching them rip England apart had a profound effect on me. I started taking a greater interest in coaching."
Sir Bobby Robson, current Newcastle United FC and former England manager

"Gusztáv Sebes [the Hungary coach] was deeply committed to socialist ideology and you could feel it in everything he said. He made a political issue of every important match or competition. He often said that the fierce struggle between capitalism and socialism took place as much on the football field as anywhere else."
Gyula Grosics, Hungary's goalkeeper in the match

"I came away wondering what we'd been doing for all those years."
Legendary England winger Tom Finney, who watched the match from the Wembley stands

"Neither the English, nor any of the other teams we met, seemed able to defend effectively against our tactical formation. If [right-half Jozsef] Bozsik and I joined the attack, we had six strikers advancing, all capable of scoring goals. We used to joke with our defenders sometimes, 'Don't worry if you let one in, we'll score two'. That's how we felt."
Nándor Hidegkúti, Hungary's hat-trick hero

“Look at that little fat chap. We'll murder this lot."
An unnamed English player referring to Ferenc Puskás prior to kick-off

"Wright went past him like a fire engine going to the wrong fire."
The Times reporter Geoffrey Green describes Billy Wright's famed missed tackle as Ferenc Puskás scored in his match report

"For most of us, that was the achievement of a lifetime."
Ferenc Puskás

"England found themselves strangers in a strange world, a world of flitting red spirits, for such did the Hungarians seem as they moved at devastating pace with superb skill and powerful finish in their cherry red shirts."
Geoffrey Green in his Times match report

"The victory at Wembley made the West recognise us, not just in a footballing way. As a small satellite state of the Soviet Union we were usually ignored."
Nándor Hidegkúti

Bentex · Jun 2, 2004

Ferenc Puskás (left) could not lead Hungary to victory in the 1954 FIFA World Cup final (©empics)

Twilight of the Magyars

Twilight of the Magyars
Friday, 21 November 2003
By Jonathan Wilson

Gyula Grosics played in the defeat against Germany

For the Golden Squad, the 1954 FIFA World Cup final was the beginning of the end. After going four years unbeaten, on a mud-bath in Basel, Hungary threw away a 2-0 lead to lose 3-2 to West Germany. They were, almost unarguably, the best side in the world, but, like the Dutch 20 years later, they found that mattered little against German resilience.

Bitter atmosphere
"The reaction," goalkeeper Gyula Grosics remembers, "was terrible. Hundreds of thousands of people went out into the street in the hours after the match and on the pretext of football, demonstrated against the regime. The atmosphere was so bitter that its waves could still be felt weeks, even months lat. It could well be that in those demonstrations lay the seeds of the 1956 uprising."

In decline
It was that uprising against Soviet dominance that finally put an end to the Golden Squad, but in truth they had been in decline since events in Switzerland. Coach Gusztáv Sebes was sacked in 1955, and although there was, at last, a first victory over the Soviet Union in Moscow in September 1956, the team was clearly by then well past its best.

On manouevres
A month later, the uprising - and its suppression by the Soviets - began. Kispest Honvéd FC and MTK Hungária FC, the two leading Budapest clubs, both took their players on European tours to get them away from the fighting, and although MTK eventually returned, Honvéd accepted a long-standing invitation to tour Brazil, despite opposition from the Hungarian Sports Ministry.

Defecting westward
When they eventually got back to Vienna, they were told they would be charged over their absence. Not surprisingly, many opted to join western European clubs instead. Ferenc Puskás ended up at Real Madrid CF, Sandor Kocsis and Zoltán Czibor at FC Barcelona, and the time of the Golden Squad was over.

Hungarian legacy
Its legacy, though, lingers on. As Pál Várhidi, a substitute in the 6-3 win at Wembley and later a hugely successful coach of Újpesti TE, says: "The way Hungarians think about football is still very much dominated by the game at Wembley."

Declining fortunes
From 1954, Hungarian football has been on an almost constant downward slope. The team of the 1970s, far inferior to the side of two decades earlier, was derided at the time, but those seem like halcyon days now. It is 17 years since Hungary last competed at the finals of a major tournament.

Different world
"The problem is that we have to deal with the success of the past compared to the lack of success now," says Várhidi's son, Péter. "Football has become more and more popular in other parts of the world and slowly turned into a business. Hungary can't keep pace. I don't think there is less talent being born in Hungary these days, but there is a problem developing it."

Young people today will not make the sacrifices that are necessary to acquire the skills

Pál Várhidi

Lack of desire
His father is less forgiving. For him, it is all a question of desire. "Young people today will not make the sacrifices that are necessary to acquire the skills," he said. "In the 1950s everybody saw football as a way to raise yourself. If you had talent, that was your opportunity, but you had to work hard. Now everybody is satisfied with their situation in society. People have to learn to love football as they did in the 1950s. Now if people are hungry, they stop playing football and go and eat. Football has become a secondary thing."

Bentex · Jun 2, 2004

On 25 November 1953, Hungary sent shockwaves across the footballing world with a 6-3 win against England at Wembley. 50 years on, uefa.com salutes the magical Magyars.

Wembley memories haunt Buzánszky

Friday, 21 November 2003
By Jonathan Wilson and Márton Dinnyés

The teams take the field for one of the greatest games in history

Jenö Buzánszky was the forward-thinking right-back of Hungary's Golden Squad, a defender who unsettled opposing teams with his forward forays. Now in his late 70s, the 50 years that have passed since Hungary's epochal 6-3 win against England on 25 November 1953 have not dimmed Buzánszky's memories.

Marvellous reception
"We got a train back to Hungary [after the match], and right from the Austrian border people came out to greet us," he told uefa.com. "When we arrived at Geleti station [in Budapest] there were hundreds of thousands of people packed into the streets. People were hanging from trees just to get a view."

Easy victory
It was a marvellous reception, but entirely fitting for a game in which the magical Magyars completely routed England. "It was a surprise to me that we beat them with such ease, especially after we had struggled to draw 2-2 against Sweden in a friendly only ten days before," admitted Buzánszky.

Tactical genius
For Buzánszky, coach Gusztáv Sebes and his 4-2-4 tactics were the key to the victory. "He had a decisive role in putting it together," said the defender. "It was like arranging cogs in a wheel - everything had to fit. It was a very attack-minded team with five forwards. If you play with such a formation you have to have a strong defence as well."

Brilliant Puskás
Of course, it helped to have a team containing truly brilliant players, and in Ferenc Puskás - Sebes' lieutenant on the pitch - Buzánszky has no doubt that Hungary had one of the very best. "He was one of the greatest footballers of the 20th century," said his former team-mate.

Captain's role
"The role of the coach ends at the moment the whistle goes to start the game; you talk about tactics in the dressing-room, but from then on it's the team who carry out those tactics, whether well or badly," added Buzánszky. "You have to have a captain like Puskás who can say, 'OK, the tactic isn't working - let's play like this'."

Nervous moments
It was a credit to that sense of calm that Sebes and Puskás instilled in the team that Hungary did not allow themselves to be overwhelmed by the atmosphere at Wembley - although Buzánszky freely admitted that there were more than a few nervous moments as his side walked out on to the pitch.

'A holy place'
"It was like a holy place for footballers, so there was a certain anxiety in going out there," he said. "But that feeling only lasts until the first touch of the ball. It was lucky that [Nándor] Hidegkúti scored with the first touch of the game."

Mystery opponents
Buzánszky is keen to emphasise that, with Hungary behind the Iron Curtain, they knew little about England before taking the field. "The Hungarian press hardly wrote about English football, so we didn't know what to prepare for," he said. "We didn't know anything about our opponents because of the political situation.

Pre-match tension
"We played a 2-2 draw ten days before the game against Sweden in Budapest," he added. "It was a very bad sign because we thought the Scandinavian team played in a similar style to the English. There was a great tension inside the team because we thought that the English team would easily win on home soil."

Wonderful memory
Those fears proved to be unfounded. Buzánszky will always have his memories of Hungary's grandstand reception at Geleti station, but his side's performance at Wembley has left a memory for all of football to savour

Bentex · Jun 2, 2004

Looking Back...Looking Forward

Albert proud of heritage

Flórián Albert was one of Hungary's greatest players. With Ferencvárosi TC, the forward won four national championships, a Hungarian Cup and the Inter-Cities Fairs Cup. He also scored 31 goals in 75 internationals and was voted European Footballer of the Year in 1967 following a superb performance at the FIFA World Cup in England.

Honorary president

After retiring from playing, Albert worked as a journalist for a while. He is now honorary president of Ferencváros and has an office at the Ülloi úti stadium. In an exclusive interview with uefa.com, he discusses the past, present and future of Hungarian football.

uefa.com: Hungarian football continues to evoke a certain nostalgia. What is the reason for this?

Flórián Albert: We have a great heritage in football and in sport in general. Don't forget that Hungarians played the game at the highest level in the 1930s, reaching the World Cup final in 1938, and by 1952 we were on top, winning the Olympic gold in Helsinki. At that time Hungary was a great sporting nation and we won 16 golds in those Games.

uefa.com: What is the Hungarian style of play, and what prompted the successes of the 1950s and 1960s?

Albert: The important thing is that whenever we had a star player, he left his imprint on the Hungarian game for a decade. We have a tradition of great players, and in this country everyone knows what that entails: when 80,000 people are expecting a certain finish from a player, he decides to do something different and scores his own way. This is the thing: a player who can dribble, shoot and finish an attack in style. As for the 1950s and 1960s, everyone who made it to the national team or the top clubs had to work hard for their success as there were thousands of other players waiting for their opportunity.

uefa.com: How did you reach the top in football?

Albert: I always had something to aim for. When I was a young player I wanted to win the Budapest Cup and play for the national youth team. Then, when I was older, I wanted to win the championship with Ferencváros and play for the senior national team. You have to love the game to be successful and I have always loved it. And to be honest, it was easy whenever we played abroad. When people asked where we were from, we would say 'Puskás's country' and they immediately respected us.

uefa.com: The past three decades have not been so memorable for Hungarian football. How are the present and future shaping up for the game in your country?

Albert: The most important thing is youth development. It is very easy: we have to provide the best possible conditions for our youngsters to improve as footballers. Not a lot has been done in the last three decades but we are still optimistic. Just like the fans: after a defeat, they say 'this is the last time I'm coming here', but the next weekend they are back at the match.

Bentex · Jun 7, 2004

Meet the Golden Team "Aranycsapat"

Goalkeeper: Gyula Grosics

Right Back: Jenõ Buzánszky

Centre Half: József Zakariás

Centre Half: Gyula Lóránt

(attacking) Left Back: Mihály Lantos

Guide to Hungarian football's History, Reports, Pics, satistics and videoclips!!

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