Ferenc Puskás - Hungary's Field Magician

Ferenc Puskás :

Hungary's Field Magician :

One of the greatest players of all time:

Born: 2 April, 1927. Budapest, Hungary   

Died: 17 November 2006(2006-11-17) (aged 79)       

International Caps			Hungary 84, Spain 4
International Goals			Hungary 83
Teams			Kispest Honved, Real Madrid
Team Honours			European Cup: 1959, 60, 66. World Club Championship: 1960 Spanish Championships: 1961, 62, 63, 64, 65. Spanish Cup: 1962 Hungarian Championship: 1950, 52, 54, 55. Olympic Gold Medal: 1952
In 1995			Recognized as the top scorer of the 20th century by the IFFHS In 39 European matches for Real, he scored an amazing 35 goals. Led his nation to the final of the 1954 World Cup where he was named the tournament's best player.
Height			1.72 m (5 ft 8 in)
Playing position			Inside-left
	Senior career*
	Years	Team		Apps†	(Gls)†
	1943–1956	Budapest Honvéd[2]		341	(352)
	1958–1966	Real Madrid		180	(156)
	1943–1966	Total		521	(508)
	National team
	1945–1956	Hungary		85	(84)
	1961–1962	Spain		4	(0)
	Teams managed (1967-1993) San Francisco Golden Gate Gales, Vancouver Royals, Alavés, Panathinaikos, Murcia, Colo-Colo, Saudi Arabia, AEK Athens, Al-Masry, Sol de América, Cerro Porteño,  South Melbourne Hellas, Hungary

Debut

He was an odd looking footballer. He was short, stocky, barrel-chested, overweight, couldn't head and only used one foot. Puskás made his debut for Hungary team on 20 August 1945 and scored in a 5–2 win over Austria.

 His international goal record included two hat tricks against Austria, one against Luxembourg and four goals in a 12–0 win over Albania.

For Hungary as captain with remarkable players ("Magnificent Magyars")  Gyula Grosics  in goal, Zoltán Czibor at left winger, József Bozsik at half-back, and forwards Nándor Hidegkuti, Sándor Kocsis formed the nucleus of the Golden Team that was unbeaten for 32 consecutive games (a remarkable record of 46 victories, 6 ties, and no defeats from 14 May 1950 until they lost 3–1 to Turkey on 19 February 1956) they began a revolutionary development in attack. While inside forwards Kocsis and Puskas were the main thrust of the attack, centre-forward Hidegkuti played deep. They became Olympic Champions in 1952, beating Yugoslavia 2–0 in the final in Helsinki. Puskás scored four times at the Olympic tournament, including the opening goal in the final.

They also defeated England twice, first with a 6–3 win at Wembley Stadium "The Match of the Century", and then 7–1 in Budapest. Puskás scored two goals in each game against England. The English team were unbeaten for 90 years at home. 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 Magnificent Magyars 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.

In 1953, they also became Central European Champions. Puskás finished the tournament as top scorer with 10 goals and scored twice as Hungary claimed the trophy with a 3–0 win over Italy at the Stadio Olimpico in 1953.

World Cup 1954 as hot favourites AND unbeaten for 4 years

Puskás scored three goals in the two first-round matches Hungary played at the 1954 FIFA World Cup. They defeated South Korea 9–0 and then West Germany 8–3. In the latter game, he suffered a hairline fracture of the ankle after a tackle by Werner Liebrich, and did not return until the final. Puskás played the entire 1954 World Cup final against West Germany with the hairline fracture and missed the quarter-final against Brazil, a shameful match that became known as the  “Battle of Berne” (apart from the ferocity of the tackling, the Brazilians invaded the Hungarian dressing room after the match claiming that Puskas, a spectator on the touchline, had attacked and wounded their centre-half Pinheiro. Fighting broke out, bottles were thrown and players hit each other with football boots. Mayhem apart, Hungary were 4-2 winners and Puskas's damaged ankle kept him from the semi-final against Uruguay, which Hungary won 4-2 in extra time and Uruguay were beaten for 1^st time in World Cup).  Despite this, he scored his fourth goal of the tournament to put Hungary ahead after six minutes, and with Czibor adding another goal two minutes later, it seemed that the pre-tournament favorites would take the title. However, the West Germans pulled back two goals before half time, with six minutes left the West Germans scored the winner  "The Miracle of Bern". Two minutes from the end of the match, Puskás appeared to score an equalizer but the goal was disallowed due to an offside call. In 2010 Erik Eggers, professor at the Humboldt University of Berlin, revealed in a study that the Germany team may have used drugs to beat the Hungarian team, which were considered invincible at that time.

Hungary, having conquered all before them, had lost the one that really mattered - the World Cup Final.

Changes in Eastern Europe, however, were soon to see the break-up of that great Hungarian side. They were on a par with the magnificent Brazilians who succeeded them as the world's best team. But by the next World Cup, Hungary had disintegrated and were never to achieve their rightful status as World Champions. The cause was the Hungarian uprising of 1956, when the rebels revolted against their Soviet masters. There was bitter fighting, with tanks and bloodshed on the streets.

Puskas was with the rest of his Honved team-mates in Spain when the revolution took place. They had been playing a European Cup tie against Bilbao and Puskas, along with Kocsis and Czibor, defected to the West.

After refusing to return to Hungary, Puskás initially played a few unofficial games for RCD Espanyol. At the same time, both AC Milan and Juventus attempted to sign him, but then he received a two-year ban from UEFA (for refusing to return to Budapest) which prevented him from playing in Europe. He moved to Austria and then Italy. After his ban, Puskás tried to play in Italy but was not able to find a top-flight club willing to sign him, as Italian managers were concerned about his age and weight. He was considered by Manchester United to strengthen a squad ravaged by the Munich Air Disaster in 1958, but because of FA rules regarding foreigners and Puskás' not knowing the English language, stand-in manager Jimmy Murphy could not fulfill his wish of signing the Hungarian.

For Real Madrid at the age of 31

However, a few months later, Puskás joined Real Madrid  in 1958, 31-year-old Puskas joined them, receiving a £10,000 signing-on fee. and at the age of 31 embarked on the second phase of his career. Overweight? Maybe. A has-been? Hardly. 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.

They had won the first European Cup in 1956 and had retained it the following year. Among their star players were centre-forward Alfredo Di Stefano, a naturalised Argentinian, and Francisco Gento, the flying winger.

The player 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.

Their period of supremacy was coming to an end, however. In November that year they eventually lost their first European Cup tie - going down 4-3 to deadly rivals Barcelona. It was the beginning of the end of a remarkable era.

Puskas was to play in one more European Cup Final, for Real Madrid against Benfica in 1962. Benfica won 5-3 . . . Puskas, aged 35, scored all three goals for Real! In 39 European matches for Real, he scored an amazing 35 goals.

The same year he was picked to play for Spain in the World Cup Finals in Chile. The team was packed with talent. Apart from Gento, there was Luis del Sol and Luis Suarez. It made little difference, Spain won just one of their three matches and finished bottom of their qualifying group.

Puskas continued to play for Real until 1966 when he retired to concentrate on coaching.

As Coach

He had only mediocre success until 1971 when he took the Greek Champions Panathinaikos to the European Cup Final where they lost 2-0 to Ajax at Wembley.

But perhaps the sweetest moment was in 1993 when Puskas, the star who had defected to flee the uprising, was allowed back home to became caretaker manager of the Hungarian side during the World Cup qualifiers.

The Hungarians didn't make it to the finals in America, but a great national hero had been forgiven.

In 1998, he became one of the first ever FIFA/SOS Charity ambassadors. In 2002, the Népstadion in Budapest was renamed the Puskás Ferenc Stadion in his honor. He was also declared the best Hungarian player of the last 50 years by the Hungarian Football Federation in the UEFA Jubilee Awards in November 2003. In October 2009, FIFA announced the introduction of the FIFA Puskás Award, awarded to the player who has scored the "most beautiful goal" over the past year. He was also listed in Pelé's FIFA 100.