Ferenc Puskás was a Hungarian footballer and manager, widely regarded as one of the
greatest players of all time.
He scored 84 goals in 85 international matches for Hungary, and 514 goals in 529 matches
in the Hungarian and Spanish leagues.
He became Olympic champion in 1952 and led his nation to the final of the 1954 World
Cup where he was named the tournament's best player.
He won three European Cups, 10 national championships and 8 top individual scoring honors.
Puskás started his career in Hungary playing for Kispest and Budapest Honvéd.
He was top scorer in the Hungarian League on four occasions, and in 1948, he was the
top goal scorer in Europe.
During the 1950s, he was both a prominent member and captain of the Hungarian national
team, known as the Mighty Magyars.
In 1958, two years after the Hungarian Revolution, he emigrated to Spain where he played for
Real Madrid.
While playing with Real Madrid, Puskás won four Pichichis and scored seven goals in two
European Champions Cup finals.
In 1995, he was recognized as the top scorer of the 20th century by the IFFHS.
After retiring as a player, he became a coach.
The highlight of his coaching career came in 1971 when he guided Panathinaikos to the
European Cup final, where they lost 2–0 to AFC Ajax.
Despite his defection in 1956, the Hungarian government granted him a full pardon in 1993,
allowing him to return and take temporary charge of the Hungarian national team.
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.
Career in Hungary Early years
Puskás was born as Ferenc Purczeld in Budapest and brought up in Kispest, then a suburb,
today part of the city.
His father, Ferenc Sr. was a Danube Swabian of German ethnicity, who Magyarized his family
surname to Puskás in 1937.
He began his career as a junior with Kispest AC, where his father, who had previously played
for the club, was a coach.
He initially used the pseudonym Miklós Kovács to help circumvent the minimum age rules before
officially signing at the age of 12.
Among his early teammates was his childhood friend and future international teammate József
Bozsik.
He made his first senior appearance for Kispest in November 1943 in a match against Nagyváradi
AC.
It was here where he got the nickname "Öcsi" or "Buddy".
Kispest was taken over by the Hungarian Ministry of Defence in 1949, becoming the Hungarian
Army team and changing its name to Budapest Honvéd.
As a result, football players were given military ranks.
Puskás eventually became a major, which led to the nickname "The Galloping Major".
As the army club, Honvéd used conscription to acquire the best Hungarian players, leading
to the recruitment of Zoltán Czibor and Sándor Kocsis.
During his career at Budapest Honvéd, Puskás helped the club win five Hungarian League
titles.
He also finished as top goal scorer in the league in 1947–48, 1949–50, 1950 and 1953,
scoring 50, 31, 25 and 27 goals, respectively.
In 1948, he was the top goal scorer in Europe.
Mighty Magyars
Puskás made his debut for Hungary team on 20 August 1945 and scored in a 5–2 win over
Austria.
He went on to play 85 games and scored 84 times for Hungary.
His international goal record included two hat tricks against Austria, one against Luxembourg
and four goals in a 12–0 win over Albania.
Together with Zoltán Czibor, Sándor Kocsis, József Bozsik, and Nándor Hidegkuti, he
formed the nucleus of the Golden Team that was to remain unbeaten for 32 consecutive
games.
During this run, 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., and then
7–1 in Budapest.
Puskás scored two goals in each game against England.
In 1953, they also became Central European Champions.
Hungary won the championship after finishing top of the table with 11 points.
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.
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.
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.
Two minutes from the end of the match, Puskás appeared to score an equalizer but the goal
was disallowed due to an offside call.
Ferenc Puskás’ statistics in the 1952 Helsinki Olympics
The scores contain links to the article on football in the Helsinki Olympics and the
round in question.
Ferenc Puskás’ statistics in the 1954 World Cup in Switzerland
The scores contain links to the article on 1954 FIFA World Cup and the round in question.
When there is a special article on the match in question, the link is in the column for
round.
Honvéd World Tour Budapest Honvéd entered the European Cup
in 1956 and were drawn against Atlético Bilbao in the first round.
Honvéd lost the away leg 2–3, but before the home leg could be played, the Hungarian
Revolution erupted in Budapest.
The players decided against going back to Hungary and arranged for the return with Atlético
to be played at Heysel Stadium in Brussels, Belgium.
Puskás scored in the subsequent 3–3 draw but Honvéd were eliminated 6–5 on aggregate,
and the Hungarian players were left in limbo.
They summoned their families from Budapest, and despite opposition from FIFA and the Hungarian
football authorities, they organised a fundraising tour of Italy, Portugal, Spain, and Brazil.
After returning to Europe, the players parted ways.
Some, including Bozsik, returned to Hungary while others, including Czibor, Kocsis and
Puskás, found new clubs in Western Europe.
Spanish career Real Madrid
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 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.
However, a few months later, Puskás joined Real Madrid and at the age of 31 embarked
on the second phase of his career.
During his first La Liga season, Puskás scored four hat-tricks, including one in his second
game, against Sporting de Gijón on 21 September 1958.
In the game against UD Las Palmas on 4 January 1959, Puskás and Alfredo di Stéfano scored
hat-tricks in a 10–1 win.
During the 1960–61 season, Puskás scored four times in a game against Elche CF and
the following season, he scored five goals against the same team.
Puskás scored two hat-tricks against FC Barcelona in 1963, one at the Bernabéu and one at the
Camp Nou.
During eight seasons with Real, Puskás played 180 La Liga games and scored 156 goals.
He scored 20 or more goals in each of his first six seasons in the Spanish league, and
won the Pichichi four times: in 1960, 1961, 1963, and 1964, scoring 26, 27, 26 and 20
goals, respectively.
He helped Real win La Liga five times in a row between 1961 and 1965 and the Copa del
Generalísimo in 1962.
He scored both goals in the 2–1 victory over Sevilla FC in the Copa final.
Puskás also played a further 39 games for Real in the European Cup, scoring 35 goals.
He helped Real reach the final of the 1959 European Cup, scoring in the first leg and
in the decisive replay of the semi-final against Atlético Madrid, but missed the final due
to injury.
In the following season he began Real's 1960 European Cup campaign with a hat-trick against
Jeunesse Esch and in the semi-final against FC Barcelona, he once again guided Real into
the final with three goals over two legs.
In the final itself, Real beat Eintracht Frankfurt 7–3 with Puskás scoring four goals and
di Stéfano scoring three.
In subsequent European campaigns, he would score a further three hat-tricks, including
one in the 1962 final against Benfica, which Real lost 5–3.
In 1965, he scored five goals over two games against Feyenoord as he helped Real Madrid
to the 1966 European Cup final - Real won the game, but Puskas did not play in the final.
Spanish national appearances In 1962, Puskás took Spanish nationality,
and subsequently played four times for Spain.
Three of these games were at the 1962 World Cup.
For once, his goalscoring form deserted him and he failed to score any goals for Spain.
Appearance for South Liverpool In 1967, at the age of 40, he appeared in
a fundraising friendly game for South Liverpool, the English non-league side, in front of a
10,000-strong sell-out crowd at the club's Holly Park stadium.
Coaching career
After retiring as a player, Puskás became a coach and managed teams in Europe, North
America, South America, Africa, Asia, and Australia.
In 1971 he guided Panathinaikos of Greece to the European Cup final, the only time a
Greek club has reached a European final to date.
In the qualifying rounds they beat Everton in the quarter-finals on away goals, then
defeated Red Star Belgrade in the semi's.
In the final Panathinaikos lost 2–0 to Johan Cruyff's Ajax.
During his four-year tenure at Panathinaikos, Puskás helped the team secure one Greek Championship
in 1972.
However, with the notable exception of his spell at Panathinaikos, Puskás failed to
transfer his success as a player to his coaching career.
Despite his wide travels, his only other success came with South Melbourne Hellas, with whom
he won the National Soccer League title in 1991.
When Wolverhampton Wanderers opened their new stadium Molineux in 1993, Puskás visited
the newly opened stadium as an honorary guest to watch the friendly match between Wolves
and Budapest Honvéd, which was a match to christen the new opening of the stadium.
This was because in the 1950s, Wolves played a game against Honvéd in a memorable friendly
match, which Puskás played in.
Wolves won the match 3–2.
In 1993 he took charge of the Hungarian national football team for four games, including a
4-2 friendly victory against the Republic of Ireland in Dublin, where Hungary came from
two goals down to eventually beat their opponents.
Later life and death
Puskás was diagnosed with Alzheimer's disease in 2000.
He was admitted to a Budapest hospital in September 2006 and died on 17 November 2006
of pneumonia.
He was survived by his wife of 57 years, Erzsébet, and their daughter, Anikó.
In a state funeral, his coffin was moved from Puskás Ferenc Stadion to Heroes' Square for
a military salute.
He was buried under the dome of the St Stephen's Basilica in Budapest on 9 December 2006.
Millions of Hungarians went to the streets to mourn him.
A street named Újtemető utca near Stadium Bozsik in the Hungarian capital of Budapest
was renamed after Puskás precisely one year after the footballer's death.
Honours Club
Budapest Honvéd Hungarian League: 1949/50, 1950, 1952, 1954,
1955
Real Madrid Spanish League: 1960–61, 1961–62, 1962–63,
1963–64, 1964–65 Spanish Cup: 1961–1962
European Cup: 1958–1959, 1959–1960, 1965–1966 Intercontinental Cup: 1960
Country Hungary
Balkan Cup Champions: 1947 Olympic Champions: 1952
Central European Champions: 1953 World Cup Runners-up: 1954
Individual Central European International Cup: Top Scorer:
1954 Hungarian Top Scorer: 1947–48, 1949–50,
1950, 1953 Spanish League Top Scorer: 1959-60, 1960–61,
1962–63, 1963–64 World Soccer Player of the Year: 1953
European Player of the Year: 1953 1954 World Cup Golden Ball Winner
1954 World Cup Bronze Boot Winner Named in the 1954 World Cup All-Star Team
European Player of the 20th century L'Equipe Hungarian Player of the 20th century
Football's Top Scorer of the 20th century-International Federation of Football History and Statistics
Silver Ball European Footballer of the Year France Football : 1960
Member of the Fifa 100 UEFA Golden Player-Hungary
Top 10 Greatest Players of the 20th century -World Soccer Magazine
Top 10 World's Best Players of the 20th century -International Federation of Football History
and Statistics Top 10 Europe's Best Players of the 20th century
-International Federation of Football History and Statistics
European Cup Top Scorer(7 goals): 1960, 1964 Golden Boot of the World in 1948:
Manager Panathinaikos
Alpha Ethniki: 1969–70, 1971–72 European Cup
Runners-Up: 1971
Intercontinental Cup Runners-Up: 1971
Sol de América Paraguayan Primera División: 1986
South Melbourne Hellas National Soccer League: 1990–91
NSL Cup: 1989–90 Dockerty Cup: 1989 and 1991
Career statistics
International Goals for Hungary
Scores and results list Hungary's goal tally first.
International Appearances for Spain
See also
Golden Team Puskás Cup
FIFA Puskás Award Top international association football goal
scorers by country List of Eastern Bloc defectors
Notes
References
External links Ferenc Puskás
BDFutbol player profile BDFutbol coach profile
National team data Ferenc Puskás at National-Football-Teams.com
Biography at Real Madrid Fans Real Madrid profile
Goals in European Cups at RSSSF Goals in International Matches at RSSSF
Ferenc Puskás – FIFA competition record Puskas Goal - England 3:6 Hungary 1954 on
YouTube Real Madrid tribute to Ferenc Puskas on YouTube
Poetry dedicated to Puskas Ferenc Puskás at Find a Grave