FERENC PUSKÁS - Soccer player

April 2, 1927, Budapest – November 16, 2006, Budapest

Soccer player, captain of the “Golden Team”

As a striker, Puskás was a dominant personality in Hungary’s legendary Golden Team. In 1952, he was a member of the team that took gold in the Helsinki Olympics, in November 1953 he scored two goals in Wembley Stadium London, when Hungary beat England on its home ground by 6:3 in a game remembered in both countries to this day, and in 1954 he and his team took the silver medal at the world championships in Switzerland. He played 85 games with the national team and scored 84 goals.

In October 1956, Puskás was traveling abroad for a Champion Teams’ European Cup match with his club, Budapest Honvéd, when revolution broke out in Hungary. When the revolution was crushed, he resettled in Spain and did not return home.

Playing for Real Madrid from 1958 to 1967, Puskás started in 372 games and scored 324 goals, also helping to win the Champion Teams’ European Cup and the Intercontinental Cup. He played on the Spanish national side four times and also played for the all-European selected eleven. Puskás began working as a coach in 1969. His best coaching results were with Panathiniakos of Greece in 1970–1971, which came in second in the Champion Teams’ European Cup under his leadership.

In 1993, Puskás was head coach of the Hungarian national team for four months. In 1997, he was awarded the Olympic Order of Merit of the International Olympic Committee. In early 1997 he received an award at the Soccer Player of the Century Gala, based on data of the German organization that focuses on soccer history and statistics, because as a player for Kispest, Budapest Honvéd and Real Madrid, Puskás scored more goals than anyone else in the world in division one soccer games: 489. In 1999, he was appointed honorary consul of Hungarian sports.

In 2001, Puskás was voted best Hungarian male athlete of the 20th century in a contest run by the newspaper Nemzeti Sport under the patronage of the Hungarian Olympic Committee.

Ferenc Puskas, Soccer player, captain of the Golden Team, 6:3 Wembley Stadium London, division one soccer