Ferenc Puskás

Olympic medal record
Football

Ferenc Puskás
Personal information
Full name	Ferenc Puskás
Position(s)	Left Half
Team information
Current team	Retired
	‡ National team caps and goals, correct as of June 4 2006

Ferenc Puskás (Hungarian: Puskás Ferenc, surname first) (born as Purczeld Ferenc April 2 1927 in Budapest) is a Hungarian former football player and coach. Nicknamed Puskás Öcsi (öcsi means "little brother") he is widely regarded by football historians to be international soccer's first bona fide superstar and one of its greatest players.

Also known as the "Galloping Major" because of the post he once held in the Hungarian army, Puskás possessed a ferocious left-footed shot (some claimed it was the most powerful ever seen on a left foot) and his 83 goals in 84 international caps ranks number two all-time. He is most famous for captaining the renowned Hungarian Golden Team of the 1950s and his legendary partnership at Real Madrid with Alfredo Di Stéfano.

Club Football

Puskás left school at the age of 12 and was a professional football player as a teenager. He began his club career with Budapesti Honvéd in 1943. He moved to Real Madrid in 1958, and played for them when they won the European Cup three times (1959, 1960 and 1966), including the classic final in 1960 when they beat Eintracht Frankfurt 7-3. Puskás scored four goals, with Alfredo Di Stefano scoring three. This Madrid team is considered one of the finest teams ever. In total, in his club career, he scored over 511 goals.

International Football

Puskás was the offensive catalyst of the famous Hungary national football team of the late 1940s and mid 1950s -nicknamed the "Magnificent Magyars" or the Aranycsapat (Hung lit: Golden Team)- which was considered the finest national team of its time and one of the greatest of all time. From May of 1950 to February of 1956, he captained this side to unparalleled heights in football, achieving in a span of 51 matches a staggering 43 victories, 7 draws and only one defeat (which is mired in controversy to this day). With a radically new scheme of attack, which revolutionized football tactics, and aided by an orbital corps of goalscorers in Sándor Kocsis and Nándor Hidegkuti, midfielder József Bozsik, and left wing Zoltán Czibor, Puskás led the "Magnificent Magyars" to the longest consecutive run of unbeaten games (32) in worldclass competition, a record that still stands.

Puskás played for the Hungarian Olympic team that won the Olympic gold medal in Helsinki in 1952. In the 1954 FIFA World Cup, he led Hungary to the finals. The team was an overwhelming favorite to win the tournament, having gone unbeaten for four years, including impressive 6-3 and 7-1 victories over England. Despite defeating West Germany, who was fielding mainly second-string substitutes for players, 8-3 in their final group match, Hungary lost Puskás to injury. Nevertheless the team cruised into the final and Puskás was fit for the game, yet they still lost 3-2 in the final to the Germans that this time played all their starters.

Spain and retirement

Because of political reasons, Puskás left Hungary in 1956 and emigrated to Spain, where he played for Real Madrid. He also appeared four times for Spain in 1961 and 1962, but did not score.

Puskás eventually retired from playing in 1966. He returned to Hungary in 1981. He coached teams in Spain, Australia, 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 1971.

Puskás, who suffers from Alzheimer's disease, is one of the most famous living Hungarians and lives now in Budapest in a special care home. Hungary's national stadium was renamed in his honour in 2001. He was chosen also as the best Hungarian player of the last 50 years by the Hungarian Football Federation in the UEFA Jubilee Awards in November 2003 [1].

External links

Books

The Perfect 10, Richard Williams, 2006, ISBN 0571216358. Short essays on the author's favorite number 10s, including a chapter on Puskas.

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