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Ferenc Puskás

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Ferenc Puskás
File:Puskas Ferenc.jpg
Personal information
Full name Ferenc Puskás Biro
Position(s) Forward

Ferenc Puskás (April 2 1927–November 17 2006) (born Ferenc Purczeld), also referred to as Puskás Ferenc (surname first in Hungarian) or Puskás Öcsi (Hungarian) or Ferenc Puskas Biro (Spanish), was a Hungarian football forward and coach. He is considered one of the best footballers ever, and is one of the most effective goal scorers of all time in terms of goals to matches played ratio, having scored 84 goals in 85 career international matches for the Hungarian national team,[1] and 511 goals in 533 matches in the Hungarian and Spanish leagues.

Puskás played for Honvéd and Hungary before joining Real Madrid and going on to play for Spain. During the 1950s, he was captain of the legendary Hungarian team known as the Mighty Magyars. After the 1956 Hungarian Revolution, he moved to Spain where he became part of the legendary Real Madrid team that also included Alfredo Di Stéfano, Francisco Gento, Raymond Kopa, Héctor Rial and José Santamaria.

Puskás, with a powerful left-foot shot, was a prolific goalscorer throughout his career; he was top scorer in the Hungarian League on four occasions and in 1948 he was the top goal scorer in any European league. While playing with Real Madrid he won four Pichichis and scored seven goals in two European Cup finals. In 1995 he was recognized as the top scorer of the 20th century by the IFFHS.[2][3][4]

On November 17, 2006, Ferenc Puskás died at the age of 79. He is survived by his wife Erzsébet, and his daughter Anikó.

Early years

Puskás was born Ferenc Purczeld in the neighbourhood of Kispest, Budapest. He was ten years old when his father, himself a central defender for Kispest, changed the family name to Puskás..[5]Puskás began his career as a junior with Kispest AC where his father was a coach, initially using the pseudonym Miklós Kovács to circumvent the minimum age rules[6] before officially signing as a twelve year old. Among his early teammates was his childhood friend and future "Golden Team" teammate József Bozsik. He made his first senior appearance for Kispest in November 1943, in a match against Nagyvárad.[7]

Playing years

Hungary

In 1949, Kispest was taken over by the Hungarian Ministry of Defence, becoming the Hungarian Army team and changing its name to Honvéd. As a result football players were given military ranks. Puskás eventually became a major, which led to the nickname "The Galloping Major".[5] As the army club, Honvéd used conscription to acquire the best Hungarian players, leading to the recruitment of Zoltán Czibor and Sándor Kocsis.[8] During his career at 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 any European league.

Puskás made his debut for the Hungary national team on August 20, 1945 and scored in a 5-2 win over Austria.[9] He went onto play 85 games and scored 84 times for Hungary. His international goal record included two hat tricks against Austria, one against Luxembourg and 4 goals in a 12-0 win over Albania.[10] Together with Zoltán Czibor, Sándor Kocsis, József Bozsik and Nándor Hidegkuti, he formed the nucleus of the legendary team that went unbeaten for a world record 32 consecutive games.[11] As of 2006, this record still stands. 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[10] including the opening goal in the final. They also twice gave England a footballing lesson. In 1953 they stunned England with a 6-3 win at Wembley Stadium, becoming the first continental European team to defeat the English national team on home soil.[9] At their next meeting in 1954 the Magyars gave England a 7-1 hammering in Budapest. Puskás scored two goals in each game against England. In 1953 they also won the Dr. Gerő Cup, a Central European nations cup which began in 1948 and took five years to complete. Hungary eventually emerged 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 in Rome in 1953.

Puskás scored three goals in the two first-round matches Hungary played in the 1954 World Cup, which Hungary won by large margins; 9-0 against South Korea and 8-3 against West Germany. Puskás suffered an ankle injury in the match against the Germans, and missed the next two matches against Brazil (the "Battle of Berne") and Uruguay, more difficult matches that Hungary won by narrower margins.

Puskás played the entire 1954 World Cup final against West Germany, although he was not fully fit. Despite this, he scored his fourth goal of the tournament to put his team ahead after only 6 minutes, and with Czibor adding another goal two minutes later, it seemed destined that the pre-tournament favourites would take the title. However, the West Germans pulled back two goals before half time and the tide began to turn. The second half saw telling misses from the Hungarian team and then with six minutes left the West Germans scored the winner. Two minutes from the end of the match Puskás scored an equalizer but, in a controversial call, the goal was disallowed for offside. Hungary lost 3-2, its record unbeaten run ended.

In 1956 Honvéd entered the European Cup 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 the Heysel Stadium in Brussels.[11] Puskás scored in the subsequent 3-3 draw but Honvéd went out 6-5 on aggregate. Eliminated from the tournament, the 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.

Spain

After refusing to return to Hungary, Puskás initially played a few unofficial games for RCD Español. 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.[11] 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.[8] However in 1958 he surprisingly joined Real Madrid and at the age of 31 embarked on the second phase of his remarkable career.

During his first La Liga season, 1958/59, Puskás scored four hat-tricks including one in his second game against Sporting de Gijón on September 21, 1958. In January 1959 Puskás and Alfredo Di Stéfano ran riot against UD Las Palmas, both of them scoring hat-tricks in a 10-1 win. During the 1960/61 season, he scored 4 times in a game against Elche and the following season he scored 5 goals against the same team. In 1963 he scored two hat-tricks against CF Barcelona, one at the Bernabéu and one at the Camp Nou. During eight seasons with Real, Puskás played 180 La Liga games, scoring 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 CF 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. However, the following season he would make up for it. He began Real's 1960 European Cup campaign with a hat-trick against Jeunesse Esch and in semi-final against CF Barcelona, he once again guided Real into the final with three goals over two legs. In the final itself, regarded by some as one the greatest finals ever, Puskás and Di Stéfano once again ran riot. 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 1962, Puskás took Spanish citizenship,[12] and subsequently played four times for Spain, representing them at the 1962 World Cup. For once his goalscoring form deserted him and he failed to score any goals for Spain.

Coaching years

After retiring as a player, Puskás became a coach. His first coaching position was with Hércules CF in 1967, the first of several brief spells with clubs in Spain and North America, which also included San Francisco Golden Gate Gales, Vancouver Royals and Deportivo Alavés.

In 1970 Puskás joined Greek club Panathinaikos FC. In 1971 Puskás led Panathinaikos to the European Cup final, the only time a Greek club has reached a European final to date. During his five-year tenure at the club, he secured two Greek Championships and his contributions to the success of the team made Puskas very popular among Panathinaikos fans, who still consider him the best coach the club has ever had. In 1974, Puskás left Panathinaikos and moved to Real Murcia.

Puskás then moved to Chile, to coach Chile's most popular club Colo-Colo. In 1976, Puskás had his first national team coaching experience in Saudi Arabia. After a one year stint, Puskás was back in Greece, this time with AEK Athens, managing the team for part of their seventh Greek championship winning season. In 1979, he moved to Egypt and coached one of the Egyptian Premier League clubs, Al-Masry for three years. In 1985, he returned to South America to coach Paraguayan teams Sol de América and Cerro Porteño. Puskás' eleventh and final club management position was in Australia at South Melbourne Hellas, with whom he won the National Soccer League title in 1991. After three years in Australia, he finally returned to Hungary to manage the national team. He spent a year in charge of the Hungarian team before his final retirement from football.

Later years

In 1993, Puskás was pardoned by the Hungarian government and returned home to take temporary charge of the national team.[13] In 1998 he became one of the first ever FIFA/SOS Charity ambassadors.[14] In 2002 the Népstadion in Budapest was renamed the Stadion Puskás Ferenc in his honour. 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.[15]

Puskás, who had been diagnosed with Alzheimer's disease in 2000,[16] was admitted to intensive care in a Budapest hospital on September 13, 2006[17] and died on November 17 2006[16] from pneumonia. He is survived by his wife, Erzsébet, whom he married in 1949,[18] and by their daughter, Anikó. [19]

In a state funeral his coffin was moved to Heroes' Square for a military salute after a ceremony in the Stadium Puskás Ferenc. He was finally laid to rest under the dome of the St Stephen's Basilica in Budapest on December 9, 2006.

Honours

Olympic medal record
Representing  Hungary
Men's football
Gold medal – first place 1952 Helsinki Team Competition

Player

Hungary

Honvéd

Real Madrid

Manager

Panathinaikos

South Melbourne Hellas

Notes and references

  1. ^ a b Note that Puskas' Hungary career is often said to be 83 goals in 84 games. The extra game and goal here is from a match vs Lebanon that was played in 1956, however it was only recognised as an official game by the Hungarian FA in May 2002 [1]
  2. ^ "FIFA President: FIFA to help the Galloping Major". FIFA. 2005-10-12. Retrieved 2006-11-17.
  3. ^ "Coronel Puskas, el zurdo de oro" (in Spanish). AS. 2006-11-17. Retrieved 2006-11-17. {{cite web}}: Italic or bold markup not allowed in: |publisher= (help)
  4. ^ Mackay, Duncan (2005-10-13). "Lineker tees up another nice little earner". Guardian Unlimited. Retrieved 2006-11-17. {{cite web}}: Italic or bold markup not allowed in: |publisher= (help) Scroll down to subhead "Puskas memories for sale".
  5. ^ a b "Soccer Great Puskas dead at 79". TSN. Retrieved December 10. {{cite web}}: Check date values in: |accessdate= (help); Unknown parameter |accessyear= ignored (|access-date= suggested) (help)
  6. ^ "Puskás, Hungary's greatest". uefa.com. Retrieved November 27. {{cite web}}: Check date values in: |accessdate= (help); Unknown parameter |accessyear= ignored (|access-date= suggested) (help)
  7. ^ "Obituary: Ferenc Puskas". The Guardian. Retrieved November 27. {{cite web}}: Check date values in: |accessdate= (help); Unknown parameter |accessyear= ignored (|access-date= suggested) (help)
  8. ^ a b "Hall of Fame, Ferenc Puskas". IFHOF. Retrieved December 10. {{cite web}}: Check date values in: |accessdate= (help); Unknown parameter |accessyear= ignored (|access-date= suggested) (help)
  9. ^ a b "Ferenc Puskas". The Times. Retrieved December 10. {{cite web}}: Check date values in: |accessdate= (help); Unknown parameter |accessyear= ignored (|access-date= suggested) (help)
  10. ^ a b "Ferenc Puskás - Goals in International Matches". RSSSF. Retrieved December 10. {{cite web}}: Check date values in: |accessdate= (help); Unknown parameter |accessyear= ignored (|access-date= suggested) (help)
  11. ^ a b c "Galloping Major gave us finest hour at Hampden". The Scotsman. Retrieved December 10. {{cite web}}: Check date values in: |accessdate= (help); Unknown parameter |accessyear= ignored (|access-date= suggested) (help)
  12. ^ "Ferenc Puskas dies aged 79". The Guardian. Retrieved November 27. {{cite web}}: Check date values in: |accessdate= (help); Unknown parameter |accessyear= ignored (|access-date= suggested) (help)
  13. ^ "Obituary:Ferenc Puskas". The Scotsman. 2003-11-20.
  14. ^ "SOS Children mourns Ferenc Puskas". http://www.soschildrensvillages.org.uk. SOS Children's Villages. 2005-11-17. Retrieved 2006-11-20. {{cite web}}: Check date values in: |date= (help); External link in |work= (help)
  15. ^ "Golden Players take centre stage". UEFA. 2003-11-29.
  16. ^ a b "Hungary legend Puskas dies at 79". BBC. 2006-11-17.
  17. ^ "Puskas 'taken to intensive care'". BBC. 2006-09-13.
  18. ^ "Ferenc Puskas". Telegraph.co.uk. 2003-11-18.
  19. ^ "Ferenc Puskas, 79; Hungarian was one of soccer's all-time greats". Los Angeles Times. 2003-11-18.
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