Ferenc Puskas is one of the most famous Hungarians, during his lifetime he was recognized as the best Hungarian football player of all time. And this was despite the fact that he was exclusively "left-footed"!
He was born in one of the districts of Budapest (Kispest) and from a young age he played football on the street, in the park, anywhere he could and did what he wanted with the ball, ahead of others by tens of meters. Later, Ferenc Puskás became one of the greatest football players in history. A short, stocky and highly gifted striker with a terrific left was one of the most prolific forwards. Glory came to him when he played for the Honvéd club of the Ministry of Defense, for which he scored 357 goals. He made his debut for the national team in 1945 and 7 years later was behind of one of the goals that brought Hungary Olympic gold at the games in Helsinki.
In 1953, the Hungarian national team and its captain Ferenc Puskás went to a friendly match with England and this was the first defeat of the British at the home stadium of Wembley, and even from the Europeans. This game shocked the whole world, because the "Golden Team" of the Hungarians won by 6-3, Puskás scored twice and became the real star of the match. Defeating the English by 7-1 again in the return game, a 27-match unbeaten run meant that the Hungarians were clear favorites in the 1954 World Cup and Puskás Ferenc, despite his injury, brought his team to the final, but in Bern they could not beat West Germany. Their fatigue interfered or the wet field became unsuitable for the style of the Hungarian team, or maybe the boots in which the Germans played, with screwed spikes that could be adjusted depending on the weather. There were also rumors that the Hungarian government sold the match in exchange for a large batch of tractors needed for the development of agriculture.
After that began the sunset, after this match football ceased to enjoy the love of the country's leadership and the players themselves, especially after the 1956 revolution, began to disperse around the world, Puskás simply did not return from Spain, where he was with the team at the European Cup. At first they reported that he had died, but he turned out to be alive and well, he lived with his family in Austria, and then in Italy and Spain. He signed with Real Madrid and became the top scorer, while Real won 5 league titles in a row. In this way, he was able to play for two of the greatest teams of his time. He ended his career at 38 and coached clubs on five continents for the next 20 years. He returned to Hungary only in the 80s and became the coach of the national team, in 1999 he received the honorary title of ambassador of Hungarian sports in the world.
Since 2009, FIFA has presented the Ferenc Puskás Award for the most beautiful goal of the season. Enjoy football and vote on who will get the award this year.
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