Ferenc Puskás

Ferenc Puskás
Puskás playing for Real Madrid in 1965
Personal information
Full name Ferenc Puskás
Birth name Ferenc Purczeld[1]
Date of birth (1927-04-01)1 April 1927
Place of birth Budapest, Kingdom of Hungary
Date of death 17 November 2006(2006-11-17) (aged 79)
Place of death Budapest, Hungary
Height 1.72 m (5 ft 8 in)
Position(s) Forward, attacking midfielder
Youth career
1940–1943 Kispest Honvéd
Senior career*
Years Team Apps (Gls)
1943–1956 Budapest Honvéd[i] 350 (358)
1958–1966 Real Madrid 180 (156)
Total 530 (514)
International career
1945–1956 Hungary 85 (84)
1961–1962 Spain 4 (0)
1963 Castile 1 (2)
Managerial career
1966–1967 Hércules
1967 San Francisco Golden Gate Gales
1968 Vancouver Royals
1968–1969 Alavés
1970–1974 Panathinaikos
1974–1975 Real Murcia
1975–1976 Colo-Colo
1975–1976 Saudi Arabia
1978–1979 AEK Athens
1979–1982 Al Masry
1985–1986 Sol de América
1986–1989 Cerro Porteño
1989–1992 South Melbourne
1993 Hungary
Medal record
Men's football
Representing  Hungary
Olympic Games
1952 Helsinki
FIFA World Cup
1954 Switzerland
Central European International Cup
1948–53 Europe
1955–60 Europe
* Club domestic league appearances and goals

Ferenc Puskás[pron 1] (né Purczeld; 1 April 1927 – 17 November 2006) was a Hungarian footballer and manager, widely regarded as one of the greatest players of all time and the sport's first international superstar.[5] A forward and an attacking midfielder, he scored 84 goals in 85 international matches for Hungary and later played four international matches for Spain as well. He is the European all-time top assist provider in international football (53). He became an Olympic champion in 1952 and led his nation to the final of the 1954 World Cup. He won three European Cups (1959, 1960, 1966), ten national championships (five Hungarian and five Spanish Primera División) and eight top individual scoring honors. Known as the "Galloping Major",[6] in 1995, he was recognized as the greatest top division scorer of the 20th century by the IFFHS.[7][8][9] Scoring 802 goals in 792 official games during his career, he is the seventh top goal scorer of all time by the RSSSF.[10]

He was the son of former footballer Ferenc Puskás Senior. Puskás started his career in Hungary playing for Kispest and Budapest Honvéd. He was the 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 Hungary national team, known as the Mighty Magyars. After the Hungarian Revolution, Puskás served a two year ban from UEFA. Despite failing to sign for Ethnikos Piraeus in 1957 under pressure from rival clubs,[11] in 1958, he emigrated to Spain where he successfully signed for Real Madrid at the age of 31. While playing with the club, Puskás won four Pichichis and scored seven goals in two European Cup finals, winning the competition three times with the club and claiming five consecutive La Liga titles. He scored 619 goals in 618 matches in the Hungarian and Spanish leagues and National Cups.

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 Ajax. He also led the club to the championship in 1972, becoming an icon in the country. Afterward he'd have spells at various countries and clubs, including Spain, Paraguay and the Saudi Arabia national team, with varying success. He returned again to Greece to manage an exceptionally strong AEK team for the 1978–79 season. In 1993, he returned to Hungary and took temporary charge of the Hungary national team.[12] In 1998, he became one of the first ever FIFA/SOS Charity ambassadors.[13] In 2002, the Népstadion in Budapest was renamed the Puskás Ferenc Stadion in his honor.[14] 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] 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.

  1. ^ Cite error: The named reference puskas.com was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  2. ^ "Puskas". Collins English Dictionary. HarperCollins. Archived from the original on 14 August 2019. Retrieved 14 August 2019.
  3. ^ "Puskas, Ferenc". Lexico UK English Dictionary. Oxford University Press. Archived from the original on 1 September 2022.
  4. ^ "Puskas, Ferenc". Longman Dictionary of Contemporary English. Longman. Archived from the original on 14 August 2019. Retrieved 14 August 2019.
  5. ^ "Ferenc Puskas". Britannica. Archived from the original on 29 October 2020. Retrieved 5 August 2020.
  6. ^ 'Memorials of the "Galloping Major" Archived 9 December 2022 at the Wayback Machine. Visit Hungary, undated, accessed 9 December 2022
  7. ^ "FIFA President: FIFA to help the Galloping Major". FIFA. 12 October 2005. Archived from the original on 1 January 2008. Retrieved 17 November 2006.
  8. ^ "Coronel Puskas, el zurdo de oro". AS (in Spanish). 17 November 2006. Archived from the original on 24 July 2008. Retrieved 17 November 2006.
  9. ^ Mackay, Duncan (13 October 2005). "Lineker tees up another nice little earner". The Guardian. London. Archived from the original on 22 April 2008. Retrieved 17 November 2006.
  10. ^ "Prolific Scorers Data - Official matches". Archived from the original on 9 July 2023. Retrieved 24 June 2022.
  11. ^ "Πρώτο θέμα στην Ευρώπη ο Εθνικός". 24 November 2022. Archived from the original on 28 November 2022. Retrieved 28 November 2022.
  12. ^ "Obituary:Ferenc Puskas". The Scotsman. 20 November 2003. Archived from the original on 16 October 2007.
  13. ^ "SOS Children mourns Ferenc Puskas". soschildrensvillages.org.uk. SOS Children's Villages. 17 November 2006. Archived from the original on 10 February 2007. Retrieved 20 November 2006.
  14. ^ Cite error: The named reference NYT was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  15. ^ "Golden Players take centre stage". UEFA. 29 November 2003. Archived from the original on 17 March 2005.


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