Ferenc Puskas - The Magician of left foot
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| Ferenc Puskas |
Ferenc Puskas was a Hungarian football (soccer) player and manager. He was widely recognized as one of the greatest soccer players of all time. Ferenc Puskas was born in Budapest, Hungary. He scored 84 international goals in 85 international matches for his country, Hungary and he also played 4 international matches for Spain in the 1962 World cup football and could not score for Spain in that world cup. Frence Puskus was also scored 514 goals in 529 matches in Hungarian and Spanish football leagues.
Ferenc Puskas was born as Ferenc Purczeld in Budapest in 2 April, 1927and brought up in Kispest, then it was an outskirts and now it is a part of the city. His father was a German ethnicity, who Magyarized his family surname to Puskás in 1937. Ferenc Puskas began his football career as a junior with Kispest AC, where his father was previously played for the club and he was also a football coach. Ferenc Puskas was officially signing at the age of 12 for Kispest AC. Among his early teammates was his childhood friend and future international teammate Jozsef Bozsik.
Professional football:
Ferenc Puskas was made his first senior appearance for Kispest AC (Kispest Budapest) in November 1943. In that match he got the nickname "Öcsi" or "Buddy". He scored 14 goals in 32 matches in his first professional football season. Frence Puskas was played football for Kispest Budapest till 1948-49.
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| Ferenc Puskas |
In 1949, Kispest Budapest was taken over by the Hungarian Ministry of Defence and it became the Hungarian Army team and changing its name to Budapest Honved (Honved Budapest). As a result, football players of Honved Budapest were given military ranks. Ferenc Puskas ultimately became a major, which led to the nickname "The Galloping Major". He was started playing for that Army team (Honved Budapest) from 1949-50 season, and scored 31 goals in 30 matches. He played for Honved Budapest till 1956.
Ferenc Puskas helped his club to win five Hungarian League titles when he was in Budapest Honved. He also finished as top goal scorer in the Hungarian League in 1948-49 (50 goals, in Kispest Budapest), 1949-50 (31 goals), 1950 (25 goals) and 1953 (27 goals). In 1948, Ferenc Puskas was the top goal scorer in whole Europe.
Ferenc Puskas fled from Hungary in the wake of the Soviet invasion (Hungarian Revelation) of 1956. After refusing to return to Hungary, Ferenc Puskas initially played a few unofficial games for RCD Espanyol. At the same time, both AC Milan and Juventus of Italy attempted to sign him, but then he received a two-year ban from UEFA, because of the refusing to return to Budapest. This ban was prevented him from playing in Europe. He moved to Austria and then Italy. After his ban, Ferenc Puskas tried to play in Italy but it was not able to find a top-flight club willing to sign him, at that time, the Italian managers were concerned about his age and weight. He was considered by Manchester United (British football club) to make a stronger squad in 1958, but because of FA rules regarding foreigners and Ferenc Puskas not knowing the English language, stand-in manager Jimmy Murphy could not fulfill his wish of signing this great Hungarian. However, a few months later, Ferenc Puskas joined the Real Madrid in Spain and at the age of 31 engaged on the second chapter of his career. At the Real Madrid he teamed up with the likes of Di Stefano (great Argentinean footballer) and Gento to win numerous trophies.
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| Di Stefano & Puskas |
He joined in Real Madrid, Spain in 1958-1959 and scored 21 in 24 matches. He played in Real Madrid till 1966-1967. In the time he played for Real Madrid, he was became the top scorer for 4 times in the Spanish League in 1960, 1961, 1963 and 1964.
Ferenc Puskas had won the 3 European Cup title (1959, 1960 and 1966) and 1 Intercontinental Cup in 1960 for the Real Madrid in Spain. This Spanish giant football club had won Spanish League Championship for five times and a Spanish Cup title in 1962, when he played for this team.
For the National team:
Ferenc Puskas was made his debut for the Hungarian National team on 20th August, 1945 and scored in a 5–2 win over Austria. He played 85 games and scored 84 times for Hungary. His international goal record included two hat tricks against Austria, one against Luxembourg and four goals against Albania. Together with other famous Hungarian football players Zoltan Czibor, Sandor Kocsis, Jozsef Bozsik and Namdor Hidegkuti, Hungarian National football team was named “Mighty Magyars” during that time. Ferenc Puskas was the nucleus of the Golden Team, and that was to remain unbeaten for 32 consecutive games.
During this run, this Golden Team became the Olympic Champions in 1952 In Helsinki, Finland by beating Yugoslavia 2–0 in the final. Feranc Puskas scored four goals at that Olympic tournament, including the first goal in the final. That Golden team was also defeated England twice, they were the first non-british team to defeat England at Wembley. Ferenc Puskus had scored two goals in each game against England. In 1953, they also became Central European Champions. Ferenc Puskas finished the tournament as top scorer with 10 goals.
Ferenc Puskas scored three goals in the two first-round matches for his country in the 1954 World Cup Football. The Golden Team was defeated South Korea (9-0) and West Germany (8-3). In the next game, he suffered a hairline fracture of the ankle after a tackle on the field and did not return until the final.
Ferenc Puskas took Spanish nationality in 1962, and subsequently he played four times for Spain in the 1962 World Cup football.
At the age of 40, he played in a fundraising friendly game for the South Liverpool in 1967.this team was an English non-league side, and in front of a 10,000-strong sell-out crowd he played at the club's Holly Park stadium.
After retiring as a player, Ferenc Puskas became a football coach. The highlight of his coaching career came in 1971 when he guided Panathinaikos to the European Cup final. Even though his defection in 1956 (during the Hungarian revelation), the Hungarian government granted him a full pardon in 1993 and allow him to return his own country and offered him to take charge of the Hungarian national team temporary. In 1998, Ferenc Puskas had become one of the first ever FIFA/SOS Charity ambassadors. In 2002, the Nepstadion (national stadium)in Budapest was renamed the “Puskas Ferenc Stadion” in his honor. Ferenc Puskas was also declared the best Hungarian player of the last 50 years by the Hungarian Football Federation in November 2003 during the UEFA Jubilee Awards. In October 2009, FIFA announced the introduction of the FIFA Puskas Award, awarded to the player who has scored the "most beautiful goal" over the past year. Ferenc Puskas was also listed in the Pele’s FIFA 100 players list.
Ferenc Puskas was suffered in Alzheimer’s disease from 2000. He was admitted to a Budapest hospital in September 2006 and died on 17th November 2006 of pneumonia. In a state funeral, his coffin was moved from Puskas Ferenc Stadion to Heroes’ Square for a military salute. Ferenc Puskas was buried under the dome of the St Stephen Basilica in Budapest on 9th December 2006. Hungary declared his funeral date as a day of national mourning to honor the great footballer he was. Millions of Hungarians went to the streets to mourn him.
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