The Mighty Magyars, the Hungarian national team that dominated the world for the better part of the 1950s, took Hungarian football to heights it has not reached since—and most likely will never reach again.
The golden generation, spearheaded by Ferenc Puskás, won the footballing event at the 1952 Helsinki Olympics (at a time before the European Championships began being organized in 1960 in the same summer as the Summer Olympics, thus it carried a lot more prestige than today), became the first national team to beat England on their home turf in 90 years in their famous 6–3 victory in ‘the Match of the Century’, and reached the 1954 FIFA World Cup final, which they lost to West Germany 3–2 despite being the massive favourites coming into the game and taking a two-goal lead after eight minutes.
What happened to Hungarian football that it has never been anywhere near this level of dominance since?
Most people would say that it was the 1956 Hungarian Revolution, which was ultimately crushed by the Soviets. But is it really that simple?
By and large, yes, it is.
Of the 11 players who started in the 1954 World Cup final for Hungary, three deserted the country permanently after the crushed Revolution. One might say it is ‘only’ three players. However, those three included the team’s two most prolific goalscorers.
The aforementioned Ferenc Puskás scored 84 goals in 85 matches for Hungary. After serving a two-year suspension imposed by FIFA under pressure from the Hungarian Football Association (MLSZ), he restarted his glorious career at Real Madrid, with whom he won three European Cups (the predecessor to today’s UEFA Champions League), won the Spanish League five times, and became the top scorer of the Spanish League four times.
Puskás was also the community leader among the national team, so the team lost more than just an effective striker. During the Revolution, news of his death spread in international media, but it was evidently false. After he found success in Spain, he made huge efforts to help his fellow Hungarian refugees in Western Europe fleeing communist oppression.
Sándor Kocsis won the Golden Boot at the 1954 World Cup. His record for Hungary is absolutely astonishing: 75 goals in just 68 games. He too never got back from Budapest Honvéd’s unauthorized 1956 South American tour after the put-down of the Revolution, and he too had to serve a two-year suspension for it. Kocsis ended up joining FC Barcelona in 1958. He won two La Liga titles during his seven-year stint there.
Zoltán Czibor was the most active participant in the Hungarian Revolution among the national team players. A devout anti-communist his whole life, the left-winger (an ironic position when put into a political context) even picked up arms to fight against the regime’s soldiers in the streets of Budapest. Therefore, evidently, he could not come back to Hungary after the Revolution.
Czibor scored the second goal for Hungary in the 1954 FIFA World Cup final. After 1956, he was hit with a two-year suspension as well. He joined Kocsis at Barcelona after that, sharing the two league titles in 1959 and 1960 with him. However, he moved on after just three years, joining local rivals RCD Espanyol in 1961.
In the Hungarian squad at the 1958 FIFA World Cup, only three players who had played in the final four years prior were included: Gyula Grosics, József Bozsik, and Nándor Hidegkuti. The team ended up being eliminated in the group stage.
The Hungarian Football Team Lost to the 1956 Hungarian Revolution
The loss of the Mighty Magyars’ leading stars was not the only devastating blow suffered by Hungarian football in 1956. The country also lost much of its promising next generation, as the Hungarian youth national team failed to return from a trip to England following the outbreak of the Revolution.
The young side had already demonstrated its potential earlier that year, defeating England 4–2 at an international under-18 tournament hosted by Hungary. Impressed by the result, the English invited their Hungarian counterparts to London, United Kingdom, for a return fixture.
In a remarkable historical coincidence, the young Hungarians took to the pitch at Tottenham’s White Hart Lane on the evening of 23 October 1956—the very day the Revolution began in Budapest.
The hosts won 2–1, and the Hungarian players learned of the uprising through the evening news. As reports of the fighting and the deteriorating situation at home reached the team, the players faced an agonizing decision about whether to return. Ultimately, most chose to remain in the West. Only a small handful eventually returned to Hungary, while several others went on to pursue careers abroad, including at prominent European clubs. The Revolution had therefore deprived Hungarian football not only of several of its greatest established stars, but also of much of the generation that might have succeeded them.
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