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Hungary national football team

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Hungary
Shirt badge/Association crest
AssociationMagyar Labdarúgó Szövetség
Head coachPéter Bozsik (2006-)
Most capsJózsef Bozsik (101)
Top scorerFerenc Puskás (83)
FIFA codeHUN
First colours
Second colours
FIFA ranking
Current80
Highest42 (August 1993)
Lowest87 (July 1996)
First international
Austria Austria 5 - 0 Hungary Hungary
(Vienna, Austria 12 October, 1902)
Biggest win
Russia Russia 0 - 12 Hungary Hungary
(Russia; 14 July, 1912)
Template:Country data Hungary old Hungary 13 - 1 France France
(Budapest, Hungary; 12 June, 1926)
Template:Country data Hungary 49-56 Hungary 12 - 0 Albania Albania
(Tirana, Albania; September 24, 1950)
Biggest defeat
Hungary Hungary 0 - 7 England England
(Budapest, Hungary; 10 June, 1908)
Nazi Germany Germany 7 - 0 Hungary Template:Country data Hungary old
(Cologne, Germany; 6 April, 1941)
World Cup
Appearances9 (first in 1934)
Best resultRunners-up, 1938 and 1954
European Championship
Appearances2 (first in 1964)
Best resultThird place, 1964
Olympic medal record
Men's Football
Gold medal – first place 1952 Helsinki Team
Bronze medal – third place 1960 Rome Team
Gold medal – first place 1964 Tokyo Team
Gold medal – first place 1968 Mexico City Team
Silver medal – second place 1972 Munich Team

The Hungary national football team is the national football team of Hungary and is controlled by the Hungarian Football Federation.

With a rich and proud pedigree in the game, Hungary has a rightful place in football annals as one of the first original footballing nations in continental Europe and an innovator in the sport in the 1950s. In recent times however, the team's strength has diminished greatly, failing to qualify for any major tournament since 1986.

The Golden Team (aka The Magical Magyars)

Hungarian football is best known for one of the most formidable and influential sides in football history, which revolutionized the play of the game. Centered around the dynamic and potent quartet of strikers Ferenc Puskás, Sándor Kocsis, József Bozsik and withdrawn striker Nándor Hidegkuti, the "Aranycsapat" (Hung. lit Golden Team) of the "Magnificent Magyars", captivated the football world with an exciting brand of play drawn from new tactical nuances and amassed, barring the 1954 World Cup Final, a remarkable record of 43 victories, 7 ties, and no defeats from the 15th of June 1952 to the end of its historic unbeaten run on February 18th 1956. Hungary has the unique distinction of posting the highest ever Elo football rating of 2173 points in June (1954) along with the second highest with 2153 (1956); surpassing that of Brazil, England, Argentina and Germany in all-time competition.

The Hungarians were runners-up twice in the World Cup, losing to Italy 4-2 in 1938 and 3-2 to West Germany in 1954, despite beating them 8-3 earlier in the competition. The team, built around the legendary Ferenc Puskás, led early 2-0 in that match, but ended up 3-2 losers in a game the Germans subsequently christened "The Miracle of Bern". Two highly controversial calls surround this final game when apparently Puskas equalized the match in the 89th minute with a goal only to have it disallowed for offsides, the second being a blatant foul on Kocsis in the penalty area which would have given Hungary a penalty in the final minute.

Hungary has won gold at the Olympic three times, in 1952, 1964, and 1968. The under-23 team, which was the age limit for Olympic teams, won the UEFA U-23 Championship in 1974. Since the 1976 reshuffle by UEFA, the under-23s are now classified with the under-21s.

Records

The match between Austria and Hungary in Vienna in 1902 was the first international match played between two non-British European countries.

Hungary was the first team outside the British Isles to beat England at home, famously winning 6-3 at Wembley on November 25, 1953. This victory had worldwide significance as it effectively ended England's 90 year old mythical reign since the creation of association football in 1863 against all foreign sides outside the British Isles. They beat England 7-1, this time in Budapest a year later, in 1954. This is still ranks as England's record defeat.

Hungary holds the longest consecutive run of matches unbeaten with 33 international games between 14 May 1950 and 4 July 1954, when they lost the World Cup final to Germany. This record is still unbroken as of this writing. Argentina and Spain jointly hold the second longest string of 31 unbeaten matches (Argentina from 1991 to 1993 and Spain from 1994 to 1998).

Modern times

Today, Hungary are a lesser force and haven't qualified for a World Cup since 1986, or for the European Championship finals since 1972.

In the Euro 88 qualifiers, they finished third in their group, after the Netherlands and Greece. In the World Cup 1990 qualifiers, they were again third, following Spain and the Republic of Ireland.

In the Euro 92 qualifiers, they were fourth in their group, after the Soviet Union, Italy and Norway. In the World Cup 1994 qualifiers they were again fourth, this time after Greece, Russia and Iceland. They were also fourth in their qualifying group for Euro 96, after Switzerland, Turkey and Sweden.

In the World Cup 1998 qualifiers, they were second in their group after Norway, and played off against FR Yugoslavia, but lost both of those games (1-7, 5-0). Predrag Mijatović scored seven times in two games.

In their Euro 2000 qualifying group they finished fourth after Romania, Portugal and Slovakia. The same happened in the World Cup 2002 qualifiers, when they trailed after Italy, Romania and Georgia, and in the Euro 2004 qualifiers, where they were surpassed by Sweden, Latvia and Poland. In the World Cup 2006 qualifiers they finished fourth after Croatia, Sweden and Bulgaria.

World Cup record

European Championship record

Current Players Lineup

  • Position/Number/Player Name
    • -Unused Players on Current Team-

Famous players

 

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