November 17 – The Mighty Magyar Major
TODAY at OTFD we mark the passing of the man with the best goals-to-games ration in the world. Ever. By miles.
Most strikers try to aim for a goal every two games (obviously with the exception of Emile Heskey) but Ferenc Puskas scored just shy of a goal for every single game he played for both club and country.
It was on this day in 2006 that Puskas died aged 79.
In 529 league matches in his native Hungary and Spain he scored an incredible 514 goals, as well as a staggering 84 goals in 85 games for Hungary.
Puskas’ career coincided with the golden age of the Hungarian national side and he was captain of the Mighty Magyar team that became Olympic champions in 1952 and were the first non-UK team to beat England at Wembley when they gave the Three Lions a footballing lesson in a 6-3 drubbing.
Despite not being fully fit, Puskas also played and scored in the 1954 world cup final, but even he couldn’t stop West Germany from coming back from two goals down to win, as the Magyars were defeated.
His club career was no less distinguished. He started with the Kipest club where his father was a coach. The club was later taken over by the Hungarian Ministry of Defence who changed the name to Honved and gave all the players military ranks.
In a move which seems just a trifle unfair to the opposition’s chances the Hungarian MoD used conscription as an excuse to snap up all the best players ensuring that they, and Major Puskas, won five league titles between 1949 and 1955.
In 1956 Honved were drawn against Atletico Bilbao in the European Cup. The squad travelled to Spain for the first leg, but while they were away things at home got a bit hairy as the Hungarian revolution kicked off.
Puskas opted not to return to Hungary and instead found a new home worthy of his talents at Real Madrid. Despite being 31 when he rocked up at Real he still managed to notch up a hatful of trophies including five league titles and three European Cups.
After retiring as a player Puskas moved into management where he had some success with Panathinaikos, winning two league titles and taking them to the European Cup final in 1971 where they were beaten 2-0 by Ajax.
Still, goal scoring was his bag and although we are not Nostradamus, we’re guessing his incredible scoring ratio will never be bettered.
Related posts:
- May 11 – Puskas Joins Real Madrid WHAT do you get the team that has everything? Having...
- July 4 – The Miracle of Berne THE legendary Mighty Magyars Hungary team of the 1950s was...
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