Football in Hungary


is the most popular sport in Hungary. The Hungarian Football Federation is the highest body of professional football in Hungary and was founded in 1901. The Hungarian national team has played in numerous international tournaments, including the first football tournament in the Olympic Games, nine World Cups, and two European Championships. greatest achievements are the three gold medals in the 1952, 1964 and 1968 Olympic Games, and the runner-up in the 1938 and 1954 World Cups. The team known as the Mighty Magyars was also the first non-British team to defeat England, 6-3 at Wembley in 1953. Months later, they defeated the English by a convincing 7-1 in Budapest in 1954, the worst defeat in the history of the English team.

History

The Hungarian Football Federation, the sport's national governing body, was founded in 1901. Hungary were regular features at major tournaments, such as the first Olympic Football Tournament and many FIFA World Cup. They were the first non-UK team to beat England at Wembley Stadium with their 6-3 victory in 1953. The golden age of Hungarian football took place in the 1950s, with the emergence of players of the caliber of Ferenc Puskás, László Kubala, Zoltán Czibor, Sándor Kocsis, Nándor Hidegkuti, Ferenc Szusza, József Bozsik & Gyula Grosics. This team was known as the Golden Team and remained undefeated for 32 consecutive games, winning the gold medal in the 1952 Olympic Games in Helsinki and reaching the final in the 1954 World Cup in Switzerland, always with Ferenc Puskás as a star. The twilight of this team that marveled the world came with the Hungarian Revolution of 1956, and after a match of the European Champion's Cup Budapest Honvéd in Bilbao, many of the stars like Czibor, Kocsis and Puskás decided not to return to their country and sign for teams from Western Europe, meaning his retirement from the national team. Puskás joined Real Madrid in 1958, winning three European Cups and debuting with the Spanish national team in 1961, while Czibor and Kocsis joined FC Barcelona. In 1967, the Ferencváros T.C. Flórián Albert became the first Hungarian to win the Golden Ball, surpassing the second place achieved by Puskás seven years before.

Domestic football

's capital Budapest has seven professional football teams, six of them have won the Hungarian 1st division. Until July 2012 teams based in Budapest have won the Hungarian Championship 96 times and teams from other cities have won it 14 times.
The Hungarian football clubs have several international successes. Ferencvárosi TC won the 1964–65 edition of the Inter-Cities Fairs Cup and was runner-up in the European Cup Winners' Cup in 1974–75 season and the Cup of Fairs in 1968, while Újpest FC reached the final of the Fair Cup in 1969, Videoton FC UEFA Cup in 1985, and the MTK Budapest to that of the Recopa in 1964.

Domestic tournaments

The table below lists all Budapest clubs in the top three tiers of the Hungarian football league system: from the top division, down to the Nemzeti Bajnokság III. League status is correct for the 2012–13 season.

Administration

Budapest is the location of the headquarters of the Hungarian Football Federation.

National team

The Hungarian national team, in its different categories, is controlled by the Hungarian Football Federation.
The Hungarian team played their first official game on October 12, 1902 in Vienna against Austria, a match that was resolved with 5-0 for the Austrians. Hungary has played nine FIFA World Cups and two European Cups. The best result of Hungary national team reached the FIFA World Cup final twice; lost to Italy in 1938, and lost again to West Germany in 1954. Since then, Hungary's performance has diminished.