Hungary Greatest All-time 23 member team

1952 Olympic Gold Medal

Please also see my All-Time Team Index.

Hungary World Cup 1950
Austria-Hungary 1954
Greatest All-Time Team Under Béla Guttmann

Hungary of the 1950's was probably the best ever national team that never won the World Cup.  The Mighty Magyars was coached by Gusztáv Sebes and played an early from of Total Football.  The code of team were Ferenc Puskás, Sándor Kocsis, Nándor Hidegkuti, Zoltán Czibor, József Bozsik and Gyula Grosics.  Up until the World Cup 1954 Final, they went unbeaten for 32 games. However, at the World Cup Final of 1954, they were upset by West Germany, a team they had beat 8-3 at the Group Stage.  After the Soviet invasion in 1956, some of the players and coaches went into exile and caused a serious talent drain that eventually destroyed the standard of Hungarian football. 

Hungary did make a wonderful run at the 1966 World Cup Finals, beating defending champion Brazil in the first round.  They also reached the semifinal of Euro 1964 and 1972.

The Hungarian team faced a severe drought starting from their elimination at the 1986 World Cup, failing to qualify to a major tournament for 30 years and reaching their lowest FIFA ranking (87) in 1996 as well as finishing 6 in their group of Euro 2008 qualifiers, before qualifying to Euro 2016, Euro 2020 and promotion to 2022–23 UEFA Nations League A.

This is my Hungary All-Time team. If there were an All-Time World Cup, this would be the 23 players I would bring to the tournament.

Hungary's last great team (World Cup 1966)

Team
GK: Gyula Grosics 
Gyula Grosics was part of the legendary Golden Team of the 1950s. He was nicknamed "Black Panther".  He played in three World Cup Finals: 1954, 1958 and 1962.  He won the Olympic Gold medal in 1952.  He was the starting keeper when Hungary beat England in the historical match in 1952.  At the club level, he played for the legendary Honved FC, but transferred to FC Tatabánya after the 1956 Revolution.

Gyula Grosics 

GK: Ferenc Plattkó
Ferenc Plattkó played 6 matches for the Hungary between 1917 and 1923.  In 1922, his club team  MTK Hungária FC played two friendlies against FC Barcelona. Both games finished as 0-0 draws and FC Barcelona, impressed with Platko offered him a contract.  He replaced Ricardo Zamora at Barcelona FC and spent the next 7 years there, winning the first ever Spanish League title in 1929.

GK: Antal Szabo
Antal Szabo played 40 times for Hungary.  He was the keeper for the World Cup finals in 1934, where Hungary lost to Italy in the Final.  He let in 4 goals, but he considered himself saving the lives of the Italian players because Mussolini had made a pre-match threat against his own players.  At club level Szabó played for MTK Hungaria.  

RB/CB: Sandor Matrai 

During his club career, Sandor Matrai played for Ferencvaros where he started in 1953. He earned 81 caps for the Hungary national team from 1956 to 1967. He participated in the 1958 World Cup Finals, the 1962 World Cup Finals, the 1964 European Nations' Cup, and the 1966 World Cup Finals. He was Hungry's Footballer of the Year in 1965.  He was a very fast player.

RB: Károly Fogl

Between 1918 and 1929 he played 50 games and scored 2 goals for the Hungarian national team as a right defender. Together with his younger brother, József Fogl III, the two Fogls formed the legendary "Fogl-gate" (Fogl-gát in Hungarian), an extremely powerful and tough defending formation for more than a decade. Fogl II won the 1929–30 season with Újpest and served as a captain of the club for a decade.

CB: Gyula Lorant  

After the War, Gyula Lorant tried to escape to the West, but was captured by the Communists.  He was released from detention so that he could represent Hungary.  He held 37 caps from 1949 to 1955.  He was a member of the Mighty Magyars that won the Olympic Gold Medal in 1952, beat England twice in 1952 and went the World Cup Final in 1954.  He was one of Hungary's most famous defender. At the club level, he also joined the super team Honved during the early 1950's.

Gyula Lorant 

CB: Sándor Szűcs

Sándor Szűcs played the best of his career playing for Újpest FC in the 1940's.  He was capped 19 times from 1941 to 1948.  He played briefly with Ferenc Puskas on the national team. Szűcs was tricked  into defecting by the ÁVÓ.  The state police captured him not far from the border. He was sentenced to death for High treason during a secret, pre-arranged trial and later executed in 1951.  He was only 29 years old.

DM/CB/LB: Ferenc Sipos 
Ferenc Sipos had 77 caps for Hungary between 1957 and 1966.  He participated in the 1958 FIFA World Cup Finals, the 1962 World Cup Finals, the 1964 European Nations' Cup, and the 1966 World Cup Finals.  During his club career he played for MTK Hungária FC and Budapest Honvéd FC. Sipos won Hungary's Footballer of the Year in 1958.  His brother István Sipos was a national team footballer.

LB: Mihaly Lantos 
Mihaly Lantos  is also a member of the Mighty Magyars.  He played for MTK Hungária FC and won three Hungarian titles, a Hungarian Cup and a Mitropa Cup. In 1955, as Vörös Lobogó SE, they also played in the first ever European Cup. Lantos, scoring three goals, including two penalties, helped the club reach the quarter-finals..  He was capped 52 times and scored 5 goals. between 1949 and 1956.  He was a part of the 1952 Olympic team and 1954 World Cup team.
 
CB/CM: Kálmán Mészöly 
Kálmán Mészöly played 61 matches and scored 6 goals for Hungary. He participated in the 1962 World Cup, the 1964  European Football Championship, and the 1966 FIFA World Cup.  Unfortunately, he also played the the World Cup Qualifiers in 1970, which saw Hungary falling to qualifying for the World Cup Finals and marked the beginning of the decline of Hungarian football.  He spent his entire career with Vasas SC.

DM: Gyula Lázár

Gyula Lázár was a member of the Ferencváros team that won the championship with 100 percent results in the 1931-1932 season.  He spent his entire career with them where he played 500 matches.  Between 1931 and 1941, he appeared in the national team 49 times and scored 1 goal. He played in the 1934 World Cup in Italy and the 1938 World Cup in France. Here he is a member of the team that won the silver medal in 1938.

CM: Jozsef Bozsik 
Jozsef Bozsik was considered the second best Hungarian player of all-time after his childhood friend Ferenc Puskus.  He was one of the greatest central midfielders in world football history.  He was also a member of the Mighty Magyars of the 1950's.  At the club level, he played for Honved.  After the Revolution of 1956, he returned to Hungary and continued to play for both Hungary and Honved.  He picked up 101 caps for Hungary between 1947 and 1962.

Jozsef Bozsik 

AM/CM/DF: György Orth 

Orth started football in the youth team of Vasas.  Then, he joined MTK and in 1917.  He mainly played for them until his retirement.  Between 1918-1925, he won 8 championship golds in the colors of MTK and was top scorer three times (1920-1922).  He played also played for Pisa and Marseille. Between 1917 and 1927, he appeared in the national team 32 times and scored 13 goals. He was a member of the national team that participated unsuccessfully in the 1924 Summer Olympic Games.

FW/RW: Kalman Konrad

Kalman Konrad was right wing-forward or secondary-striker.  He played for the Kingdom of Hungary between 1914 and 1928. He played mainly for MTK in Hungary.  He played 94 games scoring 88 goals. In 1926, he went to play in the US for a season. In 1999, he was listed by World Soccer as one of the 100 greatest players of all-time. His brother Jeno also played for Hungary.

LW: Zoltan Czibor 
Zoltan Czibor  was widely considered to be one of the greatest left winger in history.  He was also a member of the Mighty Magyars of the 1950's.  After 1956. he fled to the West. He joined Ladislao Kubala and Sándor Kocsis to play for FC Barcelona. Together with Ramallets, Evaristo and Luis Suárez, they formed the great Barcelona team of the 1950's. He later played for Espanyol, t FC Basel, FK Austria Wien and Primo Hamilton FC.

FW:  Florian Albert 
Florian Albert was the best players in Hungarian history to emerge after the end of the Magical Magyars.  Nicknamed "The Emperor", he was known for his elegant style.  He was the European Footballer of the Year in 1967.  At the international level, he was capped 75 times. He played in the 1962 and 1966 World Cup Finals, where he was the joint top-scorer in 1962 and reached the quarterfinal in 1966. He spent his entire club career with Ferencvárosi TC.  

Florian Albert

FW:  Nandor Hidegkuti 
Nandor Hidegkuti was a key member of the Might Magyars of the 1950's.  He was best remembered for the game vs England in 1953, where he scored a hat-trick.  Playing as a "False 9", the English defenders did not know how to defend him. A new position was born and the game was revolutionized. Unlike some of his teammates from the Mighty "Mgyars", he stayed in Hungary after 1956 and went to the 1958 World Cup Finals as an aging player.At the club level, he played for MTK Budapest.

FW: Laszlo Kubala 
Born in Hungary of a multi-cultural background, Laszlo Kubala  was known as one of the greatest Barcelona players ever.  He still managed to win 4 Li Liga titles in the 1950's in an era dominated by Real Madrid.  In 1961, Barcelona eliminated Real Madrid from the European Cup, the first ever loss by Real Madrid at the tournament. He was capped by Hungry, Spain and Czechoslovakia. He was a guest player for Catalonia national football team.

Laszlo Kubala 

SS: Gyorgi Sarosi 

Gyorgi Sarosi was primarily a second striker, but also played in the midfield and as the center-back.  He played in both 1934 and 1938 World Cup Finals.  In 1938, he captained the team and finished second at the WC Finals. He finished with the bronze ball for being the third-highest goalscorer of the tournament. He was named the 60th European Player of the Century in the IFFHS' Century Elections.He spent his entire career with Ferencváros TC. 

FW: Ferenc Bene
Ferenc Bene obtained 76 caps and scored 36 goals. He was a member of the team that won the gold medal at the 1964 Summer Olympics. He was the top scorer of the tournament.  He also helped Hungary to come third at the European Championship of 1964, and a quarter-finalist at the 1966 World Cup Finals in England.  Bene was named Footballer of the Year in 1969. At the club level, he spent his entire career with Újpest FC.

Ferenc Bene

ST: Sandor Kocsis 
Sandor Kocsis was a prolific goalscorer for the Mighty Magyars in the 1950's.   He scored 75 goals in 68 appearances for Hungary.  He scored 11 goals at the WC in 1954, the second highest for a single tournament.  He played for Honved at home before he went to play for Barcelona after the Soviet invasion in 1956.  With fellow Hungarian exiles Ladislao Kubala and Zoltan Czibor, Barcelona became a force in Europe.

ST/FW: Imre Schlosser

Imre Schlosser played 68 times for Hungary in which the team won 70% of the games when they fielded Schlosser.  He scored 59 goals for the national team between 1906 and 1927. He played for many clubs in Hungary. In his club career, Schlosser reportedly scored 417 league goals, a number believed to be the sixth highest of all-time.  He still holds the record as the highest goalscorer in the history of the Hungarian National Championship.

ST/FW: Ferenc Puskas 
Ferenc Puskas was one of the greatest footballers in history.  He scored 84 goals in 85 international matches for Hungary, a team known as Mighty Magyars. He became Olympic champion in 1952 and led his nation to the final of the 1954 World Cup where he was named the tournament's best player.  He played with Honved at home and went to Real Madrid in 1958 after the Soviet invasion.  With Alfredo Di Stefano, Raymond Kapo, etc, Real Maadrid became the greatest club team in history.

Ferenc Puskas 

Honorable Mention

Gábor Király,  Peter Gulacsi, Károly Zsák, Antal Szentmihályi, Balázs Dzsudzsák, László Domonkos, Géza Henni, Jenő Buzánszky, Ferenc Rudas, Ferenc Sipos, Gyula Mándi, Dezső Novák, László Bálint, Miklós Páncsics, Ernő Solymosi, János Börzsei, Roland Juhász, András Törőcsik, József Zakariás, János Farkas, Gyula Zengeller, Tibor Nyilasi, László Fazekas, Károly Sándor, József Braun, László Budai,  Mihály Nagymarosi, Lajos Détári, Tibor Nyilasi, Alfréd Schaffer, Ferenc Deak, Ferenc Sas, Jozsef Fogel, Vilmos Kohut, Ferenc Szusza, Pál Titkos, Ferenc Hirzer.

Squad Explanation

-- The team was created in 2014.  In July, 2022, I did a review of the team.  The 2014 team was unbalanced with overwhelm number of the forwards.  I set to change that, but in the end, I kept the same number of forwards.

-- The six code players of the Mighty Magyars were automatic selections.  They are Ferenc Puskás, Sándor Kocsis, Nándor Hidegkuti, Zoltán Czibor, József Bozsik and Gyula Grosics.  Of course, Laszlo Kubala was born in Hungary and had represented Hungary, which made him eligible. He is also on my All time  Czechoslovakia and Slovakia team. 

-- The Mighty Magyars of the 1950's dominated this team.  The historical significance of the team lay in three areas; the introduction of new tactics, the concept of using a core set of well trained players used to playing as a team, and the idea that each player could play in any position if necessary. The importance of Gusztáv Sebes cannot be underestimated. His tactics – especially the concept of a deep lying centre forward – revolutionised a game where the majority of club and international sides had played the WM formation for the previous 20 years. The introduction and success of the Hungarian 3–2–3–2 formation led other managers and countries to experiment, with the 3–2–3–2 eventually evolving into the 4–2–4 formation.

Olympics 1952 Gold Medal

--  I selected 9 players from that era: Ferenc Puskás, Sándor Kocsis, Nándor Hidegkuti, Zoltán Czibor, József Bozsik, Gyula Grosics, Sandor Matrai, Mihaly Lantos and Gyula Lorant. Sándor Szűcs also belonged to this generation, but he was dead before the Mighy Magyars started to dominate. Laszlo Kubala was also from that age.  István Nyers was on the original team in 2014. He was one of the greatest strikers in the history of Inter Milan with whom he won two Scudettis and a Serie A top scorer title.  He played with Kubala briefly before both went oin exile.  

--  The Revolution of 1956 forced a lot of players and coaches to go exile.  Hungary never recovered from the exodus. Hungarian football went dead after the 1960's.  So the youngest players on this team were from the late 1960's and 1970's.  László Bálint was the youngest players selected in 2014.  His retired in 1984, but he played with Ferenc Bene in the 1970's.  In 2022, I did my best to look into the post-1960's generation.  I ended up dropping Bálint altogether.  However, I added a few younger players to the Honorable Mention.

Tibor Nyilasi, Lajos Détári, Gábor Király, Peter Gulacsi, Balázs Dzsudzsák, Ádám Szalai, Roland Juhász, András Törőcsik and László Fazekas were some of the more famous players who emerged from the last 40 years.

-- We all know about the undefeated run by Hungary in the 1950's before the "Miracle of Bern". I googled "Hungary undefeated record". The result has always been the same. Hungary went undefeated from 1950 to 1954. Their last defeat was against Austria in May, 1950. The RSSSF has the list of the games they played in that period.  In actuality, on May 27th, 1952, Hungary lost to Moscow XI  2-1.  It was the second match of a two game series played in Moscow.  Their opponent was actually the preliminary team of the Soviet Union preparing for the 1952 Olympic.  The game featured Hungary's regulars so I considered it a full team.  I found a Russian match report of the first game that ended in 1-1.  However, it was not a full international game.  The referee was from the Soviet Union.

-- In 2010, FourFourTwo magazine came up a list of 50 Greatest Hungarian Footballers.  I used it as a refluence, but I disagreed with their ranking.  For example, László Bölöni was listed as 31st, but he was not eligible for this team.  He was an ethnic Hungarian from Romania who played for Romanian.

-- Hungary enjoyed a great period immediately after the First World War.  They were known to be exporting players all over Europe.  György Orth, the Fogl brothers, Kálmán Konrad, etc were some of the big stars.

-- In 1938, Hungary reached the Final of the World Cup, where they lost to Italy.  I selected Antal Szabó, György Sárosi and Gyula Lázár from that team.

World Cup Final 1938

-- Hungary reached the quarterfinal of both 1962 and 1966 World Cup Finals.  Ferenc Sipos, Kálmán Mészöly, Florian Albert and Ferenc Bene were from that generation. Florian Albert was the European Footballer of the Year in 1967.  Both Albert and Bene also helped Hungary to finish 4th at the Euro 1972.  Historically speaking, the tournament was known as the moment when the transition of European football power from the Soviet Union to West Germany.  It was also the end of an era for Hungary.  It was their last achievement in major tournaments.  Hungary would not qualify for the European Championship for another 44 years.

-- Every single players on this team are no longer with us.  RIP.

Goalkeepers

-- I took Ferenc Plattkó, Antal Szabo and Gyorgi Sarosi without much thoughts.  The top three goalkeepers were undisputed. I did not go into other keepers. 

-- Ferenc Platko replaced the legendary Ricardo Zamora in Barcelona and earned a reputation for himself, which was a hard act to follow. 

-- Gábor Király got honourable mention because he played until after he turned 40.  I did not know much about him, but he stood out during the Euro 2016, wearing grey track pants.  I considered Euro 2016 a big achievement for modern Hungarian football.  I was not seriously considered him, but I should add a post-1960's players.

-- During my review of the team in 2022, I digged deeper into the goalie position.  I looked into Károly Zsák, Antal Szentmihályi, and Péter Gulácsi.  Gulácsi has proved himself in the Bundeslinga.  He was voted by a Hungarian website as one of their three goalkeepers in their All-Time team.  I also came upon László Domonkos and Géza Henni.

Defenders

-- The Hungarian defenders selected played before the development of the modern fullback position.  Their actual playing positions might not shared the same definition as the modern game.  The fullbacks were central defenders who drifted toward one side. And as result,  I only selected 3 "central defenders" because all of the fullbacks were also central defenders.  Furthermore, Sárosi György actually played as a defender for the national team. The position was well-covered.

-- In Bigsoccer where I am an active member, Gyula Lorant was highly rated by different members over there.  Lorant fell into depression after the 1954 World Cup Final.  He was never the same player and played his last international game in 1955.  However, he was 31 years old by 1954, which made his decline understanding.  Kálmán Mészöly was probably Hungary's greatest central defender.  He was known as the "Blond Rock". His heroic performance at the 1966 World Cup Finals against defending champion Brazil was legendary.  He played with a broken arm after scoring a penalty. The third central defender went to Sándor Szűcs whose sad story earned some sympathy point.  

Kálmán Mészöly

-- László Bálint was the youngest player I selected in 2014, but I had no idea why I rated him so high.  He was ranked by a Hungarian source as the 7th central defender. He was a member of Hungary's team in the 1982 World Cup Finals.  His active years were from 1967 to 1984.  So I decided to drop him.  

-- Miklós Páncsics, Ernő Solymosi and János Börzsei were other central defenders I studied. I also added Roland Juhász a contemporary player to honorable mention.

-- In 2014, I selected Jenő Buzánszky and Sándor Mátrai for my two rightbacks.  During the review of 2022, I kept Mátrai, but I had question mark about Jenő Buzánszky.  Instead, the candidates should be between Ferenc Rudas, Károly Fogl and Jenő Buzánszky.  Gyula Mándi and Dezső Novák were also mentioned.  In the end, I took Károly Fogl. Together with his younger brother, József Fogl, the two Fogls formed the legendary "Fogl-gate" (Fogl-gát in Hungarian).  Gyula Mándi was also his defensive partner at one point.  Buzánszky was the 32nd player on the FourFourTwo's All-Time list.  For many, he was the best rightback ever for Hungary.  So the decision was very close.  Ferenc Rudas was the Hungary Player of the year in 1946.  His active years with the national team were between 1943 and 1949.  He had a serious injury in 1950 and was never the same player afterward.  So his international career ended when the Golden Team of Hungary was forming. The lack of exposure internationally might have hurt his reputation.  He played with Ferenc Deak, László Budai, Sándor Kocsis, Zoltán Czibor in Ferencvárosi, where they won the league title in 1949.  The players mentioned left the club due to political pressure, but he stayed with the club.

-- Sándor Mátrai was considered to be one of the fastest ever Hungarian defender. He also played as a central defender for his club team while as a rightback for the national team.

-- Mihaly Lantos edged over Sandor Biro, László Sárosi and József Fogl for the leftback position.  I decided not to select a backup leftback.  Ferenc Sipos was sometimes listed as a leftback. He would be the backup.

Midfielders/Winger

-- Jozsef Bozsik was considered one of the greatest ever central midfielders ever played the game.  He was known for his attacking ability, but he also broke up plays in front of the defence. He could spray long passes from the back just liked Xavi.  

-- On paper, the team did not have enough defensive midfielder.  In actuality, Kálmán Mészöly and Gyula Lorant who were chosen as a central defender could also operate there.  Nevertheless, I added  Gyula Lázá to the team during the review in 2022.  The FourFourTwo list ranked him as their 16th greatest player, and IFFHS placed him on their All-Time Hungary second team Best XI.  And then, I added Ferenc Sipos who could also operate as my backup leftback.

Ferenc Sipos

-- Many people considered György Orth as the greatest Hungarian in the Pre-War period.  For the national team, he was an attack midfielder, but he also played defense.  He even played as a goalkeeper.  However, he suffered a serious injury in 1925 when he was 24 years old. The injury would forced him to retire in 1929. His peak was very short, but he still made the team because of his reputation as one of Hungary's greatest footballers.  

-- As a false 9, Nándor Hidegkuti helped Hungary to destroy England in 1953, and changed the way how the world viewed the game of football.  

-- Tibor Nyilasi was probably the greatest Hungarian footballer since the 1960's.  I might have underrated Tibor Nyilasi because he played at the time when the Hungarian national team was no longer a force in the world.  He was the European Silver Shoe winner while with Ferencvárosi TC.  Between 1983 and 1988, he scored 111 goals in 176 official matches for Austria Wien.

-- János Farkas scored a beautiful volley against Brazil in the 1966 World Finals.  He as number 10 formed a lethal attack alongside Gyula Rákosi, Florent Albert and Ferenc Bene, but he only made honorable mentions.

-- On the left wing,  Zoltan Czibor could claim to be one of the best left wingers ever played in the game.  He was an easy choice, but I did not have a spot for right winger László Budai, Károly Sándor and József Braun.  Instead, I went a more famous player who might not be a true winger.  Kalman Konrad was selected by "World Soccer" as one of 100 greatest players of all-time. He was born under Austria-Hungary, but Hungary had their own football associations.  I listed him as a right winger, but he was more of a right forward.  He and his brother played in the Austrian league under Hugo Meisl after the First World War, which was considered the best league outside the United Kingdom.

-- As a Jew, József Braun was sent a Nazi forced labor camp and died there in 1943.  László Budai and Károly Sándor were rivals in their time. László Budai was the right winger of the "Golden Team". He formed a world-famous partnership with  Sándor Kocsis.  Manager Gusztáv Sebes considered Károly Sándor behind László Budai.  He was not even included in the 1952 Olympic team, but Hungary took him as a non-playing member on the 1954 World Cup team.  Nevertheless, he was recognised one of the greatest Hungarian footballers of that era.

-- István Nyers only played twice for Hungary.  I nearly selected him. for his club career with Inter Milan. He was around the same age as some of the Mighy Mgyars, but he never played with them.  One could imagine what Hungary could have achieved with István Nyers and Laszlo Kubala.  The pair were teammates at Ganz-MÁVAG SE before they left Hungary.  Nyers definitely belonged to this team for his merits, but this team was packed with talents.  In the end, I sacrificed him because he only played twice for Hungary.  Of course, his circumstance was different and I should be more accommodating.  Unfortunately, I also had to consider dropping another Hungarian great for him, which proved to be difficult.

-- Mihály Nagymarosi and Lajos Détári were also serious candidates.

Forwards

-- Hungary has many great forwards and I selected too many forwards or strikers.  So Ferenc Deak, Gyula Zengeller and Ferenc Sas could not make the squad.  I was looking to drop a player,  but who?

-- Obviously, György Sárosi was selected for his performance at the 1938 World Cup Finals, where he scored 5 goals while reaching the Final as their captain.  He was named the 60th European Player of the Century in the IFFHS Century Elections.  For historical reports, he played as a central midfielder and central defender, the two areas of this team that badly needed cover.  He was just as good according to reports from that era.

György Sárosi 

-- Ferenc Deák was one of the highest goal scorers ever in history. He averaged over three goals per game during his career at Szentlorinci AC.  He also scored 121 goals in 81 games for Ferencvárosi TC.  In the 1945-1946 season, he scored 66 goals. It remained a world record for the number of goals scored for a single season  In the late 1940's, his numbers were better than Ferenc Puskas in Hungary, but he was 5 years older. He also scored 29 goals in 20 matches for Hungary, a ratio of 1.45 goal per game.  Unfortunately, his international career was played in the 1940's when international football was rare.  In the 1949-1950 season, his club team Ferencvárosi TC scored 140 goals as they won the league.  Deak was responsible for 59 of them. Their attacking line composed of László II Budai -- Sándor Kocsis -- Ferenc Deák -- József Mészáros -- Zoltan Czibor. The team was dissolved in 1950.  He was sent to Újpest.  While his statistics over there was also impressive, he did not reach the same level at his previous clubs.  Did he benefit from better players during his stint with better players in Ferencvárosi TC? I did not want to make any false conclusion.  In 1950, he was phrased out by national team manager Gusztáv Sebes for Nándor Hidegkuti after he fought with ÁVH officers in a party.  He was considered to be a political risk.   He was a serious candidate for this team, but his lack of international exposure set him down the list.  I could not do anything about his unfortunate situation. The players ahead of him included Florian Albert, Ferenc Bene, Laszlo Kubala, Imre Schlosser, Ferenc Puskás, Sándor Kocsis and Nándor Hidegkuti.  They all had done something outside Hungary in a bigger stage.  Except Kubala, they put the national team on the map. Deák did not have the same opportunity so I could not credit him for things that did not happen.  The list of great Hungarian attackers was too strong.

-- Some critics said that Nándor Hidegkuti benefitted from the absence of Laszlo Kubala and Ferenc Deák on the national team. The world might not heard of him if he was never gotten his chance with the Golden Team in 1950's.  The fact was that he did destroy England in a game that changed history.  He was the player who made the Mighty Magyars clicked.  It was a performance that should be recognised because it happened.  

-- Sándor Kocsis had a ratio of 1.097 goals/game (68 goals in 62 games) for international football, which was the best for players with over 43 caps.   Hus numbers were less impressive than Ferenc Deak, especially they were club mates for a period of time, but he scored some of the goals in the 1952 Olympics and the 1954 World Cup Finals.  He also proved himself with Barcelona FC.  He played in the bigger stages and succeeded.  He was probably the best header of the ball in history.  For a target man, he was also good with his feet.

-- Laszlo Kubala played three games for Hungary but failed to score.  In January 1950, Kubala, with his brother-in-law Ferdinand Daučík as coach, formed his own team, Hungaria, which was made up of fellow refugees fleeing Eastern Europe.  I found almost very very little information on this team, but this team beat Real Madrid and Spain, a team preparing for the 1950 World Cup Finals.   Kubala was allegedly scouted by Real Madrid chairman Santiago Bernabeu in those games, but Josep Samitier took him to Barcelona.  Later, he became known as one of the greatest Barcelona players alongside Johan Cruyff and Lionel Messi.  Some said that if Ferenc Deák or Nándor Hidegkuti went to play in Barcelona, they would have been as well-known as Kubala, but we would never know.

--Then, I had Florian Albert and Ferenc Bene from the 1960's and Imre Schlosser of the 1920's were also players definitely in the team.  No need for explanation. Albert was Hungary's only European Player of the Year. Bene was his Albert's teammate.  Together, they helped Hungary to finish 3rd at Euro 1964 and quarterfinal from 1966 World Cup Finals. Both were elegant forwards who were great dribblers as well as goal scorers.  Bene scored a great solo goal against Brazil in the 1966 World Cup, but it was Albert who stole the show in that match.

-- Imre Schlosser scored 417 goals in 320 games at club level a record in Hungarian league, and 58 goals from 68 games for the national team.  He was the first footballer to score 50 international goals.  Gyula Zsengellér was a legend of Újpest FC. He was most famous for his part in taking the Hungarian national team to the 1938 World Cup Final. He was that tournament's second-highest scorer. I ranked him behind Bene, Albert and Schlosser.

Imre Schlosser 

Starting lineup

Formation I: 4-2-4

This formation is linked with the Golden Age of Hungary's football.  Gustav Sebes used this formation to conquer the world with the "Magical Magyars".  Bela Guttmann also used it to turn Benfica into the best in Europe.  Some people even credited him for bringing this to Brazil, where the formation turned Brazilian football into the best in the world. The team was basically the Mighty Magyars. 

Formation II: 4-4-2

The 4-2-4 formation is probably not suitable for the modern game.  This alternative formation is more realistic for the modern game.  On paper, I am able to field the best ever players. I used an extra midfielder Orth to replace Hidegkuti. Bozsik is converted into a box-to-box midfielder, which is very similar to the way he covered the field in the 4-2-4 formation.