Ferenc Puskás Biró (April 2, 1927–November 17, 2006) Tribute Thread

[AllWhitebeliever]

Farewell to Ferenc Puskás Biró (April 2, 1927–November 17, 2006)

RIP

Puskás was admitted to intensive care in a Budapest hospital on September 13, 2006 and died on November 17, 2006.

Professional Clubs Apps (Goals)

1939-56 Kispest AC/Honvéd 354 (357)
1956 RCD Español
1956-67 Real Madrid CF 528 (512)

National team

1949-56 Hungary 85 (84)
1961-62 Spain 4 (0)

Teams Managed

1967: Hercules ALicante
1967: San Francisco Gales
1967-1968: Vancouver Royals
1969: Alaves
1970-1974: Panathinaikos FC
1974-1976: Colo Colo
1976-77: Szaúdi-Arábia, National Team
1977: Murcia
1978-1979: AEK Athén
1979-1984: Al-Maszri
1985: Sol de America
1986: Cerro Porteno
1988-1991: Panhellenic South Melbourne
1993: Hungarian NT manager (4 games)

Honours

Player

Hungary

Olympic Champions: 1
1952

Dr. Gerõ Cup Winners: 1
1948/53

Honvéd
Hungarian League: 5
1949-50, 1950, 1952, 1954, 1955

Real Madrid
Spanish Championship: 5
1960/61, 1961/62, 1962/63, 1963/64, 1964/65
Pichichi Trophy Winner: 4
1959/60, 1960/61, 1962/63, 1963/64
European Cup: 1
1959/60
Intercontinental Cup: 1
1960
Copa del Generalísimo: 1
1961/62

Manager success

Greek championship

Panathinaikos FC 1969-70, 1971-72,
AEK Athén 1978-79

European Cup finalist
Panathinaikos FC 1971

Australian Champions: 1
South Melbourne Hellas 1990/91

Austrálian Cupwinner
South Melbourne Hellas 1990

An All Time Great.

:(

Hang loose

[balatonsurfer]

I haven't cried in years, I absolutely can't stop crying now. My hero of hero's.

The world just isn't the same to me today...

RIP Ocsi.

[balatonsurfer]

http://img103.imageshack.us/img103/6641/puskas4qg.jpg

[balatonsurfer]

Hungary will always remember Ferenc Puskás for helping to put the nation firmly on the world football map. uefa.com looks back at the early life of one of the game's all-time greats, as he emerged from humble beginnings to claim league titles with Kispest Honvéd FC and become the inspiration behind the 'Magical Magyars', who were the first foreign side to win at Wembley when beating England 6-3 in 1953.

Puskás was the greatest player in a great team, the tubby genius who made Hungary tick. It might have been Nándor Hidegkúti, the deep-lying centre-forward, who unpicked England's defence that Wembley afternoon 53 years ago, but the goal that everybody went home talking about was the third, when Puskás rolled the ball back with his studs to evade the challenge of Billy Wright, then lashed it into the top corner.

Wonderful vision
"I believe that if a good player has the ball, he should have the vision to spot at least three options," said the Hungary right-back Jenö Buzánszky. "Puskás always saw at least five." It was not just his playing ability that marked Puskás out, though: his relationship with the coach Gusztáv Sebes was critical to the development of the country's golden squad.

Footballing child
Puskás never knew a world without football. He was born in April 1927 in Kispest, a village on the edge of Budapest that would become central to the development of the 'Magical Magyars'. As a child, Puskás lived in a flat right next to Kispest FC's stadium.

Left foot
His father played for and later managed the club, and family legend has it that almost as soon as he had learned to walk, Puskás began kicking a ball - although only, of course, with his left foot as Puskás vies with Diego Maradona for the title of the world's greatest one-footed player.

Underage player
Lying about his age, along with Jószef Bozsik who would also travel to the top, Puskás signed for Kispest as a junior in 1936, making his first-team debut in 1943. Although criticised for holding on to the ball too long, and his habit of shouting at older players, he soon became a regular.

International respect
Kispest struggled in the league - which went on despite the German occupation and subsequent Russian counterattack - but Puskás was called up to the national squad for the first two post-war internationals in August 1945. Although he was left out of the first game, he scored in the second - a 5-2 win against Austria.

Army team
Puskás assumed the captaincy of Kispest in 1946, and results began to improve. Two years later, Sebes was appointed to a three-man coaching committee in charge of the national side. He soon took charge in his own right, a few months before Hungarian clubs were forcibly nationalised by the pro-Soviet government and Kispest became Kispest Honvéd FC, the team of the army.

Conscripted players
Sebes had seen how the great Italy and Austria sides of the 1930s were largely based on one, or at most two clubs, and realised what an opportunity nationalisation presented. Kispest was to house the core of his squad - and players who did not want to join could be conscripted.

'Tremendous understanding'
Working with his players day in, day out at Honvéd, Sebes was able to fine-tune his tactical experiments. He would even arrange friendlies against other Hungarian clubs who would be asked to take on the tactical shape and characteristics of Hungary's next opponents. "We came to have a tremendous understanding of everything required to play the game," Puskás said.

Happy accident
Sebes might have been pulling the strings, but Puskás was his representative on the pitch - the man he trusted to make tactical changes during a game. Destiny is easy to impose retrospectively, but the 'Magical Magyars' would probably never have existed had Sebes and Puskás not been flung together in a world of nationalised clubs.

[hallelujah_united]

One of the best ever to grace a football pitch.

RIP.

[Teso Dos Bichos]

RIP

His profile from the recent BS project can be found here:
http://www.bigsoccer.com/forum/showthread.php?t=260183

[Vfbstuttgartfan]

Rip :(

Hajra Ocsi!

[Excape Goat]

Puskas tribute compliment

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qoBvh4ENmic

Engalnd vs Hungary 1953

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=paF23Jfq5hY

Hungary vs England 1954
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n1sa5LIt7NM

vs West Germany WC Final
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XfBI8wMd3Oo

[Colm]

RIP :(

A true footballing legend.

A very sad day for football :(

[Sagy]

RIP

A loss to all of us :(

[lanman]

Puskas tribute compliment

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qoBvh4ENmic

Engalnd vs Hungary 1953

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=paF23Jfq5hY

Hungary vs England 1954
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n1sa5LIt7NM

vs West Germany WC Final
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XfBI8wMd3Oo

http://www.bentex.tv/english/classic.htm

A few more bits and pieces.

[Fulham Fan]

http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/football/6157514.stm

[lanman]

In terms of his standing in the game, he is up there with the very best. You can make a very good argument for him being the best European player ever and his record speaks for itself.
Now only 2 members of the Golden Team remain with us.

RIP

[Carragher23]

Best player of all time, better than Pele or Maradona. He will be sorely missed. :(

[ForeverRed]

Man, I remember how the Magic Magyars was all my father and grandfather were talking about as early as I can remember, Puskas being the center of that very very special team. One that is arguebly the greatest NT ever.

His stats are astounding for club and country. May he RIP. A true legend of the game and a real professional.

[dor02]

RIP. One of the all-time greats. Hungary has never replaced him properly.

[balatonsurfer]

http://www.thefirstpost.co.uk/index.php?menuID=2&subID=1111

Simply The Best

http://www.timesonline.co.uk/article/0,,27-2458225,00.html

Was Puskas the greatest?

[Fulham Fan]

That Puskas was not only one of the salient players of his era, but one of the greatest of all time, is beyond doubt. He was stocky and increasingly chubby in build over the years, but his strength was complemented in early years by speed off the mark, impeccable technique, the fruit of endless early juggling with a football, and strategic flair.

If his right foot was seldom evident, what did it matter? “With a left foot like that,” as Danny Blanchflower, the inspirational captain of Spurs and Northern Ireland, observed, “you don’t need a right foot.”


"Peerless Puskas":

http://www.timesonline.co.uk/article/0,,2093-2459994,00.html

"Magical Magyar Puskas mesmerised defences":

http://www.timesofmalta.com/core/article.php?id=243626

"Majestic Puskas will live long in our memories":

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/sport/main.jhtml?view=DETAILS&grid=A1YourView&xml=/sport/2006/11/19/sfnfer19.xml

"Puskas on life and football":

http://football.guardian.co.uk/continentalfootball/story/0,,1951797,00.html?gusrc=rss&feed=5

Stefano had this to say, "He was a better person than a player. And as a player he was extraordinary." Puskas was also incredibly generous and as Stefano puts it, "he had a hole in his hand" and lost his fortune. In fact, Puskas returned to Hungary broke and lived a hand to mouth existence.

Gento, who was Puskas room mate remembers how he was constantly amazed at the speed of the Hungarian. He had the most agile of feet. He remembers throwing a wet bar of soap at Puskas who with stunning speed cushioned the soap with his foot and then dribbled tac-tac-tac...".

http://www.soccerblog.com/2006/11/ferenc_puskas_a_player_with_a.htm

[Doug Dobey]

As Hungarian-Americans, Ferenc Puskás meant the world to my brothers and me. Thank God his suffering is done. Farewell, Ocsi!

[The Old Lady Hertha]

Farewell, great one.