World Cup in History: Hungary in Golden Age

As the FIFA World Cup approaches, AllFootball will update its \"World Cup Chronicles\" column series, revisiting major events and fascinating stories from the tournament's history. New installments will be released  regularly.

The 1954 World Cup was held in Switzerland. A total of 16 teams participated. Besides host nation Switzerland and defending champions Uruguay, who qualified automatically, the remaining 14 teams were:

1954 World Cup logo

Austria, Belgium, Czechoslovakia, England, France, Hungary, Italy, Scotland, Turkey, West Germany, and Yugoslavia from Europe;

Mexico from CONCACAF;

Brazil from South America;

and South Korea from Asia.

South Korea became the second Asian team to participate in the World Cup after the Dutch East Indies, and the first sovereign Asian nation to do so. They secured qualification by defeating Japan 7–3 on aggregate over two legs in the Asian zone qualifiers. Notably, because then-South Korean President Syngman Rhee refused to allow Japanese players to compete in South Korea, both legs were played at Meiji Jingu Gaien Stadium in Tokyo, Japan. At the time, South Korea’s football standard was clearly superior to Japan’s, and despite playing both matches away, they comfortably advanced. However, once at the World Cup finals, South Korea immediately felt the gap: they suffered a crushing 0–9 defeat against Hungary, followed by a 0–7 loss to Turkey, and were eliminated early.

Germany’s situation also deserves attention. After World War II, Germany was divided into occupation zones by the Allied forces, leading to national division. With support from opposing Cold War blocs, the former German territory saw the establishment of the German Democratic Republic (East Germany) and the Federal Republic of Germany (West Germany), and the Berlin Wall split the city into East and West Berlin. Naturally, their national team also split into two: East Germany and West Germany.

Allied occupation zones in post-WWII Germany

On June 17, 1953, a large-scale demonstration erupted in East Berlin, later known as the “East German Uprising of June 17.” East German police and Soviet troops stationed in Germany suppressed the protest, resulting in 55 deaths. From then on, East Germany banned mass public gatherings and chose not to participate in the 1954 World Cup in Switzerland.

Therefore, West Germany never had the chance to face East Germany in World Cup qualifying. However, they did encounter another “brother” team: the Saarland national football team.

So, what exactly was Saarland? After WWII, Germany was occupied by the United States, the Soviet Union, the United Kingdom, and France. The area occupied by France was located in southwestern Germany along the Franco-German border. This region was known as “Saar” or “Saarland.” When East and West Germany were established, France opposed Saarland’s reintegration into Germany and instead aimed to either annex it into France or establish it as an independent state. Consequently, Saarland became a French protectorate and formed its own national football team.

In this World Cup qualifying campaign, Saarland was drawn in the same group as West Germany. West Germany defeated Saarland twice—3–0 and 3–1—and easily secured qualification for the World Cup, while Saarland was eliminated.

The Saarland national team played a total of 19 international matches in its history, recording 6 wins, 3 draws, and 10 losses. In 1955, a referendum led to Saarland joining West Germany. In 1956, France and West Germany signed the Saar Treaty, recognizing Saarland’s reunification with West Germany, which officially took effect in 1957. The Saarland Football Association was subsequently merged into the German Football Association, and its national team was disbanded.

Saarland Football Association logo

The tournament format for this World Cup underwent another adjustment: the 16 participating teams were divided into four groups of four. Normally, in a four-team group, each team plays three matches. But in this edition, teams only played two matches each.

FIFA designated two seeded and two unseeded teams in each group, with seeded teams only playing against unseeded ones. If a group match ended in a draw, a 30-minute extra time period was played; only if the score remained level after extra time would the match be recorded as a draw. Teams earned 2 points for a win and 1 point for a draw, with the top two teams from each group advancing to the quarterfinals. In cases of tied points within a group, neither head-to-head results nor goal difference were used; instead, a playoff match was held between the tied teams, with the winner progressing.

FIFA selected eight seeded teams: Austria, Brazil, England, France, Hungary, Italy, Uruguay, and Turkey. Turkey was making its World Cup debut—how did it become a seeded team? The reason is that FIFA had already finalized the seeded teams before the qualifiers concluded. Spain was originally among them, but Turkey surprisingly eliminated Spain in qualifying, preventing the latter from reaching the finals. FIFA simply transferred Spain’s seeded status directly to Turkey.

At the time, Hungary’s football standard was exceptionally high. Since their last defeat—a loss to the Soviet Union in May 1952—they had remained unbeaten for two full years. Their playing style was highly advanced: head coach Gusztáv Sebes demanded that every player be capable of playing any position, with all eleven players actively involved in both attack and defense. He called this approach “socialist football,” essentially an early version of “total football.”

Sebes innovatively developed the “3-2-3-2” formation, dropping the center forward into midfield and occasionally pulling both wingers back as well. This allowed the team to transition rapidly and fluidly between defense and attack. Moreover, since man-to-man marking was prevalent at the time, the deep-lying center forward often dragged the opponent’s central defender out of position. One Hungarian forward, Nándor Hidegkuti, was the pioneer of this “deep-lying forward” role. Though nominally a striker or attacking midfielder, he frequently dropped deep into his own half to receive the ball and initiate attacks. His unconventional movement constantly disrupted opposing defenses.

Hungary’s 3-2-3-2 formation

Hungary won the gold medal in men's football at the 1952 Helsinki Olympics and captured the Central European International Cup (a competition primarily for Central and Southern European nations, somewhat akin to today’s European Championship) in 1953. As ethnic Hungarians are Magyars, the team was dubbed the “Mighty Magyars,” the “Magical Magyars,” and the “Golden Team”—the latter being the most widely recognized name: the “Hungarian Golden Generation.” They were universally acknowledged as the world’s strongest team at the time.

Hungarian Golden Generation

Some might ask: wasn’t England the world’s strongest team? Setting aside England’s poor performance at the 1950 World Cup in Brazil, more recently—in 1953—Hungary thrashed England 6–3 in a friendly at London’s Wembley Stadium. This match became known as the “Match of the Century” and is often likened to the “Sino-Japanese War” of English football. Hungary took 35 shots compared to England’s mere 5.

After this match, the British football community realized the vast gulf between themselves and true world-class football, especially in tactics. Against Hungary, they appeared as naive as schoolchildren: Hungarian attackers constantly swapped positions, leaving English defenders utterly confused and helpless. British media lamented afterward: “This level is insufficient for England to remain among the world’s elite… Apart from Stanley Matthews, none of England’s forwards could match Hungary in speed, ball control, or positional awareness. Hungary’s performance was nearly perfect.”

“Match of the Century”

In 1954, England returned to Budapest for a rematch—and suffered an even heavier defeat, losing 7–1 to Hungary. This remains England’s worst-ever loss in their history.

Most Hungarian national team players at the time came from the domestic club Budapest Honvéd, the Hungarian army team, which featured military-style management and training, particularly excelling in physical conditioning. Additionally, since many national team players were teammates at the club level, their coordination was exceptionally smooth.

Budapest Honvéd boasted a world-class striker and the core of the Hungarian national team: Ferenc Puskás. He scored 84 goals in 85 appearances for Hungary—an extraordinary goalscoring machine. In 1949, he once scored seven goals in a single Hungarian league match, helping his team win 11–3. In both friendlies against England, Puskás scored twice. Especially in the Wembley match, when England captain Billy Wright attempted a tackle, Puskás deftly pulled the ball back with the sole of his boot to evade the challenge and calmly scored—leaving the entire English crowd stunned.

Puskás (center)

Later, at age 31, Puskás joined Spanish giants Real Madrid, becoming a club legend. He passed away in 2006, and in 2009, FIFA honored him by naming its annual award for the best goal the “Puskás Award.”

Another Hungarian superstar at the time was Sándor Kocsis, also from Budapest Honvéd. A forward, he scored 75 goals in 68 appearances for Hungary—more goals than games—and recorded seven hat-tricks for the national team. He later joined Spanish powerhouse FC Barcelona and became a significant figure in the club’s history.

Kocsis

Undoubtedly, Hungarian football at the time represented the absolute pinnacle of world football. In those years, the People’s Republic of China had just been founded. To develop football, China sent 25 young players to study in Hungary, a fellow socialist country. Among them were well-known figures such as football commentator Li Yuankui, Zhang Honggen—who later coached Dalian Wanda to win the inaugural Chinese Jia-A League title—renowned goalkeeper Zhang Junxiu, nicknamed “The Great Wall,” and future Chinese national team coaches Nian Weisi, Zeng Xuelin, Chen Chengda, and Fang Renqiu. The Hungarian coach responsible for their training was Árpád Baróti (often referred to as “Coach Joseph” in Chinese sources), who significantly improved the Chinese players’ abilities.

So, with such outstanding individual talent and such advanced tactics, how would this Hungarian team perform on the World Cup stage? Stay tuned for the next installment, to be published this Friday.

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