UEFA honours 'Galloping Major'
Wednesday, February 1, 2006
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Hungarian hero Ferenc Puskás has received his Champions of Europe plaque from UEFA in recognition of his huge gift to European football.
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UEFA honours
As part of UEFA's celebrations of 50 years of European club competition this season, specially-designed plaques are being awarded to an élite group of players and coaches, with presentations taking place before UEFA Champions League games. However, with Puskás - a prodigiously gifted forward for Kispest Honvéd FC, Real Madrid CF and Hungary - suffering from Alzheimer's disease and too ill to travel, he was presented with his plaque in hospital in Budapest by Hungarian Football Federation general secretary Sándor Berzi.
Team-mates reunited
The presentation saw the 78-year-old Puskás joined by his wife of 50 years, Erzsébet, and reunited with the only other surviving members of the 'Magical Magyars' side of the 1950s, 81-year-old Jenö Buzánszky and goalkeeper Gyula Grosics, who turns 80 on Saturday. Born in Budapest on 2 April 1927, the extraordinary skill and ferocious left foot of Puskás - described by one opponent as "that little fat chap" - first came to international prominence when he masterminded Hungary's stunning 6-3 win at Wembley in 1953, England's first-ever home defeat by non-British opposition.
European glory
Scoring 83 goals in 84 games for Hungary, Puskás helped his country triumph at the 1952 Olympics and reach the final of the 1954 FIFA World Cup. Displaced following the Hungarian uprising of 1956, the man who became known as the 'Galloping Major' reappeared in Spain, signing for Real Madrid in 1958 and lifting the European Champion Clubs' Cup in 1959, 1960 and 1966.