Hundreds of football fans, including Hungary's president Janos Ader and FC Barcelona president Sandro Rosell, paid homage Friday to legendary footballer Sandor Kocsis, whose ashes were repatriated to his homeland.
Kocsis, who died in 1979, was part of the "Magnificent Magyars" who memorably beat England 7-1 in a friendly game in May 1954 and was also top goal-scorer at the World Cup that same year in Switzerland, when Hungary finished second behind Germany.
After a mass at St Stephen's Basilica in downtown Budapest on Friday afternoon, Kocsis's ashes were taken to their final resting place in the crypt, alongside his former teammate and Hungarian legend Ferenc Puskas.
Kocsis scored 75 goals in 68 international appearances for Hungary but after the 1956 uprising against the Soviet Union, he stayed abroad, playing most notably in Spain with Barcelona from 1958 to 1966.
Diagnosed with leukaemia and gastric cancer, he died after falling from the fourth floor of his Barcelona hospital in 1979, shortly before his 50th birthday.
Source: AFP
