top 10 greatest football players of all time - 9 - Ferenc Puskas

10 November 2011 09:05

Certainly the greatest Hungarian footballer of all time and one of the best ever. He was part of the legendary international team known as the Mighty Magyars but his stature is not one that you would associate with a great athlete, "Look at that little fat chap. We'll murder this lot." spoke an English commentator before England were well beaten 6-3 (The first Wembley defeat).

Born in 1927, Puskas was an odd looking footballer. He was short, stocky, barrel-chested, overweight, couldn't head and only used one foot.

Despite these physical drawbacks his legacy burns brightly around the world as one of its best goalscorers.

Puskas was known as the Galloping Major, a reference to the fact that he was an army officer playing for an army team. Later, when he was exiled in Spain, he became known as the little canon. For that one foot, his left, packed such a thunderbolt shot that he scored 83 goals in 85 internationals and he remains the only player to have scored four goals in a European Cup Final.

Honours: He scored 84 goals in 85 international matches for Hungary, and 514 goals in 529 matches in the Hungarian and Spanish leagues. He became Olympic champion in 1952 and was a World Cup finalist in 1954. He won three European Cups (1959, 1960, 1966), 10 national championships (5 Hungarian & 5 Spanish Primera División) and 8 top individual scoring honors.


Full nameFerenc Purczeld
Date of birth1 April 1927
Place of birthBudapest, Hungary
Date of death17 November 2006 (aged 79)
Place of deathBudapest, Hungary
Height1.70 m (5 ft 7 in)
Playing positionInside-left

Puskasi image



Source: DSG