History of the Hungary national football team

Although Austria and Hungary were constituent countries of the dual monarchy known as the Austro-Hungarian Empire, they formed separate football associations and teams around the start of the 20th century.

Between 1927 and 1930 Hungary participated in the Europa Cup, which is considered as the first international tournament, with Austria, Czechoslovakia, Switzerland, Italy and Yugoslavia.

Centred around the dynamic and potent quartet of strikers Ferenc Puskás, Sándor Kocsis, attacking half-back József Bozsik and withdrawn striker Nándor Hidegkuti, the "Aranycsapat" ("Golden Team") of the "Magnificent Magyars", captivated the football world with an exciting brand of play drawn from new tactical nuances and amassed, barring the 1954 World Cup Final, a remarkable record of 43 victories, 6 ties, and no defeats from 14 May 1950 until they lost 3–1 to Turkey on 19 February 1956.

In the 1952 Summer Olympics that was held in Helsinki, Hungary beat Romania 2 – 1 thanks to a goal each from Czibor and Kocsis in the preliminary round.

On 23 May 1954 the Hungarian national team beat England by 7–1, which remains their worst defeat to date, at the Puskás Ferenc Stadium.

[16] The Golden Team, built around the legendary Ferenc Puskás, led early 2–0, but ended up 2–3 in a game the Germans subsequently christened "The Miracle of Bern".

[22] Although Hungary won their last group match against Mexico at the Jarnvallen stadium in Sandvinken,[23] they were eliminated from the World Cup after losing a play-off to Wales, who they had drawn level with on points.

The Welsh had managed to draw all the group games and then beat the once-mighty Hungarians in a play-off match to decide which nation should follow Sweden into the knock-out stage.

[24] On 31 May 1962 in the first group match Hungary beat England by 2–1 thanks to the goals of Tichy and Albert at the El Teniente stadium in Rancagua in front of 7938 spectators.

In the quarter-finals of the World Cup Hungary was eliminated by Czechoslovakia by 1–0 at the El Teniente stadium in Rancagua in front of 11690 spectators.

[28] In 1964 Hungary again qualified for the 1964 Olympics held in Tokyo and was drawn into Group B with defending champions Yugoslavia, Morocco and North Korea, who withdrew.

[31] Two days later in the second group match Hungary beat Brazil thanks to the goals of Bene, Farkas and Mészöly in the Goodison Park in Liverpool.

Hungary came back again as long-time defending champions in the 1972 Olympics in Munich and was drawn into Group C with Denmark, Iran and Brazil.

The first group match of the 1982 FIFA World Cup in Spain[37] was played against El Salvador and Hungary won by 10–1 at Estadio Nuevo in Elche.

The Hungarian legend Puskás was appointed as the head coach of the national side in 1993 in order to bring back earlier success.

However, other significant players did not emerge in order to form a strong national team which resulted the consecutive failures of the qualification for the international competitions in the 2000s.

He proved his talent by beating the 2006 FIFA World Champions Italy by 3–1 at the Ferenc Puskás Stadium in a friendly tie.

[58] On 2 September 2011, Egervári had to leave out the key people (Dzsudzsák, Juhász and Gera) from the national side due to injuries and suspension.

In September 2011 Hungary reached its highest FIFA ranking in the team's history with the 27th position due to the victories over Sweden and Moldova in the qualifiers.

[61] In the penultimate round of the Euro 2012 qualifiers Sweden beat Finland away (2–1), as a consequence the last match was without any stake for the Hungary national side which left its mark on it.

[66][67][68] Hungary started the FIFA world cup 2014 qualifying campaign in group D along with the Netherlands, Turkey, Romania, Estonia and Andorra.

Egervári, head coach of the national team, said in an interview with the FIFA that Netherlands are the favourites and the battle for the second place will be between Romania, Turkey and Hungary.

[72][73] On 12 October Tamás Hajnal celebrated his 50th appearance in the national team with a goal against Estonia which resulted the 1–0 victory over the Baltic linguistic relatives in the FIFA world cup 2014 qualifiers.

They had 14 points going into the penultimate round of games, but suffered a joint national record defeat 8–1 to the Netherlands, which resulted in the resignation of head coach Egervári.

[105] The team played their first game at the newly constructed Groupama Arena on 7 September 2014, a 2–1 defeat to Northern Ireland in UEFA Euro 2016 qualifying.

[127] Since Greece lost to Estonia at home,[128] Hungary finished second in their group and their chances to qualify for the UEFA Euro 2020 remained alive.

[134] One day before the national team's decisive Euro 2020 qualifiers play-off match against Iceland, Rossi was tested positive for COVID-19.

In the second match of the group, Hungary hosted the 2018 FIFA World Cup winners France at the Puskás Aréna on 19 June 2021.

Unfortunately, Germany could equalize the score once again in the 84th minute by Goretzka and the final result was a 2–2 draw which meant the farewell from the Euro 2020 for Hungary.

In the 2022–23 UEFA Nations League series, Rossi's Hungary were drawn in one of the most difficult groups including Italy, England, and Germany.