Budapest Honvéd were the champions of Hungary,[5] having won their fourth championship in the 1954 season whilst scoring 100 goals in the process, including a 9–7 victory over Vörös Lobogó whom they eventually finished five points clear of in winning the league.

[7] Managed by Jenő Kalmár, Honvéd contained many players of the famous Mighty Magyars who won the gold medal at the 1952 Olympics, the 1948–53 Central European Cup and finished as runners-up in the 1954 World Cup;[3] Gyula Grosics, Gyula Lóránt, László Budai, József Bozsik, Zoltán Czibor, as well as Ferenc Puskás and Sándor Kocsis, who scored 54 goals between them in their title winning season.

Wolverhampton rebounded with a 10–0 win against Israeli team Maccabi Tel Aviv, followed by a high-profile 4–0 victory over Spartak Moscow, with all goals coming in the final 10 minutes.

Wolverhampton had a series of chances through Flowers, Dennis Wilshaw, Peter Broadbent, Roy Swinbourne, and Les Smith, but Honvéd goalkeeper Lajos Faragó was able to keep the ball out.

[9] Atkinson thought Cullis' half-time instructions not only helped Wolverhampton's long-ball tactics work, but scuppered Honvéd's momentum and stopped a possible 10–0 thrashing.

[1] Wolverhampton goalscorer Roy Swinbourne said afterwards that "Wolves never played a match in which there was so much pride involved",[10] while his manager Stan Cullis and sections of the English press declared his team as "champions of the world",[3] and that Wolves had proven that English football was "the genuine, original, unbeatable article... still the best of its kind in the world",[1][11] statements which journalist Willy Meisl disagreed with, calling the Molineux pitch a "quagmire", and citing a recent Honvéd defeat to Crvena Zvezda.