Ferenc Puskás Signing

Lore & Background

After the Hungarian Revolution, Puskás served a two year ban from UEFA. Despite failing to sign for Ethnikos Piraeus in 1957 under pressure from rival clubs, in 1958, he emigrated to Spain where he successfully signed for Real Madrid at the age of 31. While playing with the club, Puskás won four Pichichi Trophies, which is awarded to the top goalscorer of La Liga each season, and scored seven goals in two European Cup finals, winning the competition twice with the club as a player (1959, 1960) and later as a coach (1966), and claiming five consecutive La Liga titles. He scored 756 goals in 791 matches across all official games, including the Hungarian and Spanish leagues and National Cups.

In Their Own Story

The floodlights of the Santiago Bernabéu hummed against the night sky as the Hungarian giant, Ferenc Puskás, received the ball just outside the penalty area. The crowd held its breath. With a flicker of movement, he evaded two defenders who seemed to have him trapped. In one fluid motion, he struck the leather sphere with his left foot; it curled over the wall and into the top corner before anyone could react. A roar erupted from the stands, a sound that would echo through decades, marking another chapter in the golden age of Real Madrid.

Reader's Guide

During his first La Liga season, Puskás scored four hat-tricks, including one in his second game, against Sporting de Gijón on 21 September 1958. In the game against Las Palmas on 4 January 1959, Puskás and Alfredo di Stéfano scored hat-tricks in a 10–1 win. During the 1960–61 season, Puskás scored four times in a game against Elche and the following season, he scored five goals against the same team. Puskás scored two hat-tricks against Barcelona in 1963, one at the Bernabéu and one at the Camp Nou. During eight seasons with Real, Puskás played 180 La Liga games and scored 156 goals. He scored 20 or more goals in each of his first six seasons in the Spanish league, and won the Pichichi four times: in 1960, 1961, 1963, and 1964, scoring 25, 28, 26 and 21 goals, respectively. He helped Real win La Liga five times in a row between 1961 and 1965 and the Copa del Generalísimo in 1962. He scored both goals in the 2–1 victory over Sevilla in the final. Puskás also played a further 39 games for Real in the European Cup, scoring 35 goals. He helped Real reach the final of the 1958–59 European Cup, scoring in the first leg and in the decisive replay of the semi-final against Atlético Madrid, but missed the final due to injury. In the following season he began Real's 1959–60 European Cup campaign with a hat-trick against Jeunesse Esch and in the semi-final against FC Barcelona, as Puskás once again guided Real into the final with three goals over two legs. In the final itself, Real beat Eintracht Frankfurt 7–3 with Puskás scoring four goals and di Stéfano scoring three. In subsequent European campaigns, he would score a further three hat-tricks, including one in the 1962 final against Benfica, which Real lost 5–3. In 1965, he scored five goals over two games against Feyenoord as he helped Real Madrid to the 1966 European Cup final – Real won the game against Partizan Belgrade, but Puskás did not play.

Did You Know?

• Puskás won two European Cups as a player with Real Madrid (1959, 1960) and one as a coach (1966).
• He scored four goals in the 1960 European Cup final against Eintracht Frankfurt.
• Puskás won five consecutive La Liga titles with Real Madrid between 1961 and 1965.
• He won the Pichichi Trophy four times (1960, 1961, 1963, 1964).