In January of 1949, Hungary became a communist state. This political upheaval resulted in the nationalisation of football clubs throughout the country. At that time, the two biggest clubs in Hungary were Ferecvaros and MTK Hungaria. The former were taken over by the secret police, while the latter were viewed as unsuitable due to its right wing nationalist traditions. Rather than coach such a club, manager Gusztav Sebes turned to village side Kispest AC. The village was absorbed into the District XIX of Budapest and when the Hungarian Ministry of Defence took control of the team, the Kispest name was dropped and they became Budapest Honved, the word Honved meaning defender of the homeland, and also being the name of the army.

 

Prior to all this occurring, the original Kispest team was already home to the legendary Ferenc Puskas and Josef Bozsik, but army conscription enabled the club to go even further and sign many of Hungary’s best players. Sandor Kocsis, Zoltan Czibor and Laszlo Budai joined from Ferencvaros, and Gyula Lorant and Gyula Grosics signed up as well. During the 1950’s, these players essentially formed the backbone of the famous Hungarian national team known as the Mighty Magyars, and as such, playing for Honved was like playing for the national team, especially considering Sebes was also coach for Hungary. Sebes was greatly inspired by the Austrian Wunderteam and World Cup champions Italy, whose players were predominantly drawn from just one or two clubs. He wanted to get a similar system going in Hungary.

 

While Kocsis, Puskas and co. helped the national team win the Olympics and the Central European Cup along with thrashing England twice, they ran riot in the Hungarian league, winning the title in 1949-1950, 1950, 1952, 1954 and 1955 and were runner-up in 1951 and 1953. It wasn’t long before the clubs reputation spread beyond Hungary, and they were invited to play Wolves, the current English champions in a prestige friendly in 1954. At the half, Honved led 2-0, but they eventually lost 3-2. They also played Red Star Belgrade, and it was these games that led to the establishment of the European Cup in 1955. The club qualified for the European Cup in 1956, and were drawn against Atletico Bilbao in the first round.  Honved lost the away leg 2-3, but before they could return home, the Hugarian Revolution had exploded in Budapest and the Soviet Union had  invaded.

 

The players decided not to return to Hungary and arranged to play the home leg against Bilbao at the Heysel Stadium in Brussels. Unfortunately, Honved’s goalkeeper was injured early in the game, and with no substitutes permitted, Zoltan Czibor had to go in goals. Honved managed a 3-3 draw, but went out 6-5 on aggregate. Elimination in the European Cup left Honveds players in limbo. They didn’t want to go back to Hungary, so they summoned their families and despite direct opposition from FIFA and the Soviet-controlled Hungarian Football Federation, they organised a fundraising tour of Italy, Portugal and Spain as a plan to avoid returning to their own country. Notable results in the tour were a 5-5 draw with a Madrid XI and 4-3 win over Barcelona. Legend has it that Honved declined an offer of political asylum from Mexico and an invitation for the entire club to join the Mexican league. Honved did however, accept an invitation to play a tournament in Brazil with Botafogo and Flamengo.

 

By now, FIFA had had a gutful and declared Honved illegal while banning them from using the Honved name. The team eventually returned to Europe. Some players, including Boszik, Budai, Lorant and Grosics went back to Hungary, while others such as Czibor, Kocsis and Puskas found clubs in Western Europe to play for - Czibor and Kocsis signed for Barcelona while Puskas joined Real Madrid where he was highly successful. The defection of these three players severely damaged Honved. The post-Revolution era was not kind to the club, and the only reason they avoided relegation in 1957 was because the Hungarian FF decided to expand the first division. Honveds golden era had truly come to a close.

Achievements: Hungarian League – Champions x5 Runners-up x2

Star player: Sandor Kocsis 21 September 1929, Budapest, Hungary, nickname: Golden Head

During the 1950’s, Sandor Kocsis was a member of the legendary Mighty Magyars, and after the 1956 Hungarian Revolution, he defected to Spain where he played for the brilliant Barcelona team of the late 1950’s. He was a prolific goalscorer for both Budapest Honved and Hungary, and was top scorer in any European league in 1952 and 1954. With 11 goals, he was the top scorer at the 1956 World Cup, where he also became the first player to score 2 hat-tricks in the tournament. He also scored 2 goals in the infamous Battle of Berne. As of 2010, the only player to score more goals in a single World Cup than Kocsis is Juste Fontaine of France. Born in 1929, Kocsis was conscripted into the Hungarian army in 1950 where he was placed on the army team, Honved. He finished as top scorer in the league on 3 occasions. After the Revolution, played a season for Youngfellows Zurich, but was soon convinced by his Hungarian team mates and fellow refugees Kubala and Zsibor to join them at Barcelona, where he won the Copa del Generalissimo/La Liga double in 1959 and the Fairs Cup/La Liga in 60. After playing, he opened a restaurant in Barcelona called Tete D’Or. It’s alleged that he committed suicide in 1979 after being diagnosed with leukemia and stomach cancer, though his death may have only been an accident.