He said it had never occurred to him to play football or coach abroad because he loved Hungary so much. Born in 1925, Buzánszky was the right back in Hungary’s legendary Golden Team of the early 1950s.

Buzánszky made his debut in the national eleven in 1951 and remained on it for 48 selected matches up until 1956. He played shoulder-to-shoulder with such greats as Ferenc Puskás, József Bozsik, Nándor Hidegkuti and Sándor Kocsis.

This was the side that triumphed in the 1952 Olympic Games, beat Italy 3:0 in the first game ever played at Rome’s Olympic Stadium, and won a stunning 6:3 victory against England at Wembley Stadium in November 1953.

The return match -- a 7:1 win for the Golden Team in Budapest the following year -- was icing on the cake. The winning streak came to an end in the 1954 World Cup final when Hungary, the hot favourite, lost 3:2 to West Germany. “My life went where the ball rolled,” he said in the MTI interview. Buzánszky was the fastest-moving defender on the Golden Team.

He played a hard game as right back, offering mature and modern soccer from both the technical and tactical points of view. He received the sportsman of the nation award in 2011 and he was elected a member of the Association of Immortal Hungarian Sportspeople last November. “It is a great feeling to have given happiness to my country,” he said after having received the award.

“The last of the Mohicans is gone. Farewell, Uncle Jenő!” Prime Minister Viktor Orbán said on his Facebook page. The Hungarian Football Association MLSZ said it considers the deceased Buzánszky as one of its own.

“With his death Hungarian and world football has suffered an inconsolable loss,” the MLSZ said.

Source www.hungarymatters.hu

Follow that link to sign-up for MTI’s twice-daily newsletter.

MTI photo: Illyés Tibor