Farewell To Puskás Stadium In Budapest
- 6 Oct 2015 9:00 AM
Former football players, athletes, actors and journalists bade farewell to the Puskás Ferenc Stadium, known for decades as the Népstadion (“People’s Stadium”) Monday evening. Most of the structure will be demolished as a new arena is expected to be completed on the site by 2019. A total of 78,000 spectators saw the opening football match at the stadium as the Honvéd team took on Spartak Moscow on August 20, 1953. The Hungarian team won 3-2.
In the following year, 92,000 spectators saw Hungary thrash England 7-1 before the World Cup in July 1954.
Even more people, 93,000 spectators saw Hungary defeat Romania 5-1 after Hungary lost to Germany in the World Cup final that same year.
Famed striker Ferenc Puskás and his team-mates were able to reach the stadium through a hidden corridor in the 1950s, while the Communist leaders had an air-conditioned suite.
Apart from sports events, the arena was host to memorable concerts and Western pop stars in the 1980s such as Queen and Jethro Tull. The 1990s brought Tina Turner, the Rolling Stones, Michael Jackson, as well as the Three Tenors, and large-scale concerts by Hungarian rock groups Illés and Omega.
A 1991 mass by Pope John Paul II was attended by tens of thousands on the stands.
The new stadium, with 68,000 seats, will host a European Football Championship match in 2020. Construction will start this year.
Source: Hungary Around the Clock
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