UEFA Chief calls on Hungary to restore former glories

On 9th January during his visit to Budapest, the UEFA president Lennart Johansson called Hungary and Croatia's joint bid for the EURO 2012 "excellent".

The Hungary bid has been shortlisted along with one from Italy and another joint bid from Poland/Ukraine.

Johansson also paid tribute to Puskas, Hungary's greatest ever player who died last November, calling him an excellent player, coach and personality before laying a wreath at the his tomb in Saint Stephen's Basilica.

UEFA president Lennart Johansson called for the Hungarian Football Federation (MLSZ) to put recent infighting behind it and concentrate on restoring former glories.

- It is important to look to the future, stop fighting and bring Hungarian football back to where it belongs – said the head of UEFA during a visit to Budapest.

During the 1950s, Hungary's "Golden Team", led by the recently-deceased Ferenc Puskas, set world of football alight.

The team went 32 games unbeaten, won an Olympic gold and became the first team from outside the United Kingdom to defeat England at Wembley, winning 6-3 in 1953. Hungary then rubbed more salt into the wounds by beating England 7-1 on home soil.

Since then the Hungarian game has been in freefall. In the latest FIFA rankings, Hungary sits in 65th place and October saw possibly the worst result in the nation's history.

Malta, who had previously only ever won two European Championship qualifiers, defeated Hungary 2-1 in a qualifying match, leaving the misfiring Magyars second-bottom of their group with little hope of qualification for EURO 2008.

Hungary last managed to qualify for a major tournament in 1986, when they were eliminated in the first round of the World Cup in Mexico.

Club football is no better, with Hungary's proudest team, Ferencvaros, languishing in the second division on the verge of bankruptcy.

The problems were compounded last year when internal squabbles saw the MLSZ rudderless for several months.

Source: Playfuls.com (Romania), 9th January 2007