page_title: Golden Team
section_title: Key people
hierarchical_section_title: Golden Team / Key people
caption_attribution_description: English: Standup formation of the hungarian Golden Team / Aranycsapat or referred to: Gold Team, The Magical Magyars, The Magnificent Magyars, The Mighty Magyars. Magyar: A világhírű 11: Szövetségi kapitány: Sebes Gusztáv (1906-1986), felállítás: Grosics Gyula – kapus (1926), Buzánszky Jenő (Kazal) – jobbhátvéd (1925), Lóránt Gyula – középhátvéd (1923-1981), Lantos Mihály – balhátvéd (1928-1989, Bozsik József (Cucu) – jobbfedezet (1925-1978), Zakariás József (Zaki) – balfedezet (1924-1971), Budai László (Púpos) – jobbszélső (1928-1983), Kocsis Sándor (Kocka) – jobbösszekötő (1929-1979), Hidegkuti Nándor (Öreg) – hátravont ék (1922-2002), Puskás Ferenc (Öcsi, Sváb) – balösszekötő (1927-2006), Czibor Zoltán (Bolond, Rongylábú) – balszélső (1929-1997)
context_page_description: The Golden Team refers to the Hungary national football team of the 1950s. It is associated with several notable matches, including the "Match of the Century" against England in 1953, and the quarter-final against Brazil, semi-final and final of the 1954 FIFA World Cup. The team inflicted notable defeats on then-footballing world powers England, Uruguay and the Soviet Union, before the 1956 Hungarian Revolution caused the breakup of the side.
  Between 1950 and 1956, the team recorded 42 victories, 7 draws and just one defeat, in the 1954 World Cup final against West Germany. Under the Elo rating system they achieved the highest rating recorded by a national side, just ahead of 2nd place Germany.
  In 2016 the BBC listed the team as the best international football team ever in football history.
  The team is generally credited for successfully implementing an early form of "Total Football", later used effectively by the Dutch in the 1970s. The team is also generally recognized for introducing new, scientific coaching and tactical innovations, which were subsequently adopted throughout the game.
context_section_description: The team was built around a core of six key players: Ferenc Puskás, Sándor Kocsis, Nándor Hidegkuti, Zoltán Czibor, József Bozsik and Gyula Grosics.
  The manager of the team was Gusztáv Sebes, who had been a trade union organizer in Budapest and pre-war Paris at Renault car factories, and was therefore accorded a political clean bill of health to run affairs by the Deputy Sports Minister.
  Sebes can be credited with three key innovations. Firstly, he implemented fitness regimes for his players, as well as a club-like policy at international level to give impetus to regular practice sessions.
  Secondly, he was responsible for the tactical concept of a deep-lying centre forward. At the time, the majority of footballing sides adopted the WM formation, where the centre forward spearheaded an attack line of 3 forwards and 2 wingers. Sebes's tactic was to withdraw the centre forward back to the midfield, as well as dropping the wingers back to the midfield when necessary. This effectively created an extremely flexible 2–3–3–2 formation, allowing the team to quickly switch between attack and defense. The tactic also drew defenders out of position, as centre halves used to man-marking a centre forward would follow the deep-lying centre forward back to the midfield.
  Thirdly, Sebes encouraged his players to be versatile – the ideal would be for any of his players to be able to play in any position. This was a revolutionary idea – most players were used to playing in one specific position. This was an early form of Total Football. Ferenc Puskas commented, "When we attacked, everyone attacked, and in defence it was the same. We were the prototype for Total Football."
caption: The famous 2-3-3-2 formation employed by the side
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