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Although the Hungary national football team has not notched up any notable wins
over the past couple of decades, the team more than made its mark in the early
1950s when it won 32 straight games, a record that still stands to this day.
Controlled by the Hungarian Football Federation (Magyar Labdarúgó Szövetség),
the Hungarian national football team has achieved a reasonable amount of success
in the FIFA World Cup.
It made it to the quarter finals the first time it entered the competition in
1934, and eight years later to the finals of the 1938 World Cup hosted by
France. The team dispatched Switzerland before going on to trounce Sweden by 5-1
in the semi-finals. In the final against Italy, Hungary were behind by 3-1 in
the first half, and lost to Italy by 4-2 at the final whistle.
Rumor has it that the Hungarians threw the final on account of a telegram sent
to the Italian team from the country's then leader, Benito Mussolini, which was
(incorrectly) interpreted to mean 'Win or Die'. The Hungarians feared that
Mussolini would order the Italian team shot if they lost.
Hungary boasts the first football team outside of the UK and Ireland to beat
England at home, famously defeating England at Wembley by 6–3 in November 1953.
Notable Hungarian players include Ferenc Puskás, Sándor Kocsis, Imre Schlosser-Lakatos,
Lajos Tichym, György Sárosi, Nándor Hidegkuti, Ferenc Bene, Gyula Zsengellér,
Tibor Nyilasi, Florián Albert, Ferenc Deák, József Kiprich, Károly Sándor and
József Takács.
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