As a Hungarian, who is infatuated with the national team, growing up in the late naughties and early 2010’s, I was not exactly accustomed to seeing my beloved reds represent the country of roughly 10 million people, at a national tournament. Let alone three consecutive tournaments. As a matter of fact, none of us Hungarians, who were alive between 1986 and 2016, were used to seeing the “Mighty Magyars” on the TV, whenever the World Cup was on. In the aforementioned timeframe, the team failed to qualify for a single international tournament.
This meant, that, back then, if you were Hungarian, and an avid follower of football, like such a big chunk of this nation’s population happens to be, you had to settle for a different nation’s team, come the World Cup or the Euros. The nation’s failure to appear in any tournaments within those years may leave many people scratching their heads, given the nation’s significant success in the first half of the 20th century. The Hungarian national team of the 1950’s has become known all over the world, as the “Mighty Magyars”. They were renowned for their revolutionary type of football, spearheaded by masterclass coach, Gusztáv Sebes. Sebes’ form of football was cited as an influence by many, including none other than Johann Cruyf. The team’s star-studded line-up was brimming with future legends (players, who your hungarian friend is likely to never shut up about), such as Puskás, Grosics, Bozsik, Kubala and Czíbor. The Golden Team went unbeaten between 1950 and 1954, did the “double” over England, dismantling them 3-6 in London, and 7-1 in Budapest, and also won the 1952 Olympics. The team’s marching came to an end in the Final of the 1954 World Cup, where, despite leading 2-0 just ten minutes into the game, the team ended up losing 2-3 to Germany, in what would be known as the „Miracle Of Bern”. At the time of writing, and possibly for the foreseeable future, this has been the last time Hungary featured in a World Cup final. The Golden Team disbanded in 1956, due to the Hungarian Revolution. Many of its former players would achieve success in Europe, including Puskás, who would go on to play for Real Madrid, and Kocsis and Kubala, who would both feature for the blanco’s biggest rivals, FC Barcelona.
Fast forward to 2009, and the national team, which used to cause opponents to be overcome with fear all over the continent, may I say, the world, now instilled fear in pretty much nobody. If you were tasked to give a brief description of the state of hungarian football at the time, your answer would most likely include decrepit stadiums, low attendances, and a type of football that is unappealing, and frankly, incredibly hard to watch. Hungarian clubs appearing in European cup competitions were few and far apart, namely, Ferencváros in 2004, and Debreceni VSC, in 2009. And of course, the once treasured gem of the nation, A Nemzeti 11 (translating to “National eleven”, a nickname given to the national team) had failed to appear in any international competitions in the past 23 years.
The name formerly bestowed upon the team, “Magnificent Magyars” was all but a distant memory now, and it seemed like the dream of playing in a major tournament was getting more and more out of reach. Not qualifying for a tournament in over two decades is one thing, but seldom did the cherry and red band even come close to achieving a qualifying-spot. Amid the regular 3rd and 4th place finishes, that the national team had a tendency to achieve in the qualifying groups in the 1990’s, and 2000’s, there was one qualification-campaign, where the team was not (too) agonizing to watch. This came during the 2000 EURO-Qualifiers.
In 1999, the cherry reds looked poised to end their 12-year hiatus at a major tournament, after finishing second in their group, and being eligible for a play-off fixture. Their opponents were the Yugoslav national team, a country that was in literal tatters, and barely even existed anymore. Hungary were, of course, billed as the favorites for this game, and probably not a single soul could have predicted the outcome of the game. Yugoslavia went 0-3 up by the ‘10th minute, and thanks to a Mijatovic brace, the scoreboard showed 5 for the southern visitors. Things would only get worse for Hungary over the course of the tie, as the yugoslavs walked away with a 1- 7 win from Budapest. Anybody who thought Hungary had an ounce of chance for a comeback was made to look like a fool in the second leg, as the Belgrade crowd saw their team defeat Hungary 5-0. By this point, an entire generation had grown up, without seeing the one team that made their hearts beat collectively, qualify for a major tournament.