Magyar Magyar

The graves of the Golden Team

St. Stephen's BasilicaBudapestGreater Budapest

The Golden Team, the most successful Hungarian national football team of all time, is legendary the world over. None of the team are still alive but football fans may want to visit their graves.

Known abroad as the Golden Team, the Mighty Magyars, the Marvellous Magyars or the Magical Magyars, the classic line-up played together between 1950 and 1956. Hungarian football’s heyday lasted from 1941 to 1960, contributing several legends to Hungarian and international football history.

 

The team’s most famous match was played at Wembley Stadium in London on 25 November 1953.  In a friendly match that was later dubbed “the match of the century”, the Hungarian team defeated the English 6–3. The final of the 1954 World Cup, in which the Hungarian team, unbeaten for five years, was unlucky to lose 3–2 to West Germany, was another very important match. The German national team later called their victory over the better Hungarians “the Miracle of Bern”.

Tombs in St. Stephen’s Basilica

Several well-known members of the Golden Team are buried in St. Stephen’s Basilica. One of Budapest’s most visited monuments, the Basilica is well worth a visit for the breathtaking views from the 96-metre-tall dome, the Holy Right Hand, as well as the awe-inspiring interior. The crypt itself is a sacred site and thus closed to the public. Ferenc Puskás is buried in the St. Lipót Hall of the Basilica’s crypt, while the Hall of Our Lady of Sorrows is the resting place of Jenő Buzánszky, Gyula Grosics and Sándor Kocsis.

Hungary’s most famous cemetery

The Farkasrét Cemetery is one of the most important cemeteries not only in the capital but in the whole of Hungary. More famous Hungarian personalities are buried here than in the Fiume Road Graveyard in Budapest and the Hajongard Cemetery in Kolozsvár (Cluj) combined. This cemetery is the final resting place of several famous athletes, as well as artists such as the composer Béla Bartók and the painter Vilmos Aba-Novák. József Bozsik is buried here in plot 36/1, Károly Sándor in plot 1, Dr. Károly Lakat in plot 2/5 and József Zakariás in plot 11/2.

 

There are memorials to members of the Golden Team in other cemeteries in Budapest as well. Jenő Dalnoki and László Budai II are buried in the Rákospalota Cemetery, while Nándor Hidegkuti is buried in the Óbudai Cemetery.

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