Ferenc Puskas

Brian Glanville on the life and times of the Hungary legend

The remarkable footballing career of Ferenc Puskas, who has died aged 79 in Budapest, falls into two parts. The first was as the outstanding captain of a remarkable Hungarian team - once called "the best team in the world" by England's Billy Wright - which he led to the World Cup finals of 1954. The second was as a star of Real Madrid from 1958 to 1966. The watershed was the Hungarian Revolution of 1956 when, by chance, Puskas and other Hungarian internationals were on tour with Honved, the Army club into which most of them had been drafted. Puskas, possessed of a left foot of astonishing power, and his team colleagues, Sandor Kocsis and Zoltan Czibor, all found their way to Spain. Puskas joined Real, with the other two joining Barcelona.

Puskas was born in a working-class district of Budapest and brought up in the nearby country town of Kispest. The son of a footballer, he kicked a ball about in the streets with, among others, the future Hungary right-half, Josef Bozsik, and admired such foreign stars as Charlie Buchan, Ted Drake and Spain's celebrated goalkeeper, Ricardo Zamora. Nicknamed "Ocsi" (little brother), Puskas was coached at the Kispest club by Nandor Szucs and made his debut in November 1943 against the then league leaders, Nagyvared.

An inside-left from the beginning, Puskas perfected his ball skills by endlessly juggling with a tennis ball. At 18 he won the first of his 84 caps for Hungary, scoring the first of his 83 goals, this one made for him by the pre-war star inside-forward, Gyuszi Szengeller. When Kispest were swallowed up by Honved, Puskas was commissioned in the army. Hence his eventual nickname, the Galloping Major, though like most such "army" footballers, he was seldom to be seen on parade.

For some years a brilliant Hungarian team was kept under wraps behind the Iron Curtain, but in the summer of 1952 it finally emerged to waltz through the Olympic football tournament in Budapest. They beat Yugoslavia 2-0 in the final and although Puskas missed a penalty he atoned by scoring from a pass by Czibor.

In May 1953 Hungary opened the new Olympic Stadium in Rome with a superb performance, beating Italy 3-0. The following November, unforgettably, they came to London and thrashed England 6-3, becoming the first continental team to beat England on English soil. Puskas scored two of the goals, one coming when he coolly pulled the ball back with the sole of his boot so that, in the words of Geoffrey Green in The Times, the English captain Billy Wright rushed past him "like a fire-engine going to the wrong fire".

Inevitably, Hungary were favourites to win the World Cup, in Switzerland, in June, 1954. They might have done had not Puskas, in the opening 8-3 win over West Germany, been kicked from behind by the blond German centre-half, Werner Liebrich. This might have been the kick that won Germany the World Cup. Hungary re-rouped to great effect, Czibor moving inside to take Puskas' role, but when the team eventually reached the final, in Berne, Puskas insisted he should play. He also, reportedly, demanded that the right-winger, Budai, be dropped.

In the event, Puskas did not look fully fit. Even so, with Hungary 3-2 behind after squandering a 2-0 lead, he raced through the opposing defence to score what looked like a perfectly good goal. But the Welsh linesman, Mervyn Griffiths, waved his flag, and the English referee, Bill Ling, gave Puskas offside. He remained convinced, to the end, that he was not.

During his years with Real Madrid, an increasingly tubby but still marvellously effective Puskas struck up a famous partnership with the Argentine centre-forward, the domineering Alfredo Di Stefano. Puskas became the leading Spanish goal scorer four times, in 1960, 1961, 1963 and 1964. Both he and Di Stefano triumphed in the European Cup final of 1960 in Hampden Park, Glasgow, where Eintracht Frankfurt were demolished 7-3. Puskas scored four goals, Di Stefano three. Two years later, Puskas would get another three in the European Cup final in Amsterdam against Benfica and still finish on the losing side.

Benfica won 5-3, but the goal Puskas scored when Di Stefano cleverly put him through from the halfway line was as good as any of the eight which were scored that night. Calmly Puskas trotted on to beat Costa Pereira, the goalkeeper, with that inexorable left foot. It was reported that at the end of the match, in a symbolic gesture, Puskas took off his jersey and gave it to Eusebio, the young Mozambique inside-right whose thunderous right foot was the equal of Puskas's left. But Puskas subsequently denied that he had presented his shirt to anybody.

Later that summer, he played for Spain in the World Cup finals in Chile, where he was used in three games at centre-forward. He did not enjoy it, lamenting happier days with Real and Hungary when goals were easier to come by. I have an engaging memory of him on the night of Chile's conquest of third place in Santiago. With the Chilean fans celebrating ecstatically in the streets of the capital, Puskas was to be glimpsed standing in a doorway, munching monkey nuts, wearing that Budapest urchin grin which would never desert him.

The following year, he returned with distinction to Wembley to play for the Fifa XI which met England, celebrating the 100th anniversary of the Football Association. He came on as a substitute, for Eusebio. Still capable of scoring five goals against Holland's Feyenoord as late as 1965, he retired the following year and went to Canada to coach Vancouver. It was not a positive experience. He was said to have demoralised the club's goalkeepers with the power of his shooting.

Subsequently he became the manager of Panathinaikos of Athens, and got them to Wembley for the European Cup final of 1971. The progress of the Greek team was not popular outside their own country; Everton were deeply displeased with the refereeing of the Frenchman who took charge of their return leg against Panathinaikos in Athens.

After the collapse of communism in eastern Europe, Puskas, now round as a beach ball, returned to live in Budapest. In 1999, he was voted the sixth best player of the 20th century, after Pele, Johan Cruyff, Franz Beckenbauer, Alfredo Di Stefano and Diego Maradona.

He had suffered from Alzheimer's disease for some years. He is survived by his wife, Erzsebet, and a daughter, Aniko.

Ferenc Puskas, footballer, born April 2 1927; died November 17 2006