Puskas

Ferenc Puskas was the greatest goalscorer football has known, but that is only part of his story. He was the star of the state-sponsored army team of Hungary, Honved, and the national team that won Olympic gold, reached the final of the World Cup and humiliated England 6-3 and 7-1 in matches that became landmarks in world football. As Budapest burned with the Hungarian Uprising of 1957, Honved were in Vienna preparing for a match in Madrid. With tensions on the rise and the hard-line communist regime enforcing its authority, Puskas was one of the players who chose exile - and a possible death sentence if he ever returned to his beloved homeland. His second career began after he turned 30 and had endured a year out of football due to an Eastern Bloc-sponsored FIFA ban. As a Real Madrid player alongside Di Stefano and Gento, he became Spanish champion six times, the Spanish league's top goalscorer four times, European Cup winner three times and an Inter-continental champion. After he stopped playing Puskas travelled the world as a coach and, after the Iron Curtain came down, was able to return to Hungary, where he remains the nation's most famous and celebrated son.