Ferenc Puskas: The Hungarian soccer player Ferenc Puskas, who has died aged 79, was the best player of his generation and a talismanic member of Hungary's "Golden Team" of the 1950s.
Puskas, who was known as "Little Brother" in Hungary, the "Galloping Major" in England and the "Booming Cannon" by Real Madrid fans, died after a long illness.
Puskas's family appealed for dignified mourning and Hungary's parliament held a one-minute silence. The funeral will be on December 9th.
Puskas was hailed by Hungary's prime minister, Ferenc Gyurcsany, as "the best-known Hungarian of the 20th century". Sepp Blatter, the president of European football body Fifa, said he was the greatest Hungarian player of the past 50 years.
Puskas, whose international scoring record of 83 goals in 84 games stood until 2003, won Olympic gold with Hungary in 1952, and league titles with his Hungarian club Honved and Real Madrid, with whom he also won three European Cups.
Born in April 1927, Puskas began his career in the domestic league at the age of 15 and won his first international cap three years later, scoring on his debut against neighbours Austria.
He was a key member of Hungary's 1950s team, which lost just one match - the 1954 World Cup final - in six years. That side was devastated by Hungary's anti-communist uprising in 1956, after which Puskas went into exile.
In 1958 he resurrected his career at Real Madrid, where he formed a lethal strike partnership with Argentine-born Alfredo Di Stefano, winning six domestic titles and conquering Europe. Puskas scored four and Di Stefano three in Real's mesmerising 7-3 European Cup win over Eintracht Frankfurt in Glasgow in 1960 - a match that has passed into soccer folklore.
Despite all the goals and fame, a former next-door neighbour from Madrid remembers Puskas as a down-to-earth man, living in a modest apartment.
Had he been born 20 years later in the television age, and played in a team of equal standard to that Hungary side, Puskas would surely have been regarded as a rival to Pele and Diego Maradona as the greatest of them all (and he would likely have been wealthy).
Indeed, in terms of physique and style, he and Maradona were remarkably similar - short, stocky to the point of being overweight, quick, left-footed and blessed with outrageous footballing gifts.
In terms of scoring, Puskas was more like Pele, and clinical in front of goal, scoring 357 goals in 354 games for Kispest Honved, 512 in 528 games for Real Madrid, plus his international record.
There were far more important moments for Puskas than Hungary's 6-3 win over England at Wembley (making them the first overseas team to beat the English), but in England at least, Puskas opened fans' eyes to the changing future of football.
After retirement in 1967, he coached clubs in several countries, leading Panathinaikos of Greece to the European Cup final in 1971.
Ferenc Puskas: born April 1927; died November 17th, 2006