| Description |
Hungary played in the final of the World Cup twice: in 1938 and 1954. There are only 16 years between the two, and both are outstanding and symbolic events of the great era of Hungarian football, which lasted roughly between 1910 and 1966. Although the second final and the Golden Team itself are present with special importance in Hungarian historical memory, we tend to look at it in isolation, in isolation, even though it was created as a result of a process that took many decades. This readable book, which reveals many new and exciting details and connections, and is illustrated with rich photographic material, aims to change this.
The book follows the formation of the Golden Team in the Hungarian political and football environment, while vividly presenting the processes of world football under the conditions of the Cold War. We get a detailed and plastic picture of the great march of the Golden Team: the 1952 Olympic gold medal (here we finally managed to defeat the big bogeyman, the Italians, against whom we lost the 1938 World Cup final and whom we never managed to defeat in the 1930s), 1953, the best year of the Golden Team (including the 6-3 against England), and we can follow the 1954 World Cup itself in unprecedented detail. A special virtue of the book is the presentation of the opponent in the final, the German team and the German football culture that produced it. It deals in detail with the conditions within the team during the World Championships, the reception and consequences of the final result in Hungary and Germany, and how the outside world saw the Golden Team.
The book - in addition to being an enjoyable and exciting read - helps to put into place the things we have heard and seen many times, so that we begin to see what we admire so much in its context, as part of our real history.
25 x 17 cms, hardback, 360 pages.
2026
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