Hungarian national football team / European championships

Hungary
Magyarország

European Championship record scorer:	Ferenc Bene , Balázs Dzsudzsák and Dezső Novák (2 each)
European Championship record players:	7 players (4 each)
Rank:	21st
Balance sheet
8 European Championship games 2 wins 2 draws 4 defeats 11:14 goals
statistics
First European Championship game Hungary 1-2 nV Spain Madrid ( ESP ); June 17, 1964
Biggest European Championship victories Hungary 3: 1 n.V. Denmark Barcelona ( ESP ); June 20, 1964 Hungary 2-0 Austria Bordeaux ( FRA ); June 14, 2016
Biggest European Championship defeat Hungary 0: 4 Belgium Toulouse ( FRA ); June 26, 2016
successes
European Championship
Participation in the finals	3 ( first : 1964 )
Best results	Third place in 1964
Best results in the countries where the UEFA European Football Championships are held
(As of November 2019)

The article contains a detailed description of the Hungarian national football team at European championships . Hungary took part in a final round for the third time in 2016 and achieved third place in 1964, the best result so far. After 1972, Hungary was unable to qualify for 44 years and also failed three times when applying for the orientation, for which Hungary had applied once alone and once together with Austria and Croatia.

Overview

Hungary reached the final round twice with four participants and once with 24 participants, but never qualified for a final round with eight or 16 participants.

year	Host country	Participation until ...	Last opponent	Result	Trainer	Comments and special features
1960	France	not qualified				In the second round at the eventual winners USSR failed.
1964	Spain	3rd place match	Denmark	Third	Lajos Baroti	In the semi-finals, Hungary only lost in extra time against the hosts and later European champions Spain
1968	Italy	not qualified				In the quarter-finals later in the Fourth USSR failed.
1972	Belgium	3rd place match	Belgium	Fourth	Rudolf Illovszky	In the semi-finals, Hungary failed again at the USSR
1976	Yugoslavia	not qualified				In the qualification of Wales failed, could not qualify for the final round.
1980	Italy	not qualified				In the qualification of Greece failed
1984	France	not qualified				In the qualification of Denmark failed
1988	BR Germany	not qualified				In qualifying at the eventual winners the Netherlands failed
1992	Sweden	not qualified				In the qualification of the USSR failed.
1996	England	not qualified				In qualifying at the Switzerland and Turkey failed.
2000	Netherlands and Belgium	not qualified				In the qualification of Romania and Portugal failed.
2004	Portugal	not qualified				In the qualification of Sweden and Latvia failed.
2008	Austria and Switzerland	not qualified				In the qualification of Greece and Turkey failed.
2012	Poland and Ukraine	not qualified				In the qualification to the Netherlands and Sweden failed.
2016	France	Round of 16	Belgium	-	Bernd Storck	After a victory against permanent opponents Austria and a draw against Iceland and Portugal, Hungary reached the second round as group winners.
2021	Europe					With the Puskás Aréna, which opened in November 2019, Hungary provides a venue for three group games and one round of 16, but like all other UEFA members it has to qualify for the European Championship. After the team could not qualify directly, they still have the chance to qualify in the playoffs.

The tournaments

EM 1960

The Hungarian Football Association had also registered its national team for the 1960 European Football Championship, which was still held as the “European Cup of Nations” . In the round of 16, the Hungarians trained by Lajos Baróti met the USSR and lost the first leg in Moscow 1: 3, with János Göröcs only improving the result with the first qualifying goal to 1: 3. The second leg in Budapest was also lost 0-1. There were still two players, József Bozsik and Gyula Grosics , from the squad of the World Cup final in 1954 and a rising star in Flórián Albert who made his second international match against the USSR and two years later was one of the top six goalscorers Football World Cup 1962 belonged. The USSR then also reached the finals and became the first champion there.

EM 1964

In 1964 more teams wanted to participate, which is why there was a preliminary round first. In this, the Hungarians met Wales . After a 3-1 win in Budapest and a 1-1 draw in the second leg, the Hungarians reached the round of 16. There they met the GDR . After a 2: 1 in East Berlin , a 3: 3 in the second leg was enough for advancement. In the quarterfinals, France was the opponent. The Hungarians first won 3-1 in Paris and then the second leg in Budapest 2-1, although the French had already taken the lead in the second minute. With that they had reached the finals, which took place in Spain . In their first game in the finals , they then faced hosts Spain . The Spaniards took the lead in the 35th minute, but Ferenc Bene equalized in the 84th minute. It stayed that way until the end of regular time. In extra time, the Spaniards scored the winning goal. In the game for third place, the Hungarians then met Denmark , which had surprisingly qualified for the finals. This time Bene gave the Hungarians an early lead and the Danes were able to equalize late. Dezső Novák then ensured the Hungarian victory and the best placement at a European championship with two goals in extra time. Eight players from the squad were then also in the squad that won the gold medal at the Olympic Games four months later .

EM 1968

In 1968 qualifying games with several groups of four and one group of three were scheduled for the first time. Hungary, which was now trained by Rudolf Illovszky , had to play in a group of four against the GDR, the Netherlands and Denmark. Hungary prevailed as group winners, which was already clear before the last game, a 0-1 in the GDR. But then Károly Sós took over as coach. They met the USSR in the quarter-finals. The first leg was won 2-0, but the Hungarians were eliminated with a 3-0 defeat in the second leg. The USSR was only fourth after Lospech in the semi-finals.

European Championship 1972

In qualifying for the European Championship finals in 1972, Hungary, which was now coached by József Hoffer , had to compete against Bulgaria , France and Norway . Hungary achieved four wins in the six games, played once and only lost in Bulgaria, after which Rudolf Illovszky was coach again. Since Bulgaria then won the last game against France, the Hungarians had two points more than both of them and were group winners. In the quarter-finals they then met Romania . After both of them only played a draw in their home games and away goals had not yet counted, there was a play-off in Belgrade , which the Hungarians won 2-1. At the finals in Belgium they met the USSR again and lost the semi-final game with 0: 1, with Sandor Zambo failing with a penalty to Yevgeny Rudakov shortly before the end . They then lost the game for third place against hosts Belgium 2-1 and said goodbye to the European Championship for at least 44 years. But nine players were still able to win the silver medal at the Olympic Games three months later .

EM 1976

In 1976 the final round was held for the last time with four teams. Hungary had to do without Flórián Albert , who ended his career as a footballer in 1974 after sustaining a serious injury in an international match. In the first qualifying game they were trained by Ede Moór , who was then replaced by Lajos Baróti despite a 4-2 win in Luxembourg . In the end, Hungary finished second in qualifying group 2 behind Wales, ahead of the tied Austrians and Luxembourg , who had lost all players, only second place. The Hungarians had lost both games against Wales, which failed in the quarter-finals at the eventual host of the finals Yugoslavia. Baroti then stayed in office and led Hungary to the 1978 World Cup .

EM 1980

For the European Championship in Italy, which was held for the first time with eight teams , the Hungarians, now trained by Ferenc Kovács , had to compete in the qualification against Greece , Finland and the USSR. In a surprisingly balanced group, the Greeks ended up having one point more than Hungary and Finland and two more than the USSR and thus drove to a major football tournament for the first time, but where they failed in the first group stage.

EM 1984

In qualifying for the European Championship in France, Hungary, which has now been trained by Kálmán Mészöly , had to deal with Denmark, England , Greece and Luxembourg. Hungary only won the two games against Luxembourg 6-2, which also lost all other games, and the home game against Denmark. Hungary was only fourth. It didn't help that György Mezey became the new national coach after a 3-1 win in Denmark . Under him the victory against Denmark succeeded. But that didn't bring the Hungarians anything and the Danes could cope with the defeat. They drove to the finals as group winners, where they reached the semi-finals with refreshing football. Mezey remained in office and led Hungary to its last World Cup participation to date .

EM 1988

For Euro 1988, Hungary had against the Netherlands , again in Greece, Poland and Cyprus qualify . While the Dutch secured first place with six wins and two draws, Greece, Hungary and Poland took points from each other. The Hungarians had started the qualification with Imre Komora as coach, who was replaced after the two opening defeats by József Verebes , who in turn was inherited by József Garami after three qualifying games . Since he did not succeed in turning things around, his term of office ended afterwards. The Dutch were then able to win a major title for the first time in the finals.

EM 1992

For the European Championship in 1992 , Hungary, which was now coached by Kálmán Mészöly, had to qualify against the Soviet Union, Italy , Norway and Cyprus. Hungary only lost in Italy and the home game against the USSR, but could only win both games against Cyprus and otherwise played four draws. That was only enough for fourth place and before the last game Mészöly was replaced by Róbert Glázer . The USSR, which played their last international match with the last group game against Cyprus, took part in the European Championship finals in Sweden after their final breakup as the Commonwealth of Independent States , but were eliminated there in the group stage.

EM 1996

For the 1996 European Championship, which was held for the first time with 16 teams, they had to go back to Kálmán Mészöly (he had succeeded the Romanian Emerich Jenei , the first non-Hungarian national coach of the Hungarians, who had failed in qualifying for the 1994 World Cup ) trained Hungarians in a group with Switzerland , Turkey , Sweden and Iceland to qualify . Hungary only won the home games against Sweden and Iceland - each 1-0. There were also two points from draw games. On the other hand, there were four defeats, with which Hungary was only fourth again. In contrast, Switzerland and Turkey were able to qualify for the finals for the first time, but failed in the group stage. Mészöly vacated his post after qualifying, but his successor János Csank also failed to lead the Hungarians to the 1998 World Cup , so that Bertalan Bicskei then took over the post.

EM 2000

Even under Bicskei, Hungary could not qualify for the EM 2000. This time Romania , Portugal and Slovakia were stronger. Only both games against Azerbaijan and the home game against Liechtenstein were won. In Liechtenstein, however, it was only enough to score 0-0. As fourth, the Hungarians had half as many points as group winners Romania and 11 points less than second Portugal, who also drove to the European Championship as the best second in the group. Bertalan Bicskei initially stayed in office, but was unable to lead Hungary to the 2002 World Cup and was then replaced by Imre Gellei .

EM 2004

Hungary had also applied for the 2004 European Championship in a joint application with Austria, but Portugal received the acceptance. Therefore, Hungary had to qualify again. In the qualification, Hungary met Sweden, surprisingly strong Latvians as well as Poland and for the first time San Marino . Hungary only won both games against San Marino, which lost all games, and their home game against Latvia, drew twice and lost three games. So it was only enough for fourth place again. Sweden qualified directly as group winners, Latvia through the play-offs of the group runners-up against the World Cup third Turkey. Gellei lost his post as national coach and was replaced by Lothar Matthäus , who missed qualifying for the 2006 World Cup .

EM 2008

Hungary also applied for the European Championship in 2008, this time alone, but failed due to the joint application from Austria and Switzerland and therefore had to qualify again in terms of sport. Hungary started the qualification with Péter Bozsik as national coach and met defending champions Greece , Turkey , Norway , Bosnia and Herzegovina , Moldova and Malta in a group of seven . Hungary started with a 1: 4 home defeat against Norway, then won 3: 1 in Zenica against Bosnia and Herzegovina, but then lost the home game against Turkey and Malta. Thereupon Bozsik was replaced by Péter Várhidi . But he didn't manage to turn things around either and in the end Hungary was only second to last in the group and had only scored one goal more than Malta. Greece qualified as group winners for the European Championship, but could not repeat the success of 2004 and dropped out after three defeats in the group stage. Turkey was also qualified as second in the group and reached the semi-finals at the EM where they lost to Germany with a last-minute goal by Philipp Lahm .

EM 2012

Hungary had applied again for the EM 2012, this time together with Croatia, but they lost in the second voting round against the joint application of Poland and Ukraine. This meant that the Hungarians, now trained by Sándor Egervári , had to compete against the Netherlands , Sweden , Finland , Moldova and San Marino in qualifying . Hungary only lost their first game in Sweden and both games against the Dutch. But that was only enough for third place, which was an increase compared to the previous qualifications. The Dutch and Swedes then failed in strong groups in the preliminary round of the EM. Egervári initially remained in office, but after a 1: 8 against the Netherlands in qualifying for the 2014 World Cup , the highest defeat in Hungarian international history , he resigned.

EM 2016

For the first time, 24 teams will take part in the European Championship. For the draw for the qualification groups , which took place on February 23, 2014, the Hungarians were placed in Pot 2. Hungary was drawn in Group F with Greece and was drawn as further group opponents Romania , Northern Ireland , Finland and the Faroe Islands .

The Hungarians, initially coached by Attila Pintér , started with a 1: 2 home defeat against Northern Ireland, whereupon Pál Dárdai took over the office of national coach, who was initially coach of the Hertha BSC U-15 team and later head coach of the Bundesliga team in Berlin, and saved this from relegation to the second Bundesliga. Under him it was only enough to a 1: 1 in Romania and only to a 1: 0 in the Faroe Islands. After two 1-0 victories against Finland and a goalless draw against Greece, Hungary finished third before the final games in autumn 2015, as the Greeks in particular got off to a very bad start. In July 2015, Bernd Storck , who had initially been hired as sports director in March, took over as coach. In the first game under his direction, however, it was only enough to a goalless draw against Romania and the next game in Northern Ireland also ended 1: 1. With a 2-1 win against the Faroe Islands after a 0-1 deficit, third place was consolidated and since the Romanians only scored 1-1 against Finland, there was still hope of overtaking the neighbors on the last match day. But since the Romanians won on the Faroe Islands, while the Greeks managed their only victory against Hungary, the Hungarians stayed in third place. Before the last remaining games in other groups, the Hungarians were the best third party, but the Turks against Iceland and at the same time the Kazakhs won in Latvia, the Turks pushed the Hungarians out so that they had to go through the playoffs against Norway . With a 1-0 away game on November 12, the Hungarians, where goalkeeper Gábor Király played his 100th international match , created a good starting point for the second leg, which they then won 2-1 and thus after 44 years again for the Finals qualified. For the draw on December 12, 2015, Hungary was assigned to Pot 3 and was drawn to the group with Portugal , Austria and World Cup newcomer Iceland. After a win against Austria, two draws against the other two group opponents were enough for the Hungarians to survive the group stage in a major tournament for the first time since 1966 as group winners. In the round of 16, the game ended with a 4-0 draw against Belgium.

EM 2021

Hungary had applied for the pan-European EM with the new national stadium, the Puskás Aréna , which was completed in November 2019, as a venue for three group matches and a knockout match, and was accepted for three group matches and a round of 16. Like all other host countries, Hungary still had to qualify. Group opponents were Croatia , Wales, Slovakia and Azerbaijan. The Hungarians, who have been coached by Marco Rossi since September 2018 , lost 2-0 at the start in Slovakia. After victories against the other group opponents, they lost the second leg against Slovakia and Croatia. After beating Azerbaijan, they had the chance to qualify directly on the last day of the match. To do this they had to win in Wales, but they didn't succeed. As second in their group in the 2018/19 UEFA Nations League , they still have the chance to qualify via the playoffs in October 2020. To do this, they first have to compete in Bulgaria and if they win there they have home rights against the winner of the game between Iceland and Romania. Should they qualify, they would play in the group with Germany, world champions France and defending champions Portugal and would have home rights against the latter two.

Player with the most appearances in European championships

Flórián Albert , the only Hungarian to appear in the first four games

Games	player	Year (games)
4th	Flórián Albert †	1964 (2), 1972 (2)
	Balázs Dzsudzsák	2016 (4)
	Zoltán Gera	2016 (4)
	Richárd Guzmics	2016 (4)
	Gábor Király	2016 (4)
	Ádám Lang	2016 (4)
	Ádám Szalai	2016 (4)
3	Ferenc Bene †	1964 (2), 1972 (1)
	Roland Juhász	2016 (3)
	Tamás Kádár	2016 (3)
	Ádám Nagy	2016 (3)
	Ádám Pintér	2016 (3)
	Zoltán Stieber	2016 (3)

Player with the most goals at European championships

Gates	player	Year (goals)
2	Ferenc Bene †	1964 (2), 1972 (0)
	Balázs Dzsudzsák	2016 (2)
	Dezső Novák †	1964 (2)
1	Zoltán Gera	2016 (1)
	Lajos Kü	1972 (1)
	Ádám Szalai	2016 (1)
	Zoltán Stieber	2016 (1)

Also an own goal by an Icelandic player.

As of June 26, 2016

Players banned from European championships

So far, no Hungarian has been sent off in a final match. Yellow cards had no effect on the rest of the tournament in only two games in 1972.

Share of players playing abroad in the EM squad

Due to the politics of the Eastern Bloc , the first two EM squads only included state amateurs playing in Hungary . 44 years later almost half of the players are "legionnaires".

Year (games)	Number (countries)	Players (stakes)
1964 (2)	0
1972 (2)	0
2016 (4)	11 (4 in Germany, 1 in Qatar, 4 in Poland, 1 in Slovakia, 1 in Turkey)	Péter Gulácsi , László Kleinheisler (2), Zoltán Stieber (3), Ádám Szalai (4); Krisztián Németh (2); Richárd Guzmics (4), Tamás Kádár (3), Gergő Lovrencsics (2), Nemanja Nikolics (2); Tamás Priskin (2); Balázs Dzsudzsák (4)

As of June 26, 2016

Games

Madrid Barcelona Brussels Liege Lyon Bordeaux Marseille Toulouse

Venues (green = positive balance, red = negative balance, yellow = balanced balance)

The Hungarians have played eight European Championship games so far, two of which have been won. Four games were lost and two ended in a draw. Two games had to be extended, one of which was won and one lost. The Hungarians once took part in the first game of the EM against the hosts. In the second participation, the two semi-finals took place parallel to each other. There was also another game against a host. The Hungarians played twice against the eventual European champions, but never against the defending champions. Belgium are the only opponents who have been played twice.

In no game there was the greatest victory, but in the last one the greatest defeat against the respective opponent.

All EM games
No.	date	opponent	Result	occasion	AH/*	venue	Remarks
1	06/17/1964	Spain	1: 2 a.d.	Semifinals	A.	Madrid ( ESP )
2	06/20/1964	Denmark	3: 1 a.d.	3rd place match	*	Barcelona ( ESP )
3	06/14/1972	Soviet Union	0: 1	Semifinals	*	Brussels ( BEL )
4th	06/17/1972	Belgium	1: 2	3rd place match	A.	Liege ( BEL )
5	06/14/2016	Austria	2-0	Group game	*	Bordeaux ( FRA )
6th	06/18/2016	Iceland	1: 1	Group game	*	Marseille ( FRA )
7th	06/22/2016	Portugal	3: 3	Group game	*	Décines-Charpieu ( Lyon ) ( FRA )
8th	06/26/2016	Belgium	0: 4	Quarter finals	*	Toulouse ( FRA )

Records

• Gábor Király replaced Lothar Matthäus at the age of 40 years and 74 days as the oldest European Championship player on June 14, 2016 and increased the record to 40 years and 86 days in the last game.

See also

• Hungarian national football team at world championships

Individual evidence

1. ↑ USSR 3-1 Hungary
2. ↑ Hungary 2-1 France
3. ↑ Draw for the EURO qualification: Pot 1 in focus. In: uefa.com. UEFA , February 20, 2014, accessed June 26, 2015 . 
4. ↑ fifa.com: "Storck remains coach in Hungary"