Gusztáv Sebes

In 1948, Sebes, along with Béla Mandik and Gábor Kompóti-Kléber, was part of a three-man committee that took charge of the Hungary national football team. However, by 1949, with the title of Deputy Minister of Sport, Sebes was in sole charge and was given complete control of planning for the national side. He was inspired by the Austrian Wunderteam and the Italian team that won two World Cups in the 1930s. Both teams were predominantly drawn from one or two clubs, and Sebes wanted a similar system in Hungary. In January 1949, when Hungary became a Communist state, the resulting nationalisation of football clubs gave Sebes the opportunity. The two biggest Hungarian clubs at the time were Ferencvárosi TC and MTK Hungária FC. However, while the secret police (the ÁVH) took over MTK, Ferencváros was considered unsuitable because of its right wing and nationalist traditions. Sebes turned instead to Kispest AC, and the club was taken over by the Hungarian Ministry of Defence; it became the Hungarian Army team and was subsequently renamed Budapest Honvéd SE.

The Kispest AC team already included Ferenc Puskás and József Bozsik, but army conscription now enabled Honvéd to recruit Sándor Kocsis, Zoltán Czibor, and László Budai from Ferencvárosi TC; Gyula Lóránt from Vasas SC; and goalkeeper Gyula Grosics. Sebes was effectively able to use Honvéd as a training camp for the national team. Meanwhile, at MTK, coach Márton Bukovi began using the vital 4-2-4 formation, later adopted by Sebes. In particular, Bukovi, together with Péter Palotás and Nándor Hidegkuti, pioneered the crucial deep lying centre-forward position. Other MTK players, Mihály Lantos and József Zakariás, provided the Mighty Magyars with a solid defence.

It was at the 1952 Helsinki Summer Olympics that Sebes and his Mighty Magyars first came to prominence. With a forward line that included Ferenc Puskás, Sándor Kocsis, and super-sub Péter Palotás, Hungary easily progressed to the final. In five games, they scored 20 goals and conceded only two. In the semifinal, they defeated defending Olympic Champions Sweden 6–0; and in the final, they beat Yugoslavia 2–0, with goals from Puskás and Zoltán Czibor. Among those who witnessed Hungary's Olympics victory was Stanley Rous, secretary-general of the English FA and future FIFA president; he subsequently approached Sebes and invited Hungary to play England at Wembley.

Sebes planned for the game against England meticulously. He borrowed the heavier type of balls used by the English FA so that his team could practice with them and altered his training pitch so that the dimensions matched those at Wembley. He also arranged practice matches against Hungarian club sides ordered to play in the English style, and on 15 November 1953—two weeks before the England game—Hungary played Sweden's team, coached by Englishman George Raynor. He also made the decision to use Nándor Hidegkuti instead of Péter Palotás in the deep lying centre-forward role. On 19 September 1952, in a Central European International Cup game against Switzerland with Hungary down 2–0 after half an hour, he replaced Palotás with Hidegkuti. Inspired by Hidegkuti, Hungary was level at half time and eventually won, 4–2. On 17 May 1953, Hidegkuti helped Hungary clinch the Central European title when he scored in a 3–0 win against Italy at the Stadio Olimpico.

In 1953, on the way to London to play England, Sebes and the Mighty Magyars stopped in Paris and played a warm-up game against his former team (Olympique Billancourt), beating them 18–1 in front of 3,000 spectators. On 25 November 1953, Hungary took on an English team that included Stanley Matthews, Stan Mortensen, Billy Wright, and Alf Ramsey, and defeated them 6–3. In a stunning display of football, Hidegkuti scored a hat trick and Ferenc Puskás scored twice. After the game, a rematch was arranged as a warm-up for the 1954 World Cup. The return took place at the Népstadion in Budapest, and Hungary put in another impressive performance, winning 7–1.

Hungary entered the 1954 World Cup with both confidence and an unbeaten record stretching back to 1950. They easily progressed through the group stages, with wins over South Korea and understrength Germany. Then, in the quarter-finals, Hungary won 4–2, surviving a bruising encounter (also known as the Battle of Berne) with Brazil. The game finished in a brawl, and Sebes ended up with four stitches after having been struck with a broken bottle. In the semifinals, Hungary defeated reigning world champions Uruguay. The game was 2–2 in extra time until Sándor Kocsis scored twice to seal another 4–2 win. In the final, they met Germany once again; however, the competition would end in disappointment for Hungary, losing 3–2 to the Germans in the "Miracle of Bern."