Hungary at the 1978 FIFA World Cup

Hungary was in Group 9 of UEFA's World Cup qualifications. They played alongside Soviet Union and Greece.

Group stage

Greece  v  Hungary

9 October 1976	Greece	1 – 1	Hungary	Athens, Greece
	Papaioannou  68'	Report	Kereki  84'	Referee: Wöhrer (Austria)

Hungary  v  Soviet Union

30 April 1977	Hungary	2 – 1	Soviet Union	Budapest, Hungary
	Nyilasi  44' Kereki  67'	Report	Kipiani  88'	Referee: Aldinger (West Germany)

Soviet Union  v  Hungary

18 May 1977	Soviet Union	2 – 0	Hungary	Tbilisi, Soviet Union
	Burjak  3' Bálint  14' (o.g.)	Report		Referee: Taylor (England)

Hungary  v  Greece

28 May 1977	Hungary	3 – 0	Greece	Budapest, Hungary
	Pusztai  13' Nyilasi  15' Fazekas  88'	Report		Referee: Beck (Netherlands)

Standings

Pos	Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts
1	Hungary	4	2	1	1	6	4	+2	5
2	Soviet Union	4	2	0	2	5	3	+2	4
3	Greece	4	1	1	2	2	6	−4	3

Hungary advanced to the UEFA / CONMEBOL Intercontinental Play-off.

Playoff

First leg

Hungary  v  Bolivia

29 October 1977 (1977-10-29)	Hungary	6–0	Bolivia	Népstadion, Budapest
	Nyilasi  12' Törőcsik  19' Zombori  22' Várady  27' Pintér  39' Nagy  81'	Report		Attendance: 60,000 Referee: Ramón Barreto (Uruguay)

Second leg

Bolivia  v  Hungary

30 November 1977 (1977-11-30)	Bolivia	2–3	Hungary	Estadio Hernando Siles, La Paz
	Aragonés  45+2' (pen.), 90+4'	Report	Törőcsik  37' Halász  43' Del Llano  84' (o.g.)	Attendance: 46,583 Referee: Charles Corver (Netherlands)

Hungary won 9–2 on aggregate and qualified to the World Cup.

Head coach: Lajos Baróti

No.	Pos.	Player	Date of birth (age)	Caps	Club
1	1GK	Sándor Gujdár	(1951-11-08)8 November 1951 (aged 26)	19	Budapest Honvéd
2	2DF	Péter Török	(1951-04-18)18 April 1951 (aged 27)	29	Vasas
3	2DF	István Kocsis	(1949-10-06)6 October 1949 (aged 28)	6	Budapest Honvéd
4	3MF	József Tóth	(1951-12-02)2 December 1951 (aged 26)	25	Újpesti Dózsa
5	3MF	Sándor Zombori	(1951-10-31)31 October 1951 (aged 26)	16	Vasas
6	2DF	Zoltán Kereki (c)	(1953-07-13)13 July 1953 (aged 24)	24	Haladás
7	4FW	László Fazekas	(1947-10-15)15 October 1947 (aged 30)	71	Újpesti Dózsa
8	4FW	Tibor Nyilasi	(1955-01-18)18 January 1955 (aged 23)	26	Ferencváros
9	4FW	András Törőcsik	(1955-05-01)1 May 1955 (aged 23)	11	Újpesti Dózsa
10	3MF	Sándor Pintér	(1950-07-18)18 July 1950 (aged 27)	32	Budapest Honvéd
11	4FW	Béla Várady	(1953-04-12)12 April 1953 (aged 25)	28	Vasas
12	2DF	Győző Martos	(1949-12-15)15 December 1949 (aged 28)	11	Ferencváros
13	3MF	Károly Csapó	(1952-02-23)23 February 1952 (aged 26)	5	Tatabányai
14	2DF	László Bálint	(1948-02-01)1 February 1948 (aged 30)	54	Ferencváros
15	2DF	Tibor Rab	(1955-10-02)2 October 1955 (aged 22)	11	Ferencváros
16	3MF	István Halász	(1951-10-12)12 October 1951 (aged 26)	3	Tatabányai
17	4FW	László Pusztai	(1946-03-01)1 March 1946 (aged 32)	22	Ferencváros
18	3MF	László Nagy	(1949-10-21)21 October 1949 (aged 28)	21	Újpesti Dózsa
19	4FW	András Tóth	(1949-09-05)5 September 1949 (aged 28)	14	Újpesti Dózsa
20	3MF	Ferenc Fülöp	(1955-02-22)22 February 1955 (aged 23)	0	MTK
21	1GK	Ferenc Mészáros	(1950-04-11)11 April 1950 (aged 28)	13	Vasas
22	1GK	László Kovács	(1951-04-24)24 April 1951 (aged 27)	12	Videoton

• Hungary at the 1978 FIFA World Cup
• 1978 FIFA World Cup matches
• 1978 FIFA World Cup Europe Qualifiers