PM Orban: Puskas Museum Opening Clears a Long Overdue Debt

On Hungarian Soccer Day a long-awaited project has finally become a reality: the Puskas Museum, dedicated to the legacy of Ferenc Puskas and the Golden Team, opened in the former Nepstadion's tower within the Puskas Arena. Emilio Butragueno, Real Madrid's international director, was in Budapest for the opening ceremony, and said the royal team was also grateful for the museum. Hungary's Prime Minister Viktor Orban said he had taken seriously the promise he made to the legendary footballer during a card game and wine spritzers, and that today and the museum marked the real completion of the Puskas Arena, which opened its doors five years ago.

Hungary's Prime Minister Viktor Orban (right), former Sports Minister Pal Schmitt (left) and former national soccer team manager and player Peter Bozsik (center) at the opening of the Puskas Museum in Budapest (Photo: Attila Polyak)

"It is an honor to be here today. On behalf of the president of Real Madrid, Florentino Perez, and the entire community of our club, I would like to express my gratitude for this invitation," Butragueno began. "At Real Madrid, we admire the legends who have created our 122-year history. It is clear that Ferenc Puskas was one of the most outstanding figures of this history, and changed the history of Real Madrid and the football world forever. Real Madrid will remember Ferenc Puskas not only as an exceptionally successful footballer, but also for his values of hard work, self-sacrifice, team spirit and camaraderie. The museum will also serve to convey these values, which also pleases Real Madrid. We are also grateful to Puskas for the role he has played in growing Real Madrid fan support in this country, which is very dear to us.

Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban began his speech by pointing out that, a decade and a half ago, when efforts were made to rebuild Hungarian soccer, the world's favorite sport lay in ruins in Hungary.

"It's practically unfathomable that we went from once being the best in the world at this and in about half a century, were no longer on the map of football. But this is what happened. The isolated behind the Iron Curtain, forcibly nationalized football life, which had once flourished, slowly took on the monotonous grayness of the communist world."

Viktor Orban also recalled the depths to which Hungarian soccer had plummeted at the turn of the millennium.

"The low point was when only a few hundred people went to see a national team match and there was no TV coverage. And now we have reached the point where tickets for the 60,000-capacity Puskas Arena sell out in a matter of hours. We have come a long way. The old Nepstadion was a symbol of decline, the Puskas Arena is a symbol of renewal," he stated.

Viktor Orban: The Puskas Arena is truly complete starting today

Ferenc Puskas is the idol of all teenagers, a synonym for balls in the net. "Zoltan Czibor said of the legend that 'when Puskas kicked the ball, that amounted to two goals'," said the PM, who also shared a personal memory of Ferenc Puskas.

"He too, traveled the country and was worried about Hungarian soccer, and already in the 1990s he foresaw that the crisis of his beloved sport would deepen. We took seriously the promise we made to him during a card game and some wine spritzes, namely that we would work on Hungarian football."

Mr Orban then pointed out that at the turn of the millennium, the number of official soccer players had fallen below 100,000, and most of them were in the mature age group, whereas today the number of players has tripled, and the majority of the almost 300,000 footballers are in the youth division.

He added that two thousand rural soccer fields had been renovated and the home stadiums of first and second division clubs had been renewed. The presence of Hungarian teams in the main draw of the European Cup [UEFA] is once again a constant, we qualified for the European Championship in 2016 after 44 years, and since then, again and again, we have a leading Hungarian, Dominik Szoboszlai, in one of the best clubs in the world.

"We, however, still had a big, old, painful debt," Viktor Orban noted, adding "the Puskas Arena could not really be declared complete since its inauguration and opening in 2019. We owed it to the world and to ourselves, and above all, of course, we owed it to Uncle Ocsi [Puskas] and his brilliant teammates, to erect a worthy monument to their memory. The Puskas Museum fulfills this role."