Gyula Grosics was a goalkeeper who played 86 times for the Hungarian national team and played on the legendary team which remained undefeated from 1950-54. At the 1952 Helsinki Olympics Grosics led Hungary to the gold medal, and in 1953 he helped defeat England at Wembley, 6-3, the English national team’s first loss on home soil. At the 1954 World Cup in Switzerland, Grosics was in goal as Hungary lost the final 3-2 against the Federal Republic of Germany, Hungary’s first loss in four years, a match known as the “Miracle of Bern”. Grosics played for Honved Budapest from 1950-54, winning four Hungarian titles, and later played for Tatabanya from 1956-62.
Grosics had tried to defect from Hungary in 1949 but was unsuccessful. In 1954 he was suspected of treason and espionage by the Communist authorities and was placed under house arrest and was out of sport for two years. He later returned and played in the 1958 and 1962 World Cups. Grosics later became a trainer and worked with the Hungarian democracy movement. After Hungary turned democratic in 1990, Grosics ran for Parliament with the conservative Hungarian Democratic Forum, but was not elected.
Hungary