The FIFA World Cup is an international association football competition contested by the men's national teams of the members of Fédération Internationale de Football Association (FIFA), the sport's global governing body. The championship has been awarded every four years since the first tournament in 1930, except in 1942 and 1946, due to World War II.
The tournament consists of two parts, the qualification phase and the final phase (officially called the World Cup Finals). The qualification phase, which currently take place over the three years preceding the Finals, is used to determine which teams qualify for the Finals. The current format of the Finals involves 32 teams competing for the title, at venues within the host nation (or nations) over a period of about a month. The World Cup Finals is the most widely viewed sporting event in the world, with an estimated 715.1 million people watching the 2006 tournament final.
Hungary have appeared in the FIFA World Cup on nine occasions, the first being at the 1934 where they reached the quarter-final. They have been runners-up on two occasions, in 1938 and 1954.[1] They have failed to qualify for the FIFA World Cup since 1986.
Record at the FIFA World Cup
| Year | Round | Position | Pld | W | D* | L | GF | GA | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
 1930 | Did not enter | |||||||||
 1934 | Quarter-finals | 6th | 2 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 5 | 4 | ||
 1938 | Final | 2nd | 4 | 3 | 0 | 1 | 15 | 5 | ||
 1950 | Did not enter | |||||||||
 1954 | Final | 2nd | 5 | 4 | 0 | 1 | 27 | 10 | ||
 1958 | Group Stage | 10th | 4 | 1 | 1 | 2 | 7 | 5 | ||
 1962 | Quarter-finals | 5th | 4 | 2 | 1 | 1 | 8 | 3 | ||
 1966 | Quarter-finals | 6th | 4 | 2 | 0 | 2 | 8 | 7 | ||
 1970 | Did not qualify | |||||||||
 1974 | ||||||||||
 1978 | Group Stage | 15th | 3 | 0 | 0 | 3 | 3 | 8 | ||
 1982 | Group Stage | 14th | 3 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 12 | 6 | ||
| 1986 | Group Stage | 18th | 3 | 1 | 0 | 2 | 2 | 9 | ||
 1990 | Did not qualify | |||||||||
 1994 | ||||||||||
 1998 | ||||||||||
  2002 | ||||||||||
| 2006 | ||||||||||
 2010 | ||||||||||
 2014 | ||||||||||
 2018 | ||||||||||
 2022 | ||||||||||
 2026 | To be determined | |||||||||
  2030 | ||||||||||
 2034 | ||||||||||
| Total | Runners-up | 9/25 | 32 | 15 | 3 | 14 | 87 | 57 | ||
- *Draws include knockout matches decided on penalty kicks
| Hungary's World Cup record | |
|---|---|
| First Match |  Hungary 4–2 Egypt  (27 May 1934; Naples, Italy) |
| Biggest Win |  Hungary 9–0  South Korea(17 June 1954; Zürich, Switzerland)  Hungary 10–1 El Salvador  (15 June 1982; Elche, Spain) |
| Biggest Defeat |  Soviet Union 6–0 Hungary (2 June 1986; Irapuato, Mexico) |
| Best Result | Runners-up in 1938 and 1954 |
| Worst Result | Group stage in 1958, 1978, 1982 and 1986 |
By Match
Record by Opponent
| FIFA World Cup matches (by team) | ||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Opponent | Wins | Draws | Losses | Total | Goals Scored | Goals Conceded |
| Argentina | 0 | 1 | 2 | 3 | 2 | 6 |
 Austria | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 2 |
 Belgium | 0 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 1 |
| Brazil | 2 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 7 | 3 |
 Bulgaria | 2 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 9 | 2 |
| Canada | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 2 | 0 |
 Czechoslovakia | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 1 |
 Dutch East Indies | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 6 | 0 |
 Egypt | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 4 | 2 |
| El Salvador | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 10 | 1 |
| England | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 2 | 1 |
| France | 0 | 0 | 2 | 2 | 1 | 6 |
| Italy | 0 | 0 | 2 | 2 | 3 | 7 |
| Mexico | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 4 | 0 |
| Portugal | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 3 |
 South Korea | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 9 | 0 |
| Soviet Union | 0 | 0 | 2 | 2 | 1 | 8 |
| Sweden | 1 | 0 | 1 | 2 | 6 | 3 |
| Switzerland | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 2 | 0 |
| Uruguay | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 4 | 2 |
 Wales | 0 | 1 | 1 | 2 | 2 | 3 |
| West Germany | 1 | 0 | 1 | 2 | 10 | 6 |
FIFA World Cup Finals
1938 World Cup Final v Italy
The third edition of the FIFA World Cup was the first without the host team competing in the final. At half-time, defending champions Italy were leading by 3-1 and Hungary did not manage to get back into the game.
1954 World Cup Final v West Germany
The Hungarian Golden Team were favourites for winning the World Cup in Switzerland in 1954 after 31 unbeaten games in the previous five years, among them a recent 7-1 against England and an 8–3 against their West German opponents in the group stage only two weeks before the final.
In one of the greatest comebacks in football history, the favoured Hungarians were defeated 2-3 despite an early 2–0 lead.
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Record players
| Rank | Player | Matches | World Cups |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Sándor Mátrai | 12 | 1958, 1962 and 1966 |
| Ferenc Sipos | 12 | 1958, 1962 and 1966 | |
| 3 | Gyula Grosics | 11 | 1954, 1958 and 1962 |
| 4 | József Bozsik | 8 | 1954 and 1958 |
| László Sárosi | 8 | 1958 and 1962 | |
| Lajos Tichy | 8 | 1958 and 1962 | |
| Kálmán Mészöly | 8 | 1962 and 1966 | |
| 8 | Flórián Albert | 7 | 1962 and 1966 |
| Gyula Rákosi | 7 | 1962 and 1966 | |
| 10 | Nándor Hidegkuti | 6 | 1954 and 1958 |
| Máté Fenyvesi | 6 | 1958 and 1962 | |
| Károly Sándor | 6 | 1958 and 1962 | |
| Győző Martos | 6 | 1978 and 1982 | |
| Imre Garaba | 6 | 1982 and 1986 | |
| Sándor Sallai | 6 | 1982 and 1986 |
Top goalscorers
With 11 goals in five matches in 1954, Sándor Kocsis beat Brazilian Ademir's existing record of nine goals in one tournament from 1950. However, only four years later the record was in turn beaten by Just Fontaine.
| Rank | Player | Goals | World Cups |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Sándor Kocsis | 11 | 1954 |
| 2 | Lajos Tichy | 7 | 1958 (4) and 1962 (3) |
| 3 | György Sárosi | 6 | 1934 (1) and 1938 (5) |
| 4 | Gyula Zsengellér | 5 | 1938 |
| 5 | Nándor Hidegkuti | 4 | 1954 |
| Ferenc Puskás | 4 | 1954 | |
| Flórián Albert | 4 | 1962 | |
| Ferenc Bene | 4 | 1966 | |
| 9 | Géza Toldi | 3 | 1934 (2) and 1938 (1) |
| Zoltán Czibor | 3 | 1954 | |
| László Kiss | 3 | 1982 |
Goalscoring By Tournament
| World Cup | Goalscorer(s) |
|---|---|
| 1934 | Géza Toldi(2), György Sárosi, Pál Teleki, Jenő Vincze |
| 1938 | György Sárosi(5), Gyula Zsengellér(5), Pál Titkos(2), Vilmos Kohut, Géza Toldi, Own Goal |
| 1954 | Sándor Kocsis(11), Nándor Hidegkuti(4), Ferenc Puskás(4), Zoltán Czibor(3), Mihály Lantos(2), Péter Palotás(2), József Tóth |
| 1958 | Lajos Tichy(4), József Bencsics, József Bozsik, Károly Sándor |
| 1962 | Flórián Albert(4), Lajos Tichy(3), Ernő Solymosi |
| 1966 | Ferenc Bene(4), Kálmán Mészöly(2), János Farkas, Own Goal |
| 1978 | Károly Csapó, András Tóth, Sándor Zombori |
| 1982 | László Kiss(3), László Fazekas(2), Tibor Nyilasi(2), Gábor Pölöskei(2), Lázár Szentes, József Tóth, József Varga |
| 1986 | Lajos Détári, Márton Esterházy |