Germany Hungria 1954

One of those iconic matches. The 1954 World Cup final saw West Germany beating Hungary by 3-2 at the Wankdorf Stadium in Bern. Known by many as the Miracle of Bern, the match had a strong political connotation as it contributed to West Germany started building an international after the loss of the war and the end of the Nazi regime. Hungary, on the other end, was facing the rise to power of a communist-authoritarian regime.

So, this clash of ideals, lead West Germany to win their first World Cup and Hungary to their best result so far captained by the legendary Ferenc Puskás. Hungary started with two goals in two minutes (6´and 8´) by Puskás himself and Czibor. The Mannschaft scored two minutes late but only managed to seal the win in the 84th minute when Rahn scored his second goal of the match.

This match took an even bigger stage when after the final whistle, reactions on both sides, clearly showed the political and social aspects of West Germany´s victory.

As Hungary´s Goalkeeper stated: “The reaction in Hungary was terrible. Hundreds of thousands of people poured into the streets in the hours after the match. On the pretext of football, they demonstrated against the regime ... in those demonstrations, I believe, lay the seeds of the 1956 uprising.”