THE MAGYARS AGAIN

On 12 October 1902, Austria defeated Hungary 5-0 in a Vienna friendly. It was the first match for both national sides and fittingly, their first meeting.

The match was played at the ground of Wiener A.C. and the Viennese club's players scored all five goals in the Austrian victory. Striker Josef Taurer put the Austrians ahead with a goal in the 5th minute, then striker Johann Studnicka, added a second in the 10th minute. Studnicka (below) and Gustav Huber then extended the lead to 4-0 before Studnicka scored the final goal to complete his hat-trick.

Eventually, both sides went on to claim glory as two of Europe's most successful teams. Austria's "Wunderteam" rose to prominence in the 1930s, winning the 1932 Central European Cup (the predecessor of the European Championship), while Hungary's "Golden Team" went on a 50-match unbeaten run between 1950 and 1957 and won the gold medal in the 1952 Summer Olympics.

Hungary first met England who were on a European tour in 1908, "spreading the word of football", winning 0-7. There were two games played in 1909, England on tour again, resulting in a 2-4 and 2-8 win for the tourists.  The next meets were in 1934 in Hungary, England losing 1-2 and then in England in 1936 with a 6-2 win for the English. The War got in the way of fixtures until 1953.

England play Hungary today at Wembley, where the FA expects a crowd of around 80,000, a few short of the crowd of 105,000 that saw the "Match of the 20th Century" at Wembley, when England lost 3-6 to Hungary, "The Mighty Magyars" spearheaded by Ferenc Puskas (middle front), on November 25th 1953. 

In 1954 England hoped to get their own back, BUT The Magyars won 7-1 in the Nepstadion, Budapest, with 92,000 looking on.

In 1960 the two met in Hungary at Nepstadion again, with the hosts winning 2-0 and then in the 1962 World Cup, England lost 1-2 in Rancagua, Chile. Twenty years later there were two World Cup victories for England 3-1 in Budapest, Trevor Brooking scoring twice and 1-0 at Wembley with Paul Mariner scoring. 

In 1983 there were two wins in the UEFA Championships 2-0 (Francis and Withe) and 0-3 away, under Bobby Robson. Hoddle, Lee and Mariner scoring.

Since then there have been seven friendlies (England won 5 and drawn 2) until the last meeting, following an 11 year gap on September 2nd 2021, a World Cup qualifier, played in the Puskas Arena. England won 0-4 and our goalscorers were Sterling, Kane, Maguire and Rice, all scored in the second half.

AN IMPORTANT HISTORIC ADDITION

The oldest non-British international match was played on July 20 1902 in Montevideo, when Uruguay (largely influenced by European migrants) lost to Argentina (also with European connections through trade etc) 0-6. 

NOTE: the first international match EVER was between Scotland and England at Partick on 30.11.1872, resulting in a 0-0 draw! Elsewhere, out of Europe, British Guyana played Trinidad and Tobago on July 21st 1905, resulting in a 1-4 for the visitors. Heavy European influence here, no doubt.