Defeat, victory and draw. This is Viktoria´s record in three games against the elite Hungarian club Ferencváros. While the two duels in preparation from recent years, a 0-0 draw in 2023 and a 3-1 win in 2024 (goals by Chorý, Šulc, Kalvach) are vividly remembered, the 1949 tournament clash is almost forgotten.

It wasn´t just any issue. In the summer of 1949 an international tournament "For the Cup of the Director of the State Baths Piestany" was played in Piestany, Slovakia. This would not be strange if one of the participants was not the most famous Hungarian team FTC Ferencváros, at that time one of the best teams in world football. When the invitation to this two-day competition arrived to the secretary of the Plzeň Škoda, everyone in Plzeň considered it an honour to take part in this tournament. It was expected that Škoda would meet Ferencváros in the final. What led to such optimistic reasoning? Well, another significantly weaker competition in the form of Sokol Kúpele Piešt´any, a participant of the 1st class, and Sokol NV Topol´čany, starting in the division.

It was played on 16 and 17 July 1949 at the local stadium and the first two matches went as expected. Indeed, Skoda and the reigning Hungarian champion made it to the final. Before we follow the trail of the ninety minutes, let´s take a look at the history of FTC Ferencváros, the most famous club in the history of Hungarian football. The club was founded on 3 May 1899 and throughout its history has always been one of the best domestic teams. There were periods when it did not let anyone ahead of it in the domestic league for a long time. It won championship titles regularly and was the most successful team of the interwar Central European Cup. The green and white jersey was worn by a long line of national team players. Among the most successful were Józef Takács, Sándor Kocsis, later Flórián Albert and Tibor Nyilasi. Recently, three Czechs have also played for the club: Marek Heinz, Martin Klein and Robert Vágner from Pilsen.

In 1949, six players played for the Hungarian rivals Skoda: goalkeeper Henni, right-back Rudas, central midfielder Kispéter, right-back Kocsis, left winger Czibor and central striker Deák. The latter scored a staggering 59 goals for the Hungarian league champions. And that´s the kind of team Plzeň Škoda played against. The brave West Bohemian eleven consisted of Benedikt - Fábera, V. Svoboda - Zd. Sloup, Šnajdr, R. Sloup - Perk, Süss, E. Svoboda, J. Böhm, Švajner. The Hungarians, as a high favourite, started with Henni - Rudas, Szabo - Pékanni, Kispéter, Lekat - Budai, Kocsis, Deák, Naszáross (Schnidt), Tihányi. All the players in the line-up!

Sándor Kocsis became the most famous later on. In 1929 he played 58 international matches for Hungary, scoring an incredible 75 goals! He was part of the team that won gold medals at the 1952 Olympics in Helsinki and silver medals two years later at the World Championships in Switzerland. In the first half of the 1950s, Hungarians played the best football in the world. Kocsis later played for Honvéd Budapest, briefly for Young Boys Bern and from 1958 to 1965 for the star-studded FC Barcelona. The black-haired dude was an excellent technician and above all a goalscorer.

The final of the tournament in Piešt´any was a showcase of modern football played by both teams. The Pilsen footballers put on a top performance. Eyewitnesses claimed after the match that it was the best performance of Skoda in recent years. Although initially the Škoda players found it difficult to get the ball rolling, perhaps out of respect for the big name of their opponent, they played nervously, which was reflected in the rashness in front of the Ferencváros goal, where the strikers wasted several very good opportunities. The Hungarians, on the other hand, lulled by the first goal scored by Kocsis, relaxed. Pilsen took advantage of this, increasing their pace and precision and threatening Henni´s goal badly. And with ten minutes to go, sharpshooter Vladimir Perk fired a shot from mid-range that surprisingly ended up in the net - 1:1.

Also after the change of sides, Skoda was more attacking in the beginning and showed nice combination actions. After an hour of play they even took the lead. The agile Jindřich Švajner escaped on the left wing, everyone expected a centre in front of the goal, but a fake technical shot from a great angle ended up in the net - 2:1 for Škoda! Only now did the Hungarians recognize the danger of Pilsen and put themselves into the game. Škoda started to defend more, they were already partially exhausted. By the end of the match the Hungarians scored three goals: in the 62nd minute Deák equalised at 2:2, in the 70th minute Kocsis scored the lead and in the 90th minute Schnidt set the final score 4:2.

Photo captions

Viktoria in 1948. Standing from left František Berka, Jindřich Švajner, Václav Svoboda, Jaroslav Böhm, Emil Svoboda, Ladislav Fikerle, Emil Folta, in front from left Josef Šnajdr - Perák, Vladimír Perk, Antonín Honomichl, Zdeněk Sloup, Rudolf Sloup.

One of the best footballers in the world, Sándor Kocsis, played against Viktoria for Ferencváros. Pictured here later in the FC Barcelona jersey.

PREPARED BY: PAVEL HOCHMAN, CLUB ARCHIVIST

Tickets for the home return match against Ferencváros can be purchased HERE.