If you know your history then you know that football owes a debt to Hungary. Johan Cruyff’s Holland is regarded by many as the greatest team to never win the World Cup. The Brazil squad of 1982 are also remembered as a beautiful failure. However, the best of all may have been Hungary’s Magical Magyars. Their controversial 3-2 defeat to Germany in the 1954 showpiece was the only game they lost between 1950 and 1956, a six year period that featured 50 games.

It was truly a golden period for Hungarian football and the feats of stars like Ferenc Puskas are unlikely to ever be topped. Puskas, a legendary attacker who won three European Cups with Real Madrid, is the country’s all-time top scorer with 84 goals from 85 appearances. His strike partner of the day, Barcelona and Honved hero Sandor Kocsis, sits second on that list with an improved 1.1 goals per game average, 75 goals from 68 games.

Every other player in the top ten played for Hungary before 1985.

Yet there are signs of life among this once powerful football country. Their run to the last 16 of Euro 2016 was their best performance at a European Championships for 40 years. Roland Juhasz, a former Hungary mainstay who retired from international football after the tournament, told Bleedin Deadly that it was his greatest moment in football. “It was really the highlight of my career,” Juhasz said. “Of course, I had many nice memories from club football, but it feels different for the national team. What we lived through during Euro 2016, was something really special, we felt love from all around Hungary! For these magical moments alone, it is worth being a football player.”

Hungary benefitted from an expanded European Championship format, the tournament upping the number of teams from 16 to 24. Juhasz was sceptical at first but was pleasantly surprised by how competitive the France finals were. “I was a bit worried that the level of football will decrease, but the so called “small teams” showed lots of quality during Euro 2016. So I do not think that’s a problem, now I see this decision as a good idea.”

The World Cup is also due for expansion in 2026, going from 32 teams to 48.

While a recent defeat to Andorra was a low point for the national team, Videoton press officer Gresso Gergely believes that Euro 2016 showed that Hungarian football is developing. “Our club is really proud that Roland Juhász, Attila Fiola and Ádám Lang (who now plays for Dijon) was part of the 23-man squad,” he told Bleedin Deadly. Videoton players can continue to make the country proud when they take on Bordeaux in the Europa League third round of qualifiers.

The two decades following the Magical Magyars saw Hungarian clubs competing proudly on the European stage. There were three semi-final and five quarter-final appearances in the European Cup. Ferencvaros won the Fairs Cup (now the Europa League). There were two other semi-finalists and three quarter-finalists. The only club to make it that far since then was Videoton, losing the 1985 UEFA Cup final 3-1 on aggregate against Real Madrid.

The last Hungarian club to reach the group stage (in 2012), there is a belief at the club that they can achieve that feat again. They narrowly missed out on the title last season, a shaky start undermined the fact that they scored the most goals and conceded the least. In the end, they were pipped by a Honved side that picked up three more points than them. With new head coach Marko Nikolic, Gergely hopes they ‘can fulfil our ambitions this season.’

“We prefer not to talk about individuals, as we win or lose together as a team. We have of course experienced, well-known players, like Roland Juhász, Attila Fiola, Danko Lazovics or Anel Hadzic, who played in Euros, or World Cups for their nation,” said Gresso, talking about the strength of Videoton.

“We have many other footballers who played for the national team like Roland Szolnoki, Vinícius Paulo, Stopira, István Kovács, Mate Pátkai, József Varga, Ádám Bódi, Mirko Maric or Marko Scsepovics. Our youngest player who already debuted for the first team is 19 years old Bence Szabó, his first game was the 2nd leg of our duel against Nömme Kalju.”

Once a target for both Sunderland and Celtic, Juhasz is now the captain of Videoton. The 34-year-old has serious European experience from his time with Anderlecht. He could have amassed even more had he been allowed to move. “There were some enquiries but I only knew about one direct offer during my career,” he reflects. “I really wanted to play in the Premier League or in the Bundesliga earlier, but now it’s the past, I would like to focus on my present and future. But yes, it would definitely have been a good thing to play in England.”

Bringing focus back to the matter at hand, Juhasz is relishing the upcoming battle. “We will prepare for Bordeaux’s playing style, and we’ll do everything that we can against them on the pitch,” he continued. “I do not wish to talk about tactics in public. It will be a much harder duel than the ones against Balzan and Nömme Kalju, but we need to enjoy these matches and if we can play at our best level, we have a chance to go through to the next round.”