Widely regarded as the greatest Magyar soccer player of all time, Ferenc Puskás was an incredible athlete who led Hungary’s “Golden Team” to become Olympic champions in 1952, earning eternal devotion from Hungarian sports fanatics. The Zwack Family is also a Puskás fan, and to honor his last professional match 50 years ago, this distilling dynasty decided to pay tribute to him with a limited-edition series of Unicum bottles portraying Puskás, first presented to the public on April 29th in a grand ceremony attended by other famous soccer players, including Kálmán Mészöly and Márton Esterházy.
This May it was exactly 50 years ago that Ferenc Puskás put on his Real Madrid jersey for the last time to play the last professional soccer match of his life. The anniversary proved to be a good opportunity to remember the stories and successes of the Hungarian soccer legend; in the Zwack Museum, this happened alongside an additional announcement. They presented a series of new limited-edition Unicum bottles decorated with photos of the soccer legend.
Sándor Zwack, chairman of the Zwack Distillery, said that it’s their most beautiful bottle so far.
While attending this ceremony, we really felt fortunate to be at this special event: we were sitting next to Hungarian soccer legends such as Dani Böde, Lajos Détári, Márton Esterházy, Lajos Faragó, József Gelei, Roland Juhász, Benő Káposzta, Kálmán Kovács, Kálmán Mészöly, and Gyula Rákosi. Legendary soccer commentator György Szepesi was also there, as well as the CEO of Hungarian football club Ferencváros, Pál Orosz. There was certainly no shortage of nostalgia: Kálmán Mészöly told us that on the eve of the legendary ’66 Hungary-Brazil match, Puskás personally visited the Hungarian national team’s hotel to cheer on the players. Márton Esterházy told us with a smile how he was scolded by the football legend after calling him “Uncle Buddy”, a funny twist on Puskás’s nickname, “Buddy Puskás” (“Puskás Öcsi” in Hungarian).
As a big surprise for the audience, Emilio Butragueño, the legendary soccer player of Real Madrid, sent them a video message, in which he greeted everyone and referred to Ferenc Puskás as one of the team’s best players. In the Zwack Museum, we can check out the former Real Madrid jersey, trophies, and shoes of Ferenc Puskás within the frameworks of a mini exhibition, while these bottles will be available at the Zwack Museum gift shop and supermarkets across Hungary – while supplies last.
