HUNGARY 2026-PLAYER DEVELOPMENT PROGRAM

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LEADING HUNGARIAN CLUB PUSKAS ACADEMY INVITES SOCCER FUND FOUNDERS GARY & CARINE IRELAND TO TRAIN PUSKAS ACADEMY PLAYERS & DEVELOP LONG TERM PLAYER TECHNICAL DEVELOPMENT & COACHING METHODOLOGY PROGRAMS GARY & CARINE IRELAND TO TRAIN PUSKAS ACADEMY PLAYERS& DEVELOP LONG TERM PLAYER TECHNICAL DEVELOPMENT & COACHING METHODOLOGY PROGRAMS

Gary Ireland garyjamesireland@gmail.com (650) 387-4128

“At Puskas Academy they understand that players of all ages, both young players and professionals, benefit from and enjoy constant technical training of the highest order. Emphasizing continuous technical development with young players only and ignoring the needs of older professional players has been a mistake made by many football educators. While it’s not new to us it’s now finally becoming mainstream and we're pleased to be on the cutting edge of this fast growing and extremely important area of the game” (Gary Ireland) 

Puskas Academy FC is located 30 minutes from Budapest in Felcsut. The club was established by Hungarian Prime Minister Victor Orban to pay homage to the legendary Ferenc Puskas and  one of the worlds most unique and one of the worlds finest stadiums and facilities was then constructed in Puskas' honor. Named the ‘Pancho Arena’ after Puskas' nickname at Real Madrid it displays Ferenc Puskás’ memorabilia from his Real Madrid and Hungarian national team playing days. (see link) and serves as a training location for its men’s, women’s professional team and youth girls and boys academies. Puskas Academy FC Boys Academy has over 80 players in residential facility with education provided while the Puskas Academy FC women's sector is also one of the leading Hungarian women's clubs, with over 50 youth and women's players in year-round residence. Puskas Academy FC network extends to 5 countries with 8 affiliate leading professional clubs from Hungary, Slovakia, Slovenia, Croatia, Romania, Serbia belonging to its Carpathian Basin Academy group

Hungarian 1st Division club Puskas Academy FC has invited Soccer Fund founders Gary and Carine Ireland as Senior Technical Advisors to train its Boys and Girls professional Academy players ages 12-17 and to educate and collaborate with Puskas Academy coaches in the technical development aspects of the game and also assist in developing a technical player development and coach mentoring program for the Puskas Academy technical feeder program, players ages 6-12, a first of its kind in Hungarian football. 

Carine and Gary will visit Hungary frequently in 2026 where they are instrumental in organizing invite only "The Technical Symposium" located at the Puskas Academy between April 27-28 where they will present their on-field practical material and theoretical presentations.  

Immediately after the "The Technical Symposium" they will attend on site the Puskas Suzuki Cup April 29-May 2 (see link) considered among Europe's best tournaments regularly featuring Real Madrid along with Flamengo, Dinamo Kiev, Osijek, Honved, Sporting Lisbon, Panathinaikos, Genk, Hagi Academy, Bayern Munich and Dinamo Zagreb. (See link) 

Gary and Carine have visited Puskas Academy many times. In 2022 Gary along with former Liverpool FC Academy Manager/Assistant Academy Director/England Youth team coach John Owens and head of Individual Technical Development of Serie A club Juventus FC boys professional academy Alberto Lampo (see link to story) presented to over 50 Hungarian Academy Directors, National team coaches. 

In 2024 Gary, Carine and Alberto prior to the Puskas Suzuki Cup presented material and provided workshops to Puskas Academy coaches and trained technical/ball mastery material to Puskas Academy boys and girls U12-17 Academy players. (see link to story) 

Between May 25-30 Gary and Carine will return to Puskas Academy prior the the UEFA Champions League Final on May 30 and return again August to prepare players for the 2026 pre-season. 

Since 2020 the Hungarian men’s national team has experienced a revival with star Liverpool FC player Szoboszlai leading the team. In 2021 England suffered its worst home defeat since 1928, losing to Hungary 4-0 in the Nations League soon after beating beat by England earlier 1:0 with Puskas Academy players Nagy (Puskas) and Sallai (Galatasaray) contributing to the goal scoring. England had not lost at home so convincingly since Hungary also beat them 6:3 in 1953. The progress of Hungarian football on the field has coincided with substantial investment through the building of stadia infrastructure and government funding of an extensive academy system. Because of its location and high quality facilities Hungary has recently hosted many national team events, has been used as a training base for visiting professional and national team clubs and will host the 2026 Men’s UEFA Champions League Final May 30 in Budapest. 

Hungary is the place of football legends and the Puskas name is synonymous with success. The FIFA annual award which celebrates the worlds best goal is called the 'Puskas Award'. The “Mighty Magyars” as the team was called dominated world football for a generation and their playing style was created by pioneer and innovator from Northwest of England, Jimmy Hogan who inspired ‘Total Football’ and was credited by Hungarian FA President and National team coach for Hungary's legendary 7:2 and 6:3 victories over England in the 'Match of the Century.' When new things and change occur players aren't always ready for new methods and training routines. Some in England viewed Hogan's coaching with skepticism and at times mocked his method, but as other countries experienced success after they welcomed and embraced his methods. Afterwards Hogan’s legacy, Hungarian coaches and players became the most innovative, influential and successful coaches who built foundations of the future success of many national teams and clubs and were in global demand in the 50’s and 60’s with Kubala and Kocsis playing at Barcelona and the great Puskas himself at Real Madrid. Bene, Hidegkuki, Bozsik, Czibor, Detari and Nyilasi are recognized globally dominated Spanish, Italian and Portugese and European football for over 10 years. A hugely successful coaching export was Benfica's Hungarian manager Béla Guttmann, credited with the success of Benfica’s Golden Years where they were European Champions beating Barcelona in 1961 and Real Madrid in 1962. Guttman coached Hungary, Austria, Netherlands, Italy, Brazil, Uruguay, Portugal, AC Milan, São Paulo, Porto, Benfica and Peñarol. Another coaching export was Ernő Egri Erbstein, manager of the legendary ‘Grande Torino’ team, 5 times champion of Italy.