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Puskás' former interpreter becomes his compatriot
05 May. 2018.
Ferenc Puskás' close friend and former interpreter in Athens, Nikolaos Sakulis, who has done such a lot to help preserve the memory of the Hungarian sports legend in Greece, has received Hungarian citizenship. Hearty congratulations to our new compatriot!
Just as many of his Greek countrymen did, Nikolaos Sakulis first came to Hungary as a child in 1948 at the height of the Greek Civil War. He attended primary and middle school before taking an active part in the 1956 Hungarian Uprising as a member of the National Council in Csongrád, organising and transporting relief supplies to the inhabitants of Budapest.
After the Uprising was crushed, Sakulis returned to Greece where he still lives today. A speaker of perfect Hungarian, the former masseur was perfectly positioned to become Ferenc Puskás' interpreter when the Hungarian legend came to Athens to be the head coach of Panathinaikos in 1970, having already done the job for other Hungarian coaches such as Tibor Kemény at Olympiakos, Jenő Csanádi at AEK and Mihály Lantos and Márton Bukovi at Olympiakos again.
Fotó: Magyarország Nagykövetsége, Athén
It was at Puskás' side though, where he was part of Greek club football's greatest success when Panathinaikos reached the 1971 European Cup final at Wembley. Puskás and he became firm friends, the latter visiting the former three times in hospital as Hungarian sports greatest star withdrew from public life. Sakulis summed up his thoughts on receiving his citizenship from Hungarian Ambassador to Greece, Erik Haupt, in January by saying: "Today, I feel Hungarian too and this is also thanks to Öcsi (Puskás)...".
