Showing socialism through sport: Hungarian technicians and teams in Africa in the early 1960s.

Abstract

In the late 1950s and early 1960s, the cultural diplomacy of the two blocs began to focus on countries emerging from the process of decolonisation. The aim was to establish economic relations and influence their future development. Sport remained a privileged field for this cultural diplomacy, especially for the Hungarian People's Republic. Nevertheless, Hungarian cultural diplomacy had clear obstacles, product of the limitations Hungary had at the time: little coordination with the other countries of the Eastern Bloc and and extremely limited spending capacity.

Keywords

• hungary
• africa
• cultural diplomacy
• football.