Led by the versatile Liverpool midfielder Dominik Szoboszlai, Hungary enters the 2024 European Championship in Germany with great expectations.

Hungary may not have reached the heights of their team's golden era in the middle of the last century, but they could be a surprise contender at Euro 2024 after navigating qualification and narrowly missing out on the Nations League final.

Led by Italian coach Marco Rossi, Hungary is set to make its third consecutive appearance at the European Championships, having not participated since 1972. The Hungarians remained unbeaten in qualifying Group G for the 2024 European Championship, recording impressive home and away victories against Serbia.

Ferencvaros striker Barnabas Varga and midfield dynamo Dominik Szoboszlai were joint-top scorers in qualifying with four goals and will be crucial to Hungary's hopes of reaching the round of 16 as they did in France in 2016.

Szoboszlai, already Hungary's captain at 23, has impressed at his new club Liverpool since joining from RB Leipzig this season and appears to have recovered from injury in time to face Switzerland, Germany and Scotland in Group A.

Denes Dibusz is likely to keep the No. 1 shirt ahead of Peter Gulacsi, while the defenders have plenty of experience, with Attila Szalai, Willi Orban, Adam Lang, Loic Nego and Endre Botka having won more than 250 international caps between them.

Hungary will face Germany in its second group match in Stuttgart on June 19. But the match against the tournament hosts will not deter the Hungarians; in fact, the team will draw new motivation from its recent record against the three-time European champions.

Hungary were expected to finish bottom of Nations League Group A3 in 2022, but surprised their bigger-name opponents with home and away wins against England and a 1-1 draw with Germany at home. They then beat the Germans 1-0 in Leipzig, with former striker Adam Szalai scoring an early goal.

They finished second, one point behind Italy, and narrowly missed out on last year's finals, but remained unbeaten until 2023.

Hungary has a rich football history, particularly during the golden era of the “Magic Magyars”, led by one of the greatest players of all time, Ferenc Puskas, who won Olympic gold in 1952 and finished second at the 1954 World Cup.

Their influence led to further Olympic successes in 1964 and 1968, but since reaching the semi-finals of the 1972 European Championships, Hungary has struggled to live up to its past.

Now Rossi, who has been a coach in Hungary for more than ten years and joined the national team in 2018, believes the team is ready to write its own history in Germany.

“I don't feel burdened anymore, especially not recently. And not because we feel like we are at this glorious level, but simply because we have managed to get the football fans back on our side,” the 59-year-old said in January.

“We have succeeded in bringing the enthusiasm back to Hungary and that is a great legacy that we will leave to those who come in the future.”

Hungary will start its 2024 European Championship campaign on June 15 against Switzerland before facing Germany. The last group match will be against Scotland on June 23.