Soccer: England to play Hungary at Wembley

BUDAPEST - England will play Hungary in a soccer friendly at the new Wembley Stadium on May 30, the head of the Hungarian Football Association said today.

"The English association has invited Hungary for the opening international game of the new Wembley," Imre Bozoky was quoted as saying by the by national news agency MTI, adding that the teams will meet in Manchester if the reconstruction of Wembley is not finished by then.

Builders have insisted that the new 90,000-capacity stadium will be ready on time to host its first scheduled event, the FA Cup final on May 13.

England coach Sven-Goran Eriksson has said he plans two friendlies as preparation for the World Cup.

England begin their World Cup campaign against Paraguay on June 10 in Frankfurt before playing Trinidad & Tobago in Nuremberg on June 15 and Sweden in Cologne on June 20.

Hungary, inspired by striker Ferenc Puskas, were the first non-British team to beat England at the old Wembley, when they triumphed 6-3 in 1953.

The teams have met 20 times in all, most recently in a Budapest friendly in 1999 when they drew 1-1. Their last Wembley meeting was in May 1996 when England won 3-0 in a Euro 96 warm up.

Hungary have failed to qualify for any World Cup or European Championship finals tournament since 1986.

In 2006 World Cup qualifying they finished fourth in Group Eight, from which Sweden and Croatia both qualified.

- REUTERS