Who are the players and managers to watch out for in Hungarian Football this season?
Without any shadow of a doubt, Ferencvaros will be the team to watch in the Nemzeti Bajnoksag 1 (National Championship) again this season. Fradi has won the league for the last 6 seasons, with each passing campaign seeming more and more like a formality for the team from Budapest’s 9th District.
This summer, despite losing some top talents such as the Brazilian winger Marquinhos, Moroccan defender Sammy Mmaee, and precocious young Hungarian Kristian Lisztes, Ferencvaros finds themselves as clear favourites for a 7thsuccessive title.
Winger Kady Borges from Krasnodar is their most high-profile addition so far, and ex-Aberdeen man Stefan Gartenmann has recently signed up from FC Midtjylland to add competition in defence. However, the player to watch in zöld és fehér (green and white) this season will be national team talisman Barnabás Varga.
Varga, who contributed 29 goals and 12 assists in 40 appearances last season, has made a speedy recovery from his horror injury inflicted against Scotland at the Euros and made his comeback to the starting eleven in the recent derby against Újpest. His goal threat should fire Ferencvaros to anotherdomestic title and, hopefully, into the latter stages of the Europa League.
Elsewhere in the league, both Puskás Akadémia and MTK have made strong starts to the season, however, I am doubtful whether either side will be able to make a sustained challenge to Fradi’s dominance.
Instead, and despite losing the opening derby to Ferencvaros, this may finally be the season where Újpest, under the guidance of Bartosz Grzelak, finally awake from their slumber and make a decent stab at challenging at the right end of the table.
Lilák (purples), as they are affectionately known, have reinvested the money gained from the sales of Scotland’s scourge Kevin Csoboth (St. Gallen) and Peter Ambrose (Aberdeen) in several interesting signings including French midfielder Tom Lacoux (Bordeaux), Croatian forward Fran Brodic (Dinamo Zagreb), and Italian goalkeeper Riccardo Piscitelli (Mezőkövesd). Currently 10th with one win and 3 defeats in four games, Grzelak has his work cut out this season, but there is talent at his disposal to make this an enjoyable season.
In terms of youngsters worth keeping an eye on, deep-lying playmaker Bertalan Bocskay, a new arrival at Kecskemét will be looking to impress on his return to the top-flight, while 18 year old winger Zétény Varga – one of Hungarian football’s hottest prospects – will have the chance to shine on loan at DVTK from Ferencvaros.
Manager wise we need look no further than Ferencvaros, once again, for the man to watch in the dugout. New coach Pascal Jansson, formerly of AZ Alkmaar in his native Holland, replaced Dejan Stankovic during the summer with the remit of bringing a more attacking and controlled style of football to the Groupama Arena.
So far, the Dutchman has overseen three wins from three games domestically without conceding a goal, however, he has also suffered the disappointment of falling out of the Champions League Qualifiers at the hands of Midtjylland. A successful Europe League campaign will be required to stop the Fradista from getting on their manager’s back.
How would you describe football in Hungary for clubs and for the national team in recent seasons?
Hungarian football is improving and has done so consistently since I moved here 7 years ago (I take no credit for that improvement), although there is still a lot of work to be done before the league can be considered one of the second-tier top leagues outside of the Big 5.
Love him or loathe him, Prime Minister Viktor Orbán is a football fanatic and has ploughed in excess of €1billion of public money into developing the infrastructure of the Hungarian game; often at the expense of investing in schools and hospitals.
This large investment has been funded by the TAO scheme which allows Hungarian companies to write off donations to clubs in certain sports as a tax deduction. Naturally, football has been the biggest beneficiary.
Over the past decade, most NB1 clubs and a growing number of NB2 sides have had new stadiums built or existing stadiums redeveloped using money from the TAO programme. In addition, large sums of money have also gone into improving the Academy system in Hungary as they step up the search for the next Dominik Szoboszlai; who, ironically, spent his formative years in Austria coming through the system at Liefering before making the grade at Red Bull Salzburg.
Domestically, Ferencvaros has resumed their place at the top of the game over the past decade winning 7 league titles in the last 10, having won just 2 titles in the previous 15 years. Ferencvaros benefits from their association with Orbán’s ruling Fidesz party, whilst also capitalising on commercial sponsorship deals that help to increase the ever-widening gap between them and the rest of the league.
Considering the financial advantage Ferencvaros holds over the rest of the league – they regularly spend more on a single player than all other clubs spend combined in a transfer window – it is difficult to see them relinquish their position as top dogs anytime soon.
However, that does not mean that the rest of the league is not competitive or worth watching.
Paks, who play an open attacking brand of football based on Kevin Keegan’s famous “If they score 4 we’ll score 5” approach has gained the nickname Paks 2.5 in recent years due to there often being over 2.5 goals per game involving Paks.
Most sides tend to play in either a 4-3-3 or 4-2-3-1 formation and focus on playing out from the back where possible and developing a more technical game based around a number 10. With most sides being largely comparable in terms of quality, this leads to a lot of closely fought games decided on a moment of brilliance or defensive error. However, the competitive nature of the sides below Ferencvaros and their ability to take points off each other often tends to advantage Fradi as they can rise above the rest.
On the International stage, Hungarian football is going through a renaissance under Italian Mister Marco Rossi.
Rossi assumed the hot seat in 2018 after the disastrous reign of Georges Leekens and has led the Nemzeti tizenegy(National eleven) to two successive European Championships and into League A of the UEFA Nations League.
The national team has evolved remarkably in the 6 years Rossi has been at the helm. From stabilising a demoralised and sinking ship by playing a “back-to-basics” style in the early days, Rossi’s Hungary is now full of youth and exuberance.
Dominik Szoboszlai may be the poster boy of the team, but around him is a strong cast of supporting actors. The squad that went to the Euros contained 6 players, including goalkeeper Gulácsi and forward Salloi, who can count themselves as BudesLiga regulars; the unfortunate Barnabás Varga who is arguably one of the best strikers in Europe outside of the top 5 leagues; and hot prospects Kevin Csobothand Krisztofer Horváth.
Going into the Euros, Hungary was viewed by many – myself included – as a dark horse. Not a side who could realistically win the tournament, but one who could cause an upset or two along the way. Unfortunately for Hungary, they were the ones who were upset after following up a poor opening game defeat to Switzerland with a second loss at the hands of the Germans.
A last-gasp winner against Scotland was not enough to mask a thoroughly disappointing tournament or secure a third-placed qualifying slot, which was the pre-tournament minimum expectation. Despite this, optimism remains high regarding the future of the Nemzeti tizenegy and there is real hope that Rossi can finally deliver an illusive World Cup campaign in 2026.
How will the Hungarian teams fare in European competition this season?
While the national team has improved dramatically in recent seasons and the level of the domestic game has also risen, there is a low level of expectation on Hungary’s European participants, once again, this season.
The obvious exception to that rule is Ferencvaros. The champions were aiming for a spot in the newly revamped Champions League this season but have already fallen short in their ambition after being knocked out at the Third Qualifying round by Midtjylland.
Bosnian side Borac Banja Luka now awaits Fradi in Europa League qualifying with reaching the group stage of Europe’s second competition the bare minimum expected of Pascal Jansson and his men.
With the greatest of respect to Paks, Puskás Akadémia, and Fehérvár, the ask is merely not to embarrass themselves and give a good account of the league on the European stage. However, considering the results so far that might be a tall ask.
Paks has already dropped from Europe League qualifying to Conference League qualification following a defeat to Montenegrin side FK Mornar while Fehérvár fell out of Europe altogether at the hands of Neil Lennon’s former side Omonia Nicosia.
In order to restore some national pride and make the Conference League group stage, Paks must navigate their way past Czech side Mlada Boleslav whereas Puskás Akadémiaface the altogether more daunting task dumping Fiorentina out of Europe.
From four participants we are already down to three. One group stage entrant is a must, two would be a delight.
How can readers follow your work?
You can find me in several places twitter; @KevinMcCluskie1 (main account), @ACSOMPOD (A Celtic State of Mind) providing match-day analysis, occasionally on the @MagyarFociLive podcast, and if time allows me to revive it @HungaryNb2 where we cover the glory of the Hungarian second division.
Featured image: Kevin McCluskie
Callum McFadden 