Football in Hungary

Football in Hungary
Country	Hungary
Governing body	Hungarian Football Federation (Hungarian: Magyar Labdarúgó Szövetség)
National team(s)	Hungary
First played	1863; 162 years ago (1863)
National competitions
Hungarian Cup Hungarian Super Cup
Club competitions
Hungarian National Championship I Hungarian National Championship II Hungarian National Championship III
International competitions
Champions League Europa League Europa Conference League Super Cup FIFA Club World Cup FIFA World Cup (National Team) European Championship (National Team) UEFA Nations League (National Team)

Football is the most popular sport in Hungary.^[1] The Hungarian Football Federation is the highest body of professional football in Hungary and was founded in 1901. The Hungary national team has played in numerous international tournaments, including the inaugural football tournament in the Olympic Games (Stockholm 1912), nine World Cups, and four European Championships. Their greatest achievements are the three gold medals in the 1952, 1964 and 1968 Olympic Games, and the runner-up in the 1938 and 1954 World Cups. The team known as the Mighty Magyars was also the first non-British team to defeat England, 6–3 at Wembley in 1953. Months later, they defeated the English by a convincing 7–1 in Budapest in 1954, the worst defeat in the history of the English team.^[2][3]

History

The first-ever football club to be founded in Hungary was Budapesti Torna Club having founded its football section in February 1897, dissolved in 1945–46. BTC is soon followed by the founding of the football sections of other important sport clubs in the city: the Magyar Úszó Egylet (MUE), the Budai Football Csapat, the Müegyetemi FC (MFC, later MAFC), the Magyar Athletikai Club (MAC) and the Budapesti Budai Torna Egylet (BBTC).^[4] Most of the associations were already operational in other sports and set up their football divisions after the popularisation that came with the first local an international games played by BTC and its followers. The first match between clubs to be played came on 6 February 1898 when BTC played against Müegyetemi FC, with the later winning 5–0 despite BTC having trained the MFC players previously. Nowadays the oldest still active football clubs in Hungary are Műegyetemi FC founded on 1 November of 1897 as a purely football club^[5] and III. Kerületi TVE, whose football section was officially opened in 1899 but stemmed from the Budai Football Csapat founded on 31 October 1897.^[6]

The Hungarian Football Federation (Hungarian: Magyar Labdarúgó Szövetség or MLSZ), the sport's national governing body, was founded on 19 January 1901 by 13 clubs: BAK, BEAC, BSC, Budapesti TC, Budai Ganzgyár, Ganz Vagongyár, "33" FC, MAC, Magyar FC, Magyar ÚE, Műegyetemi FC, Postás, FTC, who took part in the first championship in 2 tiers that same year. The philosoph Jász Géza of Magyar FC, was nominated the first president of the MLSZ. Vice-presidents were nominated Ferenc Gillemot (MAFC) and Árpád Füzeséry (MUE), secretary general Ferenc Horváth (FTC), treasurer Gabona Károly (Budapesti TC), inspector Ignác Boros (BSC), accountants Róbert Békés (Ganz), Andor Telkes and Ferenc Eisner, and honorary president Károly Iszer (BTC).

Hungary were regular features at major tournaments, such as the first Olympic Football Tournament (Stockholm 1912) and many FIFA World Cup.^[7] They were the first non-UK team to beat England at Wembley Stadium with their 6–3 victory in 1953.^[8][9][10] The golden age of Hungarian football took place in the 1950s, with the emergence of players of the caliber of Ferenc Puskás, László Kubala, Zoltán Czibor, Sándor Kocsis, Nándor Hidegkuti, Ferenc Szusza, József Bozsik & Gyula Grosics. This team (with the exception of Kubala, who only played 3 games with Hungary before playing for Spain) was known as the Golden Team and remained undefeated for 32 consecutive games, winning the gold medal in the 1952 Olympic Games in Helsinki and reaching the final in the 1954 World Cup in Switzerland, always with Ferenc Puskás as a star (84 goals in 85 matches playing for the Hungary national football team). The twilight of this team that marveled the world came with the Hungarian Revolution of 1956, and after a match of the European Champion's Cup Budapest Honvéd in Bilbao, many of the stars like Czibor, Kocsis and Puskás decided not to return to their country and sign for teams from Western Europe, meaning his retirement from the national team. Puskás joined Real Madrid in 1958, winning three European Cups and debuting with the Spain national football team in 1961, while Czibor and Kocsis joined FC Barcelona.^[11] In 1967, the Ferencváros T.C. Flórián Albert became the inaugural Hungarian to win the Golden Ball, surpassing the second place achieved by Puskás seven years before.

Domestic football

Hungary's capital Budapest has seven professional football teams, six of them have won the Hungarian 1st division. Until July 2012 teams based in Budapest have won the Hungarian Championship 96 times and teams from other cities have won it 14 times.

The Hungarian football clubs have several international successes.^{[12][13][14][15]} Ferencvárosi TC won the 1964–65 edition of the Inter-Cities Fairs Cup and was runner-up in the European Cup Winners' Cup in 1974–75 season and the Cup of Fairs in 1968, while Újpest FC reached the final of the Fair Cup in 1969, Videoton FC the UEFA Cup in 1985, and MTK Budapest FC that of the UEFA Cup Winners' Cup in 1964.^[16][17]

Újpest

Ferencváros

BKV Előre

MTK

Honvéd

Vasas

REAC

Csepel

III. Kerület

BVSC

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Locations of major Budapest clubs

Domestic tournaments

• Hungarian National Championship I
• Hungarian National Championship II
• Hungarian Cup
• Hungarian Super Cup

Clubs

The table below lists all Budapest clubs in the top three tiers of the Hungarian football league system: from the top division (the Nemzeti Bajnokság I), down to the Nemzeti Bajnokság III. League status is correct for the 2012–13 season.

Club	Stadium	Capacity	Founded (Football section)
Nemzeti Bajnokság I (1)
Újpest FC	Szusza Ferenc Stadium	13,501	1885 (1899)
Ferencvárosi TC	Groupama Arena	23,700	1899 (1900)
MTK Budapest	Hidegkuti Nándor Stadium	7,515	1888 (1901)
Budapest Honvéd	Bozsik Stadion	9,500	1909
Nemzeti Bajnokság II (2)
Vasas SC	Illovszky Rudolf Stadion	9,000	1911
Újpest FC "B"	Szusza Ferenc Stadium	13,501	1885 (1899)
Ferencvárosi TC "II"	Stadion Albert Flórián	15,804	2014 (1900)
Budapest Honvéd FC-MFA	Bozsik Stadion, Műfüves Pálya	700	1909
BKV Előre SC	Sport utcai Stadion	2,500	1912
III. Kerületi TVE	Hévízi út	3,000	1887 (1899)
Nemzeti Bajnokság III (3)
Soroksár SC	Szamosi Mihály Sporttelep	5,000	1999
Újbuda TC	Sportmax pálya	500	2007
Pénzügyőr SE	Pasaréti út	3,000	1950
Rákosszentmihályi AFC	Pirosrózsa utca	2,500	1913
Rákosmenti TK	Péceli út	2,500	1912
Erzsébeti Spartacus MTK	Ady Endre utca	5,000	1909
Csepel SC	Béke téri stadion	12,000	1912
Budafoki LC	Promontor utcai stadion	4,000	1912
Rákospalotai EAC	Budai II László stadion	7,500	1912
Rákosment Községi SK	RKSK-pálya	1,000	1949

Administration

Budapest is the location of the headquarters of the Hungarian Football Federation.

National team

Main article: Hungary national football team

The Hungarian national team, in its different categories, is controlled by the Hungarian Football Federation.

The Hungarian team played their first official game on 12 October 1902 in Vienna against Austria, a match that was resolved with a 5–0 win for the Austrians. Hungary has played in nine FIFA World Cups and two European Championships. The best result of Hungary national team was when they reached the FIFA World Cup final twice; they lost to Italy in 1938, and lost again to West Germany in 1954.^[18] Since then, Hungary's performance has diminished.^{[19][20][21][22]}

Football stadiums in Hungary

Stadiums with a capacity of 15,000 or higher are included.

Image	Stadium	Location	County	Capacity	Home team	Opened
	Puskás Aréna	Budapest	Budapest, XIV.ker	67,215	Hungary national football team	2019
	Groupama Arena	Budapest	Budapest, IX.ker	23,700[23]	Ferencvárosi TC	2014
	Nagyerdei Stadion	Debrecen	Hajdú-Bihar	20,340[24]	Debreceni VSC	2014
	ETO Park	Győr	Győr-Moson-Sopron	15,600[25]	Győri ETO FC	2008
	Diósgyőri Stadion	Miskolc	Borsod-Abaúj-Zemplén	15,325[26]	Diósgyőri VTK	2018

References

1. Racz, Gergo (7 September 2011). "Hungarian Soccer Fans Long for Glory Days". wsj.com. Archived from the original on 14 December 2015. Retrieved 13 December 2013.
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3. Ward-Thomas, Pat (26 November 1953). "Hungary's Famous Victory". Archived from the original on 26 May 2021. Retrieved 17 November 2017 – via www.theguardian.com.
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11. FIFA.com (18 May 2012). "Hungarians facing future with confidence". Archived from the original on September 26, 2015. Retrieved 17 November 2017.
12. "Clubs in Budapest have been in free fall in recent years « World Soccer World Soccer". Worldsoccer.com. 2011-08-29. Archived from the original on December 2, 2013. Retrieved 2013-12-02.
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16. "When Saturday Comes - Hungary – The financial decline of the most popular club". Wsc.co.uk. 2012-07-09. Retrieved 2013-12-02.
17. "FEATURE-Soccer-Ferencvaros a symbol of Hungary's sad decline - sports - ESPN". ESPN. 2006-07-27. Retrieved 2013-12-02.
18. Harvey, Randy (12 June 1994). "Inoffensive U.S. Blanked by Hungary - Los Angeles Times". Articles.latimes.com. Archived from the original on 4 December 2013. Retrieved 2 December 2013.
19. Neil Clarke (30 November 2003). "Do you remember when Hungary ruled the world? | Football | The Observer". Theguardian.com. Retrieved 2 December 2013.
20. Peterjon Cresswell (18 October 2006). "The not-so-Magnificent Magyars | Football". theguardian.com. Retrieved 2 December 2013.
21. "When Saturday Comes - Hungary – Revival may be a long way off". Wsc.co.uk. 9 July 2012. Retrieved 2 December 2013.
22. "When Saturday Comes - Hungary for success". Wsc.co.uk. 12 June 1957. Retrieved 2 December 2013.
23. "New "Fradi-Stadion" will open late july". futbol.hu. Archived from the original on 13 August 2014. Retrieved 12 June 2014.
24. "Debrecen, Nagyerdei Stadion". magyarfutball.hu. Archived from the original on 10 June 2014. Retrieved 12 June 2014.
25. "Győr, ETO Park". magyarfutball.hu. Retrieved 12 June 2014.
26. "Diósgyőri Stadion". stadiumdb.com. Retrieved 14 October 2017.