September 11, 2010
Whether you are from Újpest or Ferencváros, almost everyone remembers the above date. The purple and whites beat the city rival FTC 6-0 on Megyeri út. The green and whites were still in the second division a year and a half earlier, and the complete reconstruction of the club had just begun. A few months later, the president of the football club became the Fidesz parliamentary representative, later vice-president, Gábor Kubatov, with whom a completely new era began in the IX. district. And Újpest has just started in the exact opposite direction compared to its city rival: it started with good hopes, but was mostly burdened by business ambitions and the subsequent conflicts arising from them. Roderick Duchatelet-era on Megyeri út. The situation and the quality of the squads of the two teams would not have led to the goal difference thirteen and a half years ago, in fact we can safely say that at that time the two teams were built on very similar opportunities.
The scissors then opened endlessly. Today, the green and whites have grown economically far above the Hungarian top line, no doubt also thanks to their successful international cup appearances. On the basis of its budget, Újpest – among the best on paper – sank to the last third of the NB I field. A good example of this is that Ferencváros spent more than 2 million euros on new signings in the winter transfer period alone, while the purple and whites spent the same amount on playing rights in the last ten years, according to the Transfermarkt database. Of course, the latter is not scripture, but it is still perceptive, why far fewer people mention the date of another derby, which brought a 6-0 victory in Megyeri úti, in September 2022, a resounding green-white success. Based on the financial background and the quality of the frame, it fell much more into the expected category than into the one labeled as a feat.
Now a new race begins: we have known since the beginning of February that Újpest will be owned by Mol Vagyonkezelő Zrt. from the summer. The process of handover and takeover, and thus the closing of the Duchatelet era, which was not too glorious despite the three cup victories, began. And the statements and rumors spreading in the shower news broadcast promise a budget rivaling that of Fradi within three to five years for Megyeri út as well.
And the current one – the 294th, according to other calculations the 296th in the row – promised to be a symbolic document of the era: where does the (announced) catching up of the purple and whites start. The meeting was made even more special by his return to the Megyeri út bench after more than a decade Géza Mészöly person: the last derby of the head coach so far was the aforementioned 6-0 in 2010 on Megyeri út. The 57-year-old specialist told his club’s official website that it is fine that it would be an impossible challenge to knock out the FTC, but he is not willing to accept from anyone that it is not possible to somehow surpass the record champion by at least one goal.
It is a fact, in recent years, the players of Újpest have almost developed a Fradi-phobia. Regardless of who sat on the bench of the two teams, and what kind of form the teams showed – they could even be in the top two positions of the table – the North-Pests could not achieve a single victory since December 2015. Of the 23 derbies played since then, five ended in a draw, and Üllő úts won the other eighteen without exception. The dominance of the Greens has now also become measurable on a historical scale: with another success, the Dibusz Dénes could have surpassed the longest ever fifteen-game winning streak set up in the (m)early days of Hungarian football, between 1906 and 1917.
Mészöly is the Újpest
Dávid Banai – Csanád Fehér, Daviti Kobouri, Jorgosz Andzulasz – Branko Pauljevics, Luca Mack, Aboubakar Keita, Albi Doka – Heinz Mörschel, Csoboth Kevin, George Ganea
he sent it to the track in a composition.
After the European Conference League bye against Olympiakos, the head coach of FTC, Dejan Stankovics a
Dénes Dibusz – Endre Botka, Henry Wingo, Ibrahim Cissé, Cristian Ramírez – Stepjan Loncar, Habib Maiga – Kristoffer Zachariassen, Bálint Katona, Mohamed Ben Romdan – Barnabás Varga
vote of confidence as a beginner.
The fans stood up for themselves. Almost 12,000 people gathered at the Szusza Ferenc Stadium by sacrificing a part of the usual collision zones, so that after a short pyrotechnic show, they could observe the Ferencváros game, which was very confused in the first few minutes, up close. The first minute didn’t even end when Dibusz passed a ball home to the corner, and then Cissé lay on the ground with a painful face after Ramírez, undisturbed by anyone, hit him in the head from two meters with a move meant to free him. The ball almost trickled into the bottom left from the co-production of the visiting defenders.
Újpest threatened for the first time in the 4th minute, Mörschel’s header went a few centimeters above the ball. In response, Varga found himself in a position in front of Banai’s goal, but he dribbled until the home team had trouble. Based on the first ten minutes, the home team seemed much more focused, the still confused visiting defenders watched almost motionless as Andzulasz slid half a meter to the bottom left side in the 8th minute. Dibusz gave the title defender a hold, and he made a great save on Pauljevics’ cross by reaching the right post.
The members of the Fradi camp hardly expected such a game against an opponent with a frame value eight times smaller than their own, and the thread started to break after barely ten minutes. But they couldn’t even start plowing their own at such an early age, so rather the
Meszöly, you animal, _love_ your mother!
– they vented their frustration through rhymes. The Újpest fans didn’t need to be afraid either, in response they took the name of their tragic Fradi icon, Tibor Simon, who died more than twenty years ago, in an indescribable way.
While the people in the stands were getting more and more attuned to each other, Újpest’s momentum on the pitch seemed to be waning. Broken by fouls, a rhythmless game developed in the middle of the inning. However, only the host was able to get into the situation: after Keita’s blocked shot and Pauljevics’ half-scissors move, the ball flew over the crossbar.
Even though he was not in the picture of the game at all, Ferencváros could go to the break with an advantage, at the end of a counter Varga flashed, unscheduledly pushing the ball past his defender, then placing it into the net from 8 meters away – his shot also bounced off Kobouri’s leg, making him undefendable. As spectacular a solution as he chose on the field, he then celebrated with such unsportsmanlike goal joy a few meters from the home camp (0–1). In addition, he doubled the advantage not long after, in the 44th minute, from Bálint Katona’s pass into Banai’s goal from short range. (0–2). Újpest, which had dominated a significant part of the first half, was completely taken aback by this, as the gong is used to boxers.
Mészöly changed three positions for the second half, Simon Krisztián, Franklin Sasere and Mátyás Tajti also came on. The purple and whites again started the half better – although they were not capable of the same kind of dominance as seen in the first 30-35 minutes.
However, Ferencváros scored another goal, in the 65th minute, from Marquinhos’ flat pass from the left. Stjepan Loncar scored a point at the end of the substantive part of the match (0–3). Sztankovics quickly got hold of his main hero, Varga, in order not to “overuse” him in the same way as in the fall, when the Hungarian national team striker had to miss weeks due to a muscle injury.
In the 75th minute, the substitute leaving the offside line, Aleksandar Pesics increased the difference to four goals. And that was still not the end, in the 82nd minute Pesics came in once more, and that was it 5–0-s final result. Géza Mészöly, who was (not) celebrating his 57th birthday at the derby, hardly wanted such a gift…
With this, Ferencváros won its fifteenth derby in a row, achieving a dominance not seen in 97 years in the duel.
This is where the new race starts, and the gap between the two teams can begin to close in the Mol era – hopefully to the delight of football fans as well as political actors.
He will work well…
OTP Bank League, round 22:
- Újpest–Ferencváros 0–5 (Varga B. 37., 44., Loncar 65., Pesics 75., 82.)
- Kisvárda–Paks 0–1 (Mezei Sz. 33.)
played on Saturday:
played on Friday:
- MTK Budapest–Mezőkövesd 3–1 (1–1)
The job: 1. Paks 46 points, 2. Ferencváros 45, 3. Fehérvár 39, 4. Puskás Academy 34, 5. Debrecen 32, 6. MTK Budapest 31, 7. Kecskemét 30, 8. Diósgyőr 28 (34–34), 9. Zalaegerszeg 28 (33–42), 10. Újpest 24, 11. Kisvárda 17, 12. Mezőkövesd 16
(Cover image: Barnabás Varga (b) from Ferencváros scores a goal alongside Davit Kobouri from Újpest during the Újpest FC–Ferencváros TC match played in the 22nd round of the football OTP Bank League at the Szusza Ferenc Stadium on February 25, 2024) Photo: Tamás Kovács / MTI)
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