Budapest Honvéd Football Club (Hungarian pronunciation: [ˈbudɒpɛʃt ˈhonveːd ˈɛft͡seː]), commonly known as Budapest Honvéd or simply Honvéd, is a Hungarian sports club based in Kispest, Budapest, with the colours of red and black. The club is best known for its football team. Honvéd means the Homeland Defence. Originally formed as Kispest AC, they became Kispest FC in 1926 before reverting to their original name in 1944.

Budapest Honvéd

Full name	Budapest Honvéd Football Club
Nickname(s)	Kispest Oroszlánok (Lions)
Founded	3 August 1909; 113 years ago (1909-08-03)
Ground	Bozsik Aréna, Budapest
Capacity	8,200
Manager	Dean Klafurić
League	NB I
2021–22	NB I, 8th of 12
Website	Club website
Home colours Away colours Third colours
Current season

The team enjoyed a golden age during the 1950s when it was renamed Budapesti Honvéd SE and became the Hungarian Army team. The club's top players from this era, Ferenc Puskás, Sándor Kocsis, József Bozsik, Zoltán Czibor, and Gyula Grosics helped the club win the Hungarian League four times during the 1950s and also formed the nucleus of the legendary Hungarian national team popularly known as the Mighty Magyars.

During the 1980s and early 1990s, the club enjoyed another successful period, winning a further eight Hungarian League titles. They also won league and cup doubles in 1985 and 1989. In 1991, the club was renamed Kispest Honvéd FC and adopted its current name in 2003.[1]

When the club was originally formed in 1909, it also organised teams that competed in fencing, cycling, gymnastics, wrestling, athletics, boxing, and tennis. Later, the Honvéd family was extended to include a water polo team, now known as Groupama Honvéd, a 33-times basketball-champion team and a handball team that were European Champions in 1982.

History

Budapest Honvéd FC were founded in 1909 as Kispesti AC.[2] At domestic level they first entered the Nemzeti Bajnokság I in the 1916–17 season. Their first success came in the 1926 Magyar Kupa season when they beat Budapesti EAC in the final.[3]

Stadium

Budapest Honvéd's first stadium was opened in 1913. On 5 August 2018, the last match was played at the stadium. The match was won by Honvéd against Paksi FC on the 3rd match day of the 2018–19 Nemzeti Bajnokság I. The only goal was scored by Danilo in the 48th minute. The referee was Viktor Kassai.[4] The stadium was demolished in 2019.^{[citation needed]}

The new stadium of the club was opened in 2021.[5] The first match was played between Budapest Honvéd FC II and Szekszárdi UFC in the 2020–21 Nemzeti Bajnokság III season. The stadium was selected to host the 2021 UEFA European Under-21 Championship.[6]

Crest and colours

Manufacturers and shirt sponsors

The following table shows in detail Budapest Honvéd FC kit manufacturers and shirt sponsors by year:

Honours

• Nemzeti Bajnokság I
  • Winners (14): 1949–50, 1950, 1952, 1954, 1955, 1979–80, 1983–84, 1984–85, 1985–86, 1987–88, 1988–89, 1990–91, 1992–93, 2016–17
• Magyar Kupa
  • Winners (8): 1925–26, 1964, 1984–85, 1988–89, 1995–96, 2006–07, 2008–09, 2019–20
• UEFA Cup
  • Quarter final (1): 1979/79
• Mitropa Cup
  • Winners (1): 1959

Friendly

• Tournoi de Pâques du Red Star
  • Winners (1): 1932[7]
• Trofeo Ciudad de Vigo
  • Winners (1): 1974

Youth teams

• Puskás Cup:
  • Winners (5): 2010, 2011, 2012, 2015, 2016

Players

Current squad

As of 5 August 2022

Note: Flags indicate national team as defined under FIFA eligibility rules. Players may hold more than one non-FIFA nationality.

No. Pos. Nation Player 4 DF  POL Lukas Klemenz 5 MF  SRB Nikola Mitrović 9 MF  ISR Maxim Plakuschenko 11 MF  HUN Donát Zsótér 14 FW  HUN Dominik Nagy 17 DF  ALB Albi Doka 19 FW  MLI Boubacar Traoré 20 GK  HUN Péter Szappanos 21 FW  CAN Richie Ennin (on loan from Spartaks Jūrmala) 22 DF  HUN Krisztián Tamás 23 DF  ALB Herdi Prenga 25 DF  CRO Ivan Lovrić 27 FW  SRB Nenad Lukić 28 MF  ISL Viðar Ari Jónsson

No. Pos. Nation Player 29 FW  ESP Jairo Samperio 30 DF  CRO Luka Capan 31 DF  SRB Lazar Ćirković 37 MF  HUN Bertalan Bocskay 78 DF  FRA Christian Gomis 83 GK  SVK Tomáš Tujvel 84 MF  HUN Zalán Kerezsi 85 MF  HUN András Eördögh 91 DF  HUN Alex Szabó 92 FW  HUN Dominik Kocsis 95 MF  HUN Noel Keresztes 98 GK  HUN Gellért Dúzs 99 MF  FRA Brandon Domingues

Players with multiple nationalities

• Ivan Lovrić

Out on loan

Note: Flags indicate national team as defined under FIFA eligibility rules. Players may hold more than one non-FIFA nationality.

No. Pos. Nation Player — DF  HUN Milán Horváth (at Mezőkövesdi)

No. Pos. Nation Player — FW  HUN Dávid László (at Szentlőrinc)

Retired numbers

10 – Ferenc Puskás, Forward (1949–56). Number retired in July 2000.

Notable former players

Had senior international cap(s) for their respective countries. Players whose name is listed in bold represented their countries while playing for Budapest Honvéd FC.

Non-playing staff

Management

Position	Name
Proprietor	Zoltán Bozó & Dániel Mendelényi
Executive Director	Gábor Kun
Managing Director	Pál Gács
Marketing Director	Azurák Csaba
Technical Director	Tamara Németh
Director of Football	István Urbányi, Chris Docherty[8]
Director of Communications	Benedek Rác
Director of Finance	Mária Takács
Director of Hospitality	Sándor Hólé
Chief Editor	Dénes Éless
Facility Manager	Judit Kuskó
Press Officer	Kálmán Kaszás

[9]

First team staff

Position	Name
Head Coach	Dean Klafurić
Assistant Coach	Tamás Györök
Coach	László Dajka
Goalkeeping Coach	Ádám Vezér
Assistant Goalkeeping Coach	Viktor Szentpéteri
Fitness Coach	Tamás Mezei
Fitness Coach	István Nagy
Physio	Buda Lajtaváry
Physio	Dániel Fodor
Physio	Norbert Hollósi
Physiotherapist	Attila Hajdú
Scout	Lajos Szurgent
Video Analyst	Balázs Sinkó
Kit Manager	Róbert Pandur

[10]

Ownership

• 2006-2019: Quinex America LLC (George F Hemingway)
• 2019–present: Reditus Equity (Zoltán Bozó)[11][12][13]

See also

• History of Budapest Honvéd FC
• List of Budapest Honvéd FC seasons
• Budapest Honvéd FC in European football
• List of Budapest Honvéd FC managers

Sources

• Behind The Curtain – Travels in Eastern European Football: Jonathan Wilson (2006)[14]
• 50 Years of the European Cup and Champions League: Keir Radnedge (2005)[15]

References

External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Budapest Honvéd FC.

• Budapest Honvéd FC on Facebook
• Official website (archived)
• Puskás on Puskás Rogan Taylor and Klara Jamrich (1998)
• Mitropa Cup 1959

На других языках

[de] Honvéd Budapest

[es] Budapest Honvéd Football Club

[ru] Гонвед (футбольный клуб)