MTK Budapest FC

MTK Budapest

Full name	Magyar Testgyakorlók Köre Budapest FC
Founded	16 November 1888 (1888-11-16)
Ground	Stadion Hidegkuti Nándor, Budapest
Ground Capacity	12,700
Chairman	Tamás Deutsch
Manager	József Garami
League	OTP Bank Liga
2011–12	1st (promoted)
Home colours Away colours
Current season

MTK Budapest FC or just MTK (which stands for Magyar Testgyakorlók Köre) is a football club from Budapest, Hungary. The team plays in the first division of the Hungarian League. The club's colours are blue and white. As one of the most successful Hungarian football clubs, MTK has won the Hungarian League 23 times and the Hungarian Cup 12 times. The club has also won the Hungarian Super Cup 2 times. In 1955, as Vörös Lobogó SE, they became the first Hungarian team to play in the European Cup and in 1964 they finished as runners-up in the European Cup Winners' Cup after losing to Sporting Clube de Portugal in the final. The club founded the Sándor Károly Football Academy in 2001. The Academy also has a partnership agreement with Liverpool FC.

History

Foundation

About a dozen sport loving citizens decided on 16 November 1888 in a cafe in Budapest to form the Magyar Testgyakorlók Köre (Circle of Hungarian Fitness Activists). A number of its founding members were aristocrats and members of the capital's Jewish community. The colours of the club became blue and white, and it had 31 members by the end of its inaugural year. The club's first divisions offered sporting possibilities only for fencing and gymnastics. As football was spreading far and wide in Hungary also the club established its football division on 12 March 1901. The first public football match of the Blues was a 0–0 draw against BTC, which later became Hungarian champions in 1901 and 1902. MTK started to play football in the 2nd league in 1902, but a year later the club got the chance to play in the first league. The first year brought the club a 3rd place and it did not take long for the Blues to win the first championship, which happened a year later in 1904.

Amateur Era

The first president of the club became a well-to-do entrepreneur, his vice a close friend of him who turned out to be an excellent sport oriented organiser. His name was Alfréd Brüll who became the club's legendary and respected president from 1905 until the 1940s. Before the introduction of professional football MTK was the most successful Hungarian team. Prior to the Second World War the team managed to win 15 Hungarian League titles and gained 7 Hungarian Cup victories. During the professional era the team could not repeat the same performance but still won 2 championships. Due to the participation of many Jewish figures in the club, it had the reputation of being a "Jewish" team beginning in the 1930s and 1940s, ^[1] a phenomenon that continues to the present.^[2]

Professional Era

Nándor Hidegkuti won the Hungarian League three times

The memory board of the 1957-season Hungarian League

József Zakariás, member of the Mighty Magyars, won two Hungarian League titles with MTK Budapest

Márton Bukovi, the legendary manager, won the Hungarian League three times

The Mighty Magyar Era

In 1949 when Hungary became a communist state, MTK were taken over by the secret police, the ÁVH, and subsequently the club became known as Textiles SE. They then became Bástya SE, then Vörös Lobogó SE, which means Red Banner or Red Flag, and then finally back to MTK. Despite this turmoil, the 1950s proved a successful era for the club and with a team coached by Márton Bukovi and including Péter Palotás, Nándor Hidegkuti, Mihály Lantos and József Zakariás, they won three Hungarian League titles, a Hungarian Cup and a Mitropa Cup. In 1955, as Vörös Lobogó SE, they also became the first ever Hungarian team to play in a European Cup. On 7 September 1955 at the Népstadion, Palotás scored a hat-trick as they beat RSC Anderlecht 6–3 in the first leg of the first round and thus became the first player to score a hat-trick in a European Cup game.

MTK also played a major role in the success of the legendary Hungary team known as the Mighty Magyars. While Honvéd provided the team with a nucleus of players, it was Márton Bukovi at MTK who developed the vital 4–2–4 formation, later adopted by national coach Gusztáv Sebes, himself a former MTK player. It was also at MTK that Bukovi together with, Péter Palotás and Nándor Hidegkuti, also pioneered the crucial deep lying centre-forward position. In 1953 Hidegkuti would exploit this position to great effect as he scored a hat-trick for Hungary when they beat England 6–3 at Wembley Stadium. In addition Mihály Lantos and József Zakariás provided the Mighty Magyars with a solid defence. During the early 1950s these MTK players helped Hungary become Olympic Champions in 1952, Central European Champions in 1953, defeat England twice and reach the 1954 World Cup final. They absorbed Egyetértés VM After the first half of 1974–75 season. They were relegated to the Second League twice in 1980–81 season after finishing 17th or second from last and in 1993–94 season after finishing 16th or last.

1960s and the European Cup Winners' Final

Imre Gellei managing MTK Budapest between 1992-94

In the 1960s MTK Budapest did not win Hungarian League titles only the Hungarian Cup in 1968. In the 1962–63 season of the Hungarian League MTK finished second which resulted the participation in the European Cup Winners Cup in the following year. In the 1963–64 season of the European Cup Winners' Cup MTK Budapest reached the final. MTK Budapest beat PFC Slavia Sofia in the preliminary round,^[3] FSV Zwickau in the first round,^[4] Fenerbahçe S.K. in the quarter finals,^[5] the Scottish Celtic F.C. in the semi-finals^[6] and lost to Sporting C.P. in the final after extra time.^[7] After this success MTK Budapest were not able to finish in the best three of the Hungarian League in the 1960s.

The 2000s

In the 2000s MTK Budapest won the Hungarian League twice (in 2003 and 2008). On international turf in the 2003–04 UEFA Champions League MTK Budapest beat HJK Helsinki 3-2 on aggregate in the second qualifying round. The first match was won by MTK 3-1 at home.^[8] The second leg was won by Helsinki 1-0.^[9] However in the third the Scottish Celtic F.C. demolished them by beating MTK 5-0 on aggregate. The first match was played in the Puskás Ferenc Stadium and MTK lost to 4-0.^[10] In Glasgow Celtic beat MTK by 1-0.^[11] On 2 July 2003 it was announced that István Pisont would join the club on free transfer.^[12] On the same week MTK signed from relegated Budapest Honvéd's star Sándor Torghelle.^[13] MTK Budapest won the Hungarian Super Cup trophy after beating archrivals Ferencváros in the final 2-0.^[14] MTK Budapest won the 2007–08 season of the Hungarian League.^[15][16]

The 2010s

In the 2010–11 season of the Hungarian League, MTK Budapest finished 15th, which resulted in its relegation from the first league. In the 2011-12 season, MTK Budapest finished first in the second division and was promoted back to the first division of the Hungarian League. Moreover, in the 2011–12 Hungarian Cup, MTK Budapest made the final, where they lost to Debrecen in a penalty shoot-out.^[17] As a consequence of reaching the final, MTK Budapest qualified for the UEFA Europa League 2012–13.

Honours

• Hungarian League
  • Winners (23): 1904, 1908, 1914, 1917, 1918, 1919, 1920, 1921, 1922, 1923, 1924, 1925, 1929, 1936, 1937, 1951, 1953, 1958, 1987, 1997, 1999, 2003, 2008
  • Runner-up (20): 1910, 1911, 1912, 1913, 1926, 1928, 1931, 1933, 1940, 1949, 1950, 1952, 1954, 1955, 1957, 1959, 1963, 1990, 2000, 2007

• Hungarian Cup
  • Winners (12): 1910, 1911, 1912, 1914, 1923, 1925, 1932, 1952, 1968, 1997, 1998, 2000
  • Runners-up (3): 1935, 1976, 2012

• Mitropa Cup
  • Winners (2): 1955, 1963
  • Runner-ups (1) : 1959

• Hungarian Super Cup
  • Winners (2): 2003, 2008

• European Cup Winners' Cup
  • Runner-up (1): 1964

• Inter-Cities Fairs Cup
  • Semi-Finalist (1): 1962

• Štefánik Tournament in Bratislava
  • Winners (1): 1933

Current squad

As of 31 July 2013

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

No. Position Player 1 GK Lajos Hegedűs 2 DF Tibor Nagy 3 DF Ferenc Tóth 5 DF Dávid Kelemen 6 MF Ádám Hajdú 7 FW Zsolt Horváth 8 FW Norbert Csiki 11 MF Tibor Ladányi 12 DF Dávid Kálnoki-Kis 14 DF András Fejes (on loan from Videoton) 16 MF Zsolt Pölöskei 17 MF Patrik Vass 18 FW Barnabás Bese

No. Position Player 19 MF József Kanta 20 DF Dragan Vukmir 24 DF Patrik Poór 25 MF Ayub 26 GK György Scheilinger 27 MF Bence Batik (on loan from Ferencváros) 28 GK Federico Groppioni 29 GK Attila Abu 32 FW Richárd Frank 39 FW Péter Horváth 45 FW Márton Eppel (on loan from Paksi) 55 FW Sándor Torghelle

Current MTK II squad (Reserves)

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

No. Position Player — GK András Horváth — GK Zoltán Berhidai — DF Gyula Forró — DF András Gál — DF Attila Kornis — DF Norbert Ódé — MF Szabolcs Csordás

No. Position Player — MF Sándor Hajdú — MF Dániel Kákonyi — MF Péter Németh — FW Szabolcs Pál — FW Gábor Sebestyén — FW Ákos Szentgyörgyi

European cup history

Season	Competition	Round	Country	Club	Home	Away	Aggregate
1955–56	European Cup	1. Round		RSC Anderlecht	6–3	4–1	10–4
		Quarter-finals		Stade Reims	4–4	2–4	6–8
1958–59	European Cup	Preliminary Round		Polonia Bytom	3–0	3–0	6–0
		1. Round		BSC Young Boys	1–2	1–4	2–6
1961–62	Inter-Cities Fairs Cup	1. Round		RC Strasbourg	10–2	3–1	13–3
		2. Round		1. FC Lokomotive Leipzig	3–0	0–3	3–3(playoff 2–0)
		Quarter-finals		RFK Novi Sad	2–1	4–1	6–2
		Semi-finals		Valencia CF	3–7	0–3	3–10
1963–64	UEFA Cup Winners' Cup	Preliminary Round		PFC Slavia Sofia	1–0	1–1	2–1
		1. Round		Motor Zwickau	2–0	0–1	2–1
		Quarter-finals		Fenerbahçe SK	2–0	1–3	3–3 (playoff 1–0)
		Semi-finals		Celtic Glasgow	4–0	0–3	4–3
		Final		Sporting CP	3–3 (aet)		0–1 (playoff)
1969–70	UEFA Cup Winners' Cup	1. Round		1. FC Magdeburg	1–1	0–1	1–2(aet)
1976–77	UEFA Cup Winners' Cup	1. Round		Sparta Prague	3–1	1–1	4–2
		2. Round		FC Dinamo Tbilisi	1–0	4–1	5–1
		Quarter-finals		Hamburger SV	1–1	1–4	2–5
1978–79	UEFA Cup	1. Round		FCU Politehnica Timişoara	2–1	0–2	2–3
1985	UEFA Intertoto Cup	Group 11		PFC Chernomorets Burgas	5–1	2–1
		Group 11		IK Start	3–0	3–3
		Group 11		FC Aarau	3–1	1–1
1986	UEFA Intertoto Cup	Group 1		Fortuna Düsseldorf	0–0	3–3
		Group 1		NEC Nijmegen	2–2	3–1
		Group 1		FC Liége	5–2	0–3
1987–88	European Cup	1. Round		FC Steaua Bucureşti	2–0	0–4	2–4
1988	UEFA Intertoto Cup	Group 10		Karlsruher SC	2–1	1–1
		Group 10		FK Vojvodina	1–0	0–5
		Group 10		Grazer AK	0–1	1–1
1989–90	UEFA Cup	1. Round		FC Dynamo Kyiv	1–2	0–4	1–6
1990	UEFA Intertoto Cup	Group 4		SK Slovan Bratislava	0–2	0–2
		Group 4		Vejle BK	0–1	1–4
		Group 4		IFK Norrköping	4–3	0–2
1990–91	UEFA Cup	1. Round		FC Lucerne	1–1	1–2	2–3
1993–94	UEFA Cup	1. Round		KR Reykjavik	0–0	2–1	2–1
		2. Round		KV Mechelen	1–1	0–5	1–6
1997–98	UEFA Cup	1. Round		Alanya Vladikavkaz	3–0	1–1	4–1
		2. Round		Croatia Zagreb	1–0	0–2	1–2
1997–98	UEFA Champions League	1. Qualifying Round		Pyunik Yerevan	4–3	2–0	6–3
		2. Qualifying Round		Rosenborg BK	0–1	1–3	1–4
1998–99	UEFA Cup Winners' Cup	Qualifying Round		GÍ Gøta	7–0	3–1	10–1
		1. Round		SV Ried	0–1	0–2	0–3
1999–00	UEFA Champions League	2. Qualifying Round		ÍBV	3–1	2–0	5–1
		3. Qualifying Round		Croatia Zagreb	0–2	0–0	0–2
1999–00	UEFA Cup	1. Round		Fenerbahçe SK	0–0	2–0	2–0
		2. Round		AEK Athens FC	2–1	0–1	2–2(a)
2000–01	UEFA Cup	Qualifying Round		Jokerit FC	1–0	4–2	5–2
		1. Round		PFC CSKA Sofia	0–1	2–1	2–2(a)
		2. Round		FC Nantes Atlantique	0–1	1–2	1–3
2003–04	UEFA Champions League	2. Qualifying Round		HJK Helsinki	3–1	0–1	3–2
		3. Qualifying Round		Celtic Glasgow	0–4	0–1	0–5
2003–04	UEFA Cup	1. Round		Dinamo Zagreb	0–0	1–3	1–3
2007–08	UEFA Cup	1. Qualifying Round		FC MIKA	2–1	0–1	2–2(a)
2008–09	UEFA Champions League	2. Qualifying Round		Fenerbahce SK	0–5	0–2	0–7
2012–13	UEFA Europa League	1. Qualifying Round		Senica	1–1	1–2	2–3

Famous players

Player Period Notes Gyula Baratky Gyula Bodola Ákos Buzsáky Péter Czvitkovics Márton Fülöp Sándor Geller[18][19] Béla Guttmann Attila Hajdú Nándor Hidegkuti Ferenc Hirzer Ádám Hrepka Béla Illés Roland Juhász Jenő Kálmár Jenő Károly János Kovács Izidor Kürschner

Player Period Notes Mihály Lantos Gyula Mándi János Molnár Péter Palotás Franz Platko László Répási Károly Sándor Ferenc Sas Alfréd Schaffer Imre Schlosser Gusztáv Sebes Pál Titkos Roland Varga József Zakariás Glenn Helder Norberto Höfling

Selected former managers

See also: Category:MTK Budapest FC managers

Sources

• Behind The Curtain – Travels in Eastern European Football: Jonathan Wilson (2006)

References

External links

• Official Website (Hungarian)
• Article on MTK at www.uefa.com
• European Cup 1955–56
• Soccerway profile
• Matches, old tickets, ground photos at magyarfutball.hu

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