Overall, the Hungarian League is difficult to manage in. Your players are usually bog standard, unless you are one of the big three, and you get a pittance of a wage and transfer budget. If you get the right tactics and can get the best out of your players, you may well be the right man for the job... A Guide to the Soproni Liga
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by Jad


Basic Info
Name: Soproni Liga
Country: Hungary
Founded: 1901
Clubs: 16
Last Winners: Debreceni VSC (2006/07)

History

The Hungarian league is mainly dominated by Ferencvaros, MTK and Honved. From 1900 to 2000, only 6 other teams claimed the league trophy. During the dominance of the Magyars in the 50's the Hungarian league flourished and the competition was fiercer than ever but Honved and MTK emerged as the best teams as the country with the trophy swapping hands 7 times in 10 years. After the 50's Ujpest fought back and were the dominators of the division. As the years ticked by, Ferencvaros and Honved wrestled the trophy back again until Ferencvaros were removed from the division for continued financial troubles. A dispute has recently been lit over the decisioon and the club have gone to court over the removal. Debrecen have now taken control, capitalising on the relegation of their big rivals. With Honved not as powerful as before, it is up to MTK to bring down Debrecen.

Rules

The season starts on 4.8.2007 and ends on 24.5.2008. There are 30 games per season, which means teams play each other twice. The bottom two teams are relegated to NB2 and are replaced by the winners of NB2 West and NB2 East. The top team qualifies for the Champions League with second and the winner of the Hungarian Cup qualifying for the UEFA Cup and 3rd winning a EURO Vase spot. The disciplinary rules are tight, a one match ban is received for every three yellow cards and a one match ban for a red card. The summer transfer window runs from the 20th June till 20th July, then the New Year window is open from the 16th January up until15th February. Match squad rules state that there must be no more than 5 non-EU players in the squad, while 7 subs are allowed, a maximum of 3 to be used.

Clubs



Budapest Honvéd FC
Founded: 1909
Ground: Bozsik Stadion
Chairman: George Hemingway
Manager: Attila Supka
Last Finish: 8th
Difficulty: Medium




MTK Hungária FC
Founded: 1888
Ground: Stadion Hidegkuti Nandor
Chairman: Laszlo Domonyai
Manager: Jozsef Garami
Last Finish: 2nd
Difficulty: Medium




Rákospalotai EAC
Founded: 1912
Ground: Laszlo Budai II Stadium
Chairman: Jozsef Forgacs
Manager: Zoltan Aczel
Last Finish: 14th
Difficulty: Hard- Medium





Újpest FC
Founded: 1885
Ground: Szusza Ferenc Stadium
Chairman: Dr. Peter Kovacs
Manager: Istvan Urbanyi
Last Finish: 4th
Difficulty: Medium-Easy





Vasas SC
Founded: 1911
Ground: Stadion Rudolf Illovszky
Chairman: Janos Jambor
Manager: Geza Meszoly
Last Finish: 5th
Difficulty: Medium-Easy





Debreceni VSC
Founded: 1902
Ground: Stadion Olah Gabor Ut
Chairman: Sandor Szilagyi
Manager: Andras Herczeg
Last Finish: 1st
Difficulty: Easy





Gyor ETO FC
Founded: 1904
Ground: Stadion ETO
Chairman: Tibor Klement
Manager: Gyula Lencse
Last Finish: 13th
Difficulty: Medium





Kaposvári Rákóczi FC
Founded: 1923
Ground: Stadion Rakoczi
Chairman: Kalman Torma
Manager: Laszlo Prukner
Last Finish: 7th
Difficulty: Medium





Diósgyori VTK
Founded: 1910
Ground: DVTK Stadion
Chairman: Imre Dlusztus
Manager: Attila Vago
Last Finish: 9th
Difficulty: Medium





Paksi SE
Founded: 1952
Ground: Stadion PSE
Chairman: Janos Suli
Manager: Ferenc Lengyel
Last Finish: 11th
Difficulty: Hard-Medium





FC Sopron
Founded: 1921
Ground: Kaposztas utca
Chairman: Antonio Righi
Manager: Detari Lajos
Last Finish:
Difficulty: Hard





FC Fehérvár
Founded: 1941
Ground: Stadion Sostoi
Chairman: Laszlo Gal
Manager: Laszlo Diszt
Last Finish: 6th
Difficulty: Medium





Auto-Trader Tatabánya FC
Founded: 1910
Ground: Stadion Varosi
Chairman: Jozsef Torok
Manager: Ferenc Meszaros
Last Finish: 12th
Difficulty: Hard-Medium





Zalaegerszegi TE FC (ZTE)
Founded: 1920
Ground: ZTE Arena
Chairman: Ferenc Nagy
Manager: Slavko Petrovic
Last Finish: 3rd
Difficulty: Medium-Easy






Nyíregyháza Spartacus
Founded: 1959
Ground: Varosi Stadion
Chairman: Nicenzo Cosco
Manager: Attila Revesz
Last Finish: 1st (NB II)
Difficulty: Hard-Medium

BFC Siófok
Founded: 1921
Ground: Revesz Geza Stadion
Chairman:
Manager: Antal Botos
Last Finish: 1st (Nyugati csoport)
Difficulty: Medium


Difficulties

Hard

If you are looking for a difficult challenge then the club to be is FC Sopron. The media expect them to finish bottom and you will get minimal funds and the players you inherit are poor. The wage budget is a pittance and superb managing skills are required to avoid relegation with them.




Medium

Fc Fehervar get a medium difficulty rating because although they have fairly bad team, it is adequate to stay up. The real challenge with Fehervar is breaking into the Big Three- Honved, MTK and Debrecen. Realistically, you should aim for top 5 with Fehervar.




Easy

The easiest team to manage in Hungary is Debrecen. The champions are the team to beat in the Soproni Liga, and have the best players in the division. You will receive a tidy budget from the board to aid you in the buying of new players. The challenge will not be to win the league but to qualify for Europe. Debrecen are regulars in the UEFA Champions League but rarely get past the Qualifying stages. If you can go on a good run in the cups every year, then you will be a fans favourite.





Players To Watch

Lorant Olah is a great striker, and will easily score 20 goals a season for his team, Kaposvar. Primarily, he plays best as a fast striker so that he can feed off knock downs and run at defences. But in the case of an injury crisis he can be used as a decent target man, although his fairly small height of 5'10" and his sometimes hesitation at challenging fierce opponents mean that he should only be used in emergencies.



Lorant Olah



Olah's Kaposvar team-mate, Andre Alves is a pacy tricky centre forward. He is quite similar to Olah but has more pace and works as more of a supporting man laying balls through or beating the defence to lay on. Perhaps he is slightly too unnselfish, because with his pace ability to beat players maybe he could score a few more himself rather than playing someone else in.

Ivan Zaleh, Nyiregyhaza, has great potential and at 23, he has time to fulfil it.
He can play comfortably everywhere across the back four and as a holding midfield player. Definitely a crowd pleaser with a cheeky style of play, Zaleh has been compared to Rio Ferdinand in the way that he brings the ball forward and starts attacks from the back. He also has a mighty long throw which is always a plus point for any team. Although it is unlikely that he will be picked for Argentina any time in the forseeable future, Zaleh has already completed a third of his time required for Hungarian citizenship and in 2009 he will be eligible for the country's national team. If he keeps up his good form, it is likely that he will be rewarded.


Benjamin is probably the best of the bunch. The versatile defensive player has the ability to create 60 yard pin-point passes, stop the quickest player in his tracks and win in the air against a 6'5" opposing striker despite his slightly small height of 5'9". Honved have a great player in the makings and Hungarian based strikers are probably quaking in their boots. He has already made their games against Honved a living hell but he is only 21 and will terrorise them even worse for years to come.


Summary

Overall, the Hungarian League is difficult to manage in. Your players are usually bog standard, unless you are one of the big three, and you get a pittance of a wage and transfer budget. If you get the right tactics and can get the best out of your players, you may well be the right man for the job...