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Péter Ágoston (M4 Sport): Let’s start perhaps at the end, as the Honvéd academy reached the final of the XVII Puskás–Suzuki Cup. That was a bravura achievement, even though Juventus proved to be better in the end. How did you rate it?
Honvéd salvaged the Hungarians honour, because two Hungarian teams were competing in this tournament. We finished up at the very end, we’ve been poor this year, but Honvéd battled to the final, they gave away a penalty and ended up losing 2:0 instead of 1:0. Football’s like that, but it’s a fine result. Congratulations to Honvéd!
Two Hungarian teams, as you say, but we also see that Real Madrid have been in this tournament once again, and there also a newcomer in the form of Slavia Prague. What do you think of the fact that after seventeen years this event has become so prestigious?
This tournament has a well-structured, strategic value and purpose. It’s more like an annual quality-control procedure than a tournament. We invented this whole tournament seventeen years ago to give the best Hungarian youth teams – that’s what we are, and that’s what Honvéd is – the opportunity to gauge the current condition of Hungarian football at U-17 level in relation to the highest European standard. That was the aim. Now, of course, the fact that the tournament is very good and that big teams are entering is all well and good, but the important thing is that it’s a barometer: every year we get the opportunity for feedback. We’ve been doing it for seventeen years, and so we have a quality gauge.
And the quality of the tournament is something we’ve become used to. What ranking the Hungarian teams will be able to grab in a particular year is another question. Puskás Akadémia finished eighth this year. What do you think?
Poor. It was poor.
Can you tell us something about the background?
That’s football. So we lost three and drew one, but all the games were close.
Perhaps another topical issue is the press report that the Hungarian Football Federation [MLSZ] plans to have at least five Hungarian players in the top flight over the next five years. What do you think about this aim?
It’s about time. It’s important for the left hand to know what the right hand is doing. So I think that there are now a lot of well-trained young players coming out of the academies who can play in the top division. The barrier to it is that at the moment it’s cheaper and easier, or perhaps more reliable, for clubs to sign foreign players, who in turn are crowding out home-grown players. We’ve not been at the forefront in this respect either. So it’s necessary for there to be some external pressure forcing professional teams to let in young Hungarian players. So I hope that the MLSZ not only talks about this, but implements and enforces it. I think Hungarian football truly needs it.
Our thanks to Viktor Orbán, founder of the Puskás Academy, for his assessment.
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