2018/19 season review: Ferencváros Men and Women dominate

Ferencváros celebrated their 120th birthday by winning the 30th championship in the club’s history in 2018/19, celebrating in suitable fashion at a large after-season party held at the outdoor Budapest Park venue, where torrential showers did little to dampen the party atmosphere.

Key to Fradi’s success were new signing from Honvéd Davide Lanzafame – whose 16 goals saw him finish the season as joint-top league scorer, midfield dynamo Fernando Gorriarán – the Uruguayan’s form drawing the attention of Mexican club Santos Laguna as well as that of Uruguay head coach Óscar Tabárez – and Hungary international right-back Gergő Lovrencsics.

Fradi will find out on 18 June who they will face in qualifying round one of next season’s Champions League, but being unseeded, could find themselves up against teams who have reached the group stage in recent seasons such as Scottish champions Celtic, Serbia’s Crvena Zvezda, BATE Borisov of Belarus, Ludogorets Razgrad of Bulgaria or Maribor of Slovenia. Other possibly tricky opponents include Qarabag of Azerbaijan, Astana of Kazakhstan, Rosenborg from Norway or Slovan Bratislava.

Serhiy Rebrov has already made moves to strengthen his squad for the coming season, with goalkeeper Dávid Gróf joining from Honvéd and winger Oleksandr Zubkov arriving on loan from Shakhtar Donetsk, whilst veteran Leandro has extended his contract.

MOL Vidi will be disappointed at not having retained their title won last year, but although they finished a distant second, thirteen points behind their Budapest rivals, they will take heart from winning their second Hungarian Cup by coming from behind to defeat Honvéd courtesy of two late goals in the final held at the Groupama Aréna on 25 May.

Vidi’s main cause for pride was, of course, their unforgettable European run which saw them reach the Europa League group stage for the second time – the first being in 2012/13 under Paulo Sousa. The Székesfehérvár club defeated Dudelange, Ludogorets Razgrad and Malmö in the Champions League qualifying rounds before a 3-2 aggregate defeat at the hands of AEK Athens saw them drop into UEFA’s second club competition. Once there, they shrugged off an opening home loss against BATE with a spirited performance in a 1-0 defeat against Chelsea at Stamford Bridge before winning home and away against PAOK Saloniki.

Another loss, away to BATE on Matchday 5 saw Vidi still in with a slender chance of progressing from the group ahead of Matchday 6 should they better the Belarusian’s final match result. Behind to a Willian free-kick, an own-goal by Ampadu brought a 1-1 half-time score, but with BATE easing to an away win against PAOK their was little at stake in a second half which brought two spectacular goals in the shape of a volley for Vidi and a free-kick by Olivier Giroud, the result a highly creditable 2-2 draw.

Vidi, who will be playing under the name MOL Fehérvár FC for the coming season, have already made two signings for the upcoming season: the big-news story seeing Ukrainian winger Ivan Petrjak sign from Shakhtar Donetsk after playing for league rivals Ferencváros on loan last season, as well as goalkeeper Dániel Kovács from Soroksár.

Honvéd, now under new ownership, have parted company with head coach Attila Supka despite him leading the Kispest side to the cup final and fourth place in the league, and with it, a place in the Europa League. Replacing Supka is Italian Giuseppe Sannino, formerly head coach of Chievo, Palermo and Watford. Sannino will have a rebuilding job on his hands with Dávid Gróf, Filip Holender, Danilo and Patrik Tischler among those leaving. One new arrival will be Amadou Moutari, the former Ferencváros winger who spent the spring with Mezőkövesd.

The Europa League first round qualifiers commence on 11 July, with MOL Fehérvár, Debrecen and Honvéd finding out on 19 June who they will be playing.

The draw sees teams split into regional groupings but the initial list of prospective opponents could see Fehérvár – who will be seeded for the first two rounds at least – take on Romanians Universitatea Craiova, Slovakian side DAC Dunajska Streda, or sides they have recently faced such as La Fiorita from San Marino or Cliftonville of Northern Ireland.

Unseeded Debrecen and Honvéd, meanwhile, see a long list of experienced Euro campaigners amongst their possible opponents, with Legia Warsaw, Rangers, Aberdeen, Hajduk Split, Malmö, Hapoel Be’er Sheva, Dinamo Minsk, Spartak Trnava, Levski Sofia, Brøndby and Kairat Almaty among them.

Elsewhere in the Hungarian top flight, there have been managerial changes at Paks with Aurél Csertői leaving after five and a half years at the helm, Csertői being replaced by Tomislav Sivić, who previously managed the club during 2012/13 season.

With the Women’s Champions League final between Lyon and Barcelona at the Groupama Aréna still fresh in the memory – Budapest-born Dzsenifer Marozsán among Lyon’s goalscorers –, attention now turns to next season’s competition. Representing Hungary in the qualifying round group-stage to be held between 7 and 13 August will be Hungarian league-and-cup double-winners Ferencváros.