Barnabás Varga crowned NB I Player of the Year
The MLSZ's RangAdó awards ceremony, at which the best players in Hungarian football are celebrated each season, was held for the twelfth year on Wednesday evening.
The best of the 2022/2023 season of the OTP Bank League were announced at this season's annual awards ceremony, held in the studio of the M4 Sport public-service television channel. MLSZ announced winners in seven male categories: player of the year, discovery of the year, top goalscorer, coach of the year, referee of the year, goal of the year and a fair play award. The final results of three categories (player, discovery and coach of the year) were decided based on the votes of the clubs, the team captain, the head coach, the oldest and youngest footballers from each team voting for the players they considered to be the top three in each category. The referee of the year was chosen by the MLSZ Referee Committee, whilst the fair play award was awarded based on the fair play points list and goal of the year was awarded this year based on the votes of the fans.
Eighteen-year-old Krisztián Lisztes of Ferencváros was announced as the discovery of the 2022/2023 season whilst Balázs Berke became the best referee of the year for a second time after his triumph in 2020, Hungary's top official receiving his award from Attila Hanacsek, chairman of the MLSZ Referee Committee. This year's Fair Play award was won by the most sporting team in the OTP Bank League season, Kisvárda Master Good. On behalf of Kisvárda, Sports Director Attila Révész received the award from Balázs Makray, chairman of the MLSZ Grassroots, Fair Play and Minorities Committee.
The coach of the year was revealed to be the head coach of newly-promoted Kecskeméti TE, István Szabó, who led his team to runners-up spot in the OTP Bank Liga and received the award from the Hungary national-team coach Marco Rossi. Based on the fans' votes, the award for the best goal of the year went to Bence Batik, the Puskás Akadémia defender, for his goal against Budapest Honvéd in October. The award was presented by Zsófia Bánhegyi, Szerencsejáték Zrt commercial director.
Furthermore, Barnabás Varga of Paks had two reasons to celebrate at this RangAdó awards ceremony; he became the player of the year and also won the top goalscorer title in the OTP Bank Liga. In the absence of Varga, Judit Balog, managing director of Paks, accepted the awards from Antal Dunai and Tibor Nyilasi.
This year's RangAdó award winners:
Player of the Year: Barnabás Varga (Paks),
Discovery of the Year: Krisztián Lisztes (Ferencváros)
Coach of the Year: István Szabó (Kecskeméti TE)
OTP Bank Liga top scorer: Barnabás Varga (Paks)
Referee of the Year: Balázs Berke
Goal of the year: Bence Batik (Puskás Akadémia)
Fair play award: Kisvárda Master Good