First fixtures released for new OTP Bank Liga season

After negotiations with the teams and M4 Sport, which will broadcast the league's matches, the MLSZ Competition Committee has set the dates for the first three rounds of the OTP Bank Liga. The compilation of a very crowded August championship schedule had to take into account that UEFA will host the quarter-finals, semi-finals and finals of the previous season's Champions League and Europa League during the same month. According to the rules of the European football's governing body, national associations cannot organise domestic championship and cup matches at the same time as these fixtures, so the schedules have been adjusted accordingly. The Competition Committee compiled the fixture list so that M4 Sport (and in one case Duna World) will be able to broadcast each match from the first three rounds live, while still taking into account the schedule for teams competing in this new season's European competition qualifiers.

Round 1:

Friday, August 14th

18:15 MTK Budapest - Ferencváros

Saturday, August 15th

16:30 Paksi FC - Újpest FC
18:35 ZTE FC - MOL Fehérvár FC

Sunday, August 16th

16:55 DVTK - Mezőkövesd-Zsóry FC
19:00 Puskás Akadémia FC - Budapest Honvéd

Monday, August 17th

19:00 Budafoki MTE - Kisvárda Master Good

Round 2:

Friday, August 21st

16:30 Mezőkövesd-Zsóry FC - ZTE FC
19:00 Budapest Honvéd - MTK Budapest

Saturday, August 22nd

16:30 Kisvárda Master Good - Puskás Akadémia FC
18:45 Ferencváros - DVTK
21:00 MOL Fehérvár FC - Paksi FC

Sunday, August 23rd

17:45 Újpest FC - Budafoki MTE

Round 3:

Friday, August 28th

20:00 DVTK - MTK Budapest

Saturday, August 29th

18:15 ZTE FC-Ferencváros
20:30 Paksi FC - Mezőkövesd-Zsóry FC

Sunday, August 30th

17:45 Puskás Akadémia - Újpest FC (M4 Sport)
17:45 Budafoki MTE - MOL Fehérvár FC (Duna World)
20:00 Budapest Honvéd - Kisvárda Master Good

Only three substitutes allowed in league matches

Football's international body overseeing the rules of the game, IFAB, changed the rules regarding substitutions in May in response to the situation caused by the COVID epidemic, giving teams the opportunity to replace five players during each match instead of three. The Hungarian Football Federation (MLSZ) implemented the change in the rules immediately because teams had a shorter preparation period for the resumption of the championship than in other countries, the playes having to bear a heavier-than-usual workload due to matches being scheduled every three days for several weeks.

Given that the next season starts according to the normal schedule in recent years and that teams have had adequate preparation time ahead of the start of the new championship campaign, there are currently no special rules to apply, so teams can make a maximum of three substitutions in each domestic match. However, the option created by IFAB will remain in place, so in the event of a deterioration in the pandemic situation, the association will consider reimplenmenting the five-substitute rule.

As for water breaks midway through each half, refereees will order such brief intervals in matches where the temeperature is above 30 degrees Celsius.