Football shines at Sportspeople of the Year Awards

Based on their 2020 performances, footballers were in the top three nominations of four of the seven categories, and moreover, more than one football-related nominee was on the podium in three categories. The Team of the Year candidates featured both the Hungarian national football team and Ferencváros, while Marco Rossi and Serhiy Rebrov were in the top three of the Coach of the Year category, and Péter Gulácsi and Dominik Szoboszlai were present among the best in the category of Sportswoman of the Year. Dominik Szoboszlai's winning goal in the European Championship qualifier against Iceland wass a contender to win the Sports Moment of the Year prize.

In the end, the success of the Hungarian men's national team in 2020 (qualifying for the European Championships and winning their Nations League group) was further highlighted by the fact that the national team changed their nominations to victory in all four categories.

At the gala recorded at the National Theatre, football was named for the first time in the Sports Moment of the Year category: the winner, who gave his thanks for the recognition in a recorded video message, Dominik Szoboszlai, scored Hungary's winning goal against Iceland in the European Championship qualifying play-off final. Fans also helped to decide the destination of the award with the moments that people voted for most via the m4sport.hu website being included in the top three. An expert panel then selected the final winner.

At the virtual awards ceremony, former Champions League-winning football coach Fabio Capello greeted his Italian compatriot, Coach of the Year category winner, Marco Rossi, who was present wearing sunglasses after minor eye surgery. Capello revealed that his father was born in Hímesháza, Hungary, so he also has Hungarian blood in his veins.

Meanwhile Rossi commented that: "Even if Hungarian blood doesn't trickle through me, I feel part Hungarian. My grandfather was a big fan of the Magical Magyars, so I'm doubly proud to be the head coach of the Hungarian national team. This award is recognition of the whole team and staff, not just me - it's joint success for all of us! The most important thing for me is that we were able to bring joy to the Hungarian people. I am most proud of that."

In the Team of the Year category, most people voted for the men's football team, the winner's award received by Norbert Könyves from national basketball player Lívia Gereben.

Eventually, the Sportsman of the Year was also revealed to be a footballer, Dominik Szoboszlai receiving the most votes from sports journalists. For the first time in the 63-year history of the gala, the winner of the category came from a team sport.

"I read I'm the first to win the Sportsman of the Year award having come from a team sport, so I'm very proud of it. I think I had a very good season, having also finished eighth in the Golden Boy prize, my biggest goal for this year was clearly to to qualify for the European Championship with the national team, and we succeeded. I won Football of the Year at my club Salzburg too so I couldn't have wished for better".