Katalin Bökk: I wouldn't swap my football years for anything

Katalin Bökk is third from the left in the standing row for the Femina club.

“In my youth, in the early 90s, Katalin Bökk, who was already a Hungarian international, came out to play with us more than once at Gyulai Square. I can say she played physically and was sometimes even rough, but she was a good player. I don't know... what has happened to her since then?”, wrote one of the followers of MLSZ's Facebook page. Bökk, a six-time Hungarian champion and one-time Hungarian Cup winner with the Femina club, answered the question.

“Thank you, I’m fine, and sport and football are still part of my everyday life. I've been friends with my old teammates for decades now and we go together every two or three weeks to play football and talk. Sport has always been a part of my life and this is still the case today, I was going fitness training, visiting the gym and boxing here in Dunakeszi before the pandemic broke out. Of course, I also remember the matches at Gyulai Square well", revealed the 43-time international, who joined her first club, Femina, at the age of 16 and spent most of her career there.

"I lived with my parents and siblings on the corner of Gyulai Square in Budapest. At the time, it was normal for kids to play in the street or square, and because there were more boys than girls, we played football with them most of the time. I loved to move around; I was athletic as a child and I ran for Újpest aged eight before registering with Vasas before football won through. Once a man in the square came up to me and asked if I'd like to play in a women’s team, which turned out to be Szent László korház. I was surprised there was even one women’s football team so I was very glad to tell my mum what had happened. To this, she said we should rather talk to our then neighbour, who turned out to be the president of Femina. That’s how I signed for them, firstly for the youth team because of my age".

International recognition wasn't far away though either, Bökk making a goalscoring debut in Hungary's 3-0 win against Austria at the Prater Stadium in a friendly match in 1991. Later, Bökk moved abroad, spending a season in each of the German and French top tiers.

“Football has given me everything a sportsperson could hope for. Mind, we weren't paid a salary at that time, so we trained in the Népliget park by carrying each other up the hill on our backs, but we did get to travel a lot. Other clubs tried to sign me but for a long time I didn’t go because, at Femina, I played with the people I worked with and that meant more to me than anything. I wouldn't swap those times for anything", Bökk, multiple-time top goalscorer in a Hungarian league season, confided to us in closing our conversation.