Match histories: Greece and Slovenia have better records

Slovenian football has been independent since 1991, its governing body joining FIFA in 1992 and UEFA a year later. On Saturday, we'll play our fifth friendly match with our south-western neighbours, when we'll host Slovenia on home soil for the third time, but the first time in our capital city of Budapest.

The first match in 1994 in Szombathely resulted in a 1–0 victory for the visitors, but four years later, the two national teams met again in Zalaegerszeg, and this time the hosts won 2–1 with goals from Vilmos Sebők and Tibor Dombi. This was the first and only Hungarian victory to date.

In 2003, in Muraszombat, Slovenia, the 90 minutes ended with a home win again, with Miklós Fehér scoring Hungary's goal in a 2–1 defeat. The last time the two teams played was in Zalaegerszeg in 2008, when the away team again won 1–0, just as they had in the countries' first ever fixture.

Hungary had a different head coach for all four matches, in the following chronological order: József Verebes, Bertalan Bicskei, Imre Gellei and Péter Várhidi.

Hungary's record against Slovenia: 4 matches, 1 win, 3 losses. The goal difference: 3–5.

Hungary's next opponent after Slovenia will be Greece three days later. The two national teams have played each other 22 times, only five of which came in friendly matches.

Unfortunately, the overall picture here isn't so rosy for us, since Greece are significantly better off in terms of victories. However, the first match back in 1938 went well enough, when, in the World Cup qualifier in Budapest, we won 11-1, thanks to goals from Gyula Zsengellér (5), József Nemes (3), Pál Titkos (2) and Jenő Vincze.

Thirty-eight years later, the teams played each other in two more World Cup qualifiers, the first in Athens when we drew 1–1 thanks to a headed goal from Zoltán Kereki, and the return match when we won 3–0 with goals from László Pusztai, Tibor Nyilasi and László Fazekas.

Greece were more successful thereafter, winning 10 times, drawing five matches and leaving the field of play after a loss only three times.

Of our national-team head coaches, Marco Rossi is the only one who has led our national team in three matches against Greece, two in the Nations League and the most recent friendly match. With two wins and only one loss, we'd not mind if he'd improve Hungary's record even further! The last time the teams met was in November 2022, in Balázs Dzsudzsák's farewell match at the Puskás Arena, which ended in a Hungarian victory.

Hungary's record against Greece: 22 matches, 6 wins, 6 draws and 10 losses. The goal difference: 37–33.

Tickets for the matches against Slovenia and Greece in the Puskás Aréna can still be purchased on the meccsjegy.mlsz.hu website, and season tickets for the next five home matches are also still available.