MLSZ: Everything in the interests of development

At the beginning of this year's annual general meeting, FIFA delegate Gianni Manca and UEFA representative Jozef Kliment greeted the participants and praised the successful work undertaken by the Hungarian Football Federation in recent years.

MLSZ president Sándor Csányi, evaluating the past year, was the first to mention the strong economic foundations:

"Domestic football has a stable foundation and the majority of the clubs manage their finances responsibly. The federation was also successful in this regard in 2022. Since the introduction of the TAO tax relief programme, 453 billion HUF in corporate tax has been used in football, 87% of which has been used in amateur football".

Within the framework of the MLSZ's pitch construction programme, the federation has already built 1,525 pitches and renovated 2,640.

"So far, 40 new stadiums have been built in the country and Hungary now has the most modern stadia in the region, so currently there is no need for additional stadium construction," the MLSZ president confirmed.

"We've achieved the best results in amateur football, for example, at grassroots level where 162,000 children participate in the OTP Bank Bozsik programme and where last year, 77,000 matches were organised, featuring 2,200 adult teams and 3,900 youth teams. Our other initiatives related to amateur football were also successful," Csányi added.

Regarding youth development, MLSZ's president noted under the direction of the technical department, MLSZ has structured its youth training programmes so that its levels build on each other and the federation still wants to make significant progress in this area.

"I feel we can talk about development, but the money flowing into youth-team setups is not yet utilised to its full potential. Our national teams are still competitive at a younger age, but less so in the older age groups. The inclusion of young players at adult level is not effective enough either. We want to ensure that selection is more organised, because the work of elite academies should be more effective. Our goal is for clubs to work even more consciously (on the impact of its academies at adult level)," Csányi emphasised.

In an evaluation of the current situation around participation in the sport, it was stated that the number of female footballers has increased fivefold in 10 years (to 40,000) and 30% of players under the age of 19 are in the MLSZ competition system. In futsal, the association issued 27,600 competition licenses to players last year.

"The men's national team led by Marco Rossi has become a fans' favourite, not only because of the results and standard of play, but also because of their exemplary attitude and willingness to fight, while the inclusion of young players is providing a basis for the future," Csányi opined in reference to the performance of the men's national team, while on the domestic league championship, he emphasised he'd like to see the proportion of Hungarian footballers in the top tier continue to increase.

"We have made progress in recent years and the percentage of Hungarian footballers has increased from 51 to 57% in the past two years, but the ratio needs to be further improved. We hope that more and more young talent will enter adult football in the future, I am confident that there will be a place for them for the clubs. The 12-team NB I will not change until 2025, but we are thinking about increasing the number of teams. The goal is to strengthen the league and give even more young footballers a chance at the top. In the case of NB II, the goal is to bring the standard closer to NB I, whether or not there is a reduction in the number of teams there".

MLSZ's president also pointed out that the Ferencváros club deserves congratulations for its performance at European level and that in regard to refereeing, since the introduction of VAR, the number of serious refereeing errors has decreased by 70%, the accuracy of referees' decisions now standing at 98.3%. At the same time, it is important to increase the number of referees, because there are currently too few referees in domestic football.

Among the future priorities, Csányi highlighted the continuation of the green programme aimed at the economical and sustainable operation of pitches, and the strengthening of the youth system. Furthermore, MLSZ will continue to apply to host international events in the future, amongst them a Champions League final which the federation would very much like to host.

Following Sándor Csányi's summary of the past year, the general assembly formally accepted the technical and financial reports for 2022, the auditor's report on the latter and the financial and technical plan for 2023 and, as the last item on the agenda, the amendment of the articles of association.