New national-team staff welcomed

Marco Rossi has started his work as new Hungary national-team coach in earnest this week, one of his first tasks being to welcome the new members of his backroom staff. The Italian finished his period at Slovak club DAV last week with a Europa League 1st qualifying round win but had, at the same time, already been collecting information on our national squad and he is now already in the routine of being present at the new season's opening Hungarian league matches.

The new backroom staff members:

Marco Rossi, head coach

Born in Druento, Italy, on 9th September 1964, he played for Sampdoria where he won the 1994 Italian Cup. He started his coaching career at three Italian clubs before moving to Hungary to take charge of Budapest Honvéd where he led the team to 3rd place in the 2013 Hungarian league championship. After a ten-month hiatus, Rossi returned to coach the first team to championship glory in 2017, claiming the league's Coach of the Year award in the process. Soon after, Rossi took charge of DAC in Slovakia, guiding the club to third place in the Slovak league and Europa League qualification before accepting the position of Hungary's head coach.

Cosimo Inguscio, assistant coach
Rossi's right-hand man was born in Aradeo, Italy, on 30th April 1963 and has worked with Rossi since his arrival at Honvéd in 2012.

Giovanni Costantino, assistant coach and video analyst
Also Italian, Costantino was born in Messina on 3rd October 1984. Hungarian fans will already recognise him from his time helping Rossi at Honvéd in the 2016-17 season before they both continued their careers at DAC. The 33-year-old will analyse matches and opponents, highlighting both positive aspects of play and areas in which improvements can be made, as well as preparing training exercises in which players will be able to improve their capabilities.

Zoltán Gera, assistant coach
Also joining the backroom team will be Zoltán Gera. The 97-times capped Hungarian international playmaker retired from his playing career this June having won the Hungarian league title three times, the Hungarian Cup five times and taken his place as one of the most important players in Bernd Storck's squad at Euro 2016, where Gera scored a goal against Portugal which was voted the tournament's finest. His most famous moment at club level came in 2010 when he was a key part of the Fulham team which reached the UEFA Europa League final but much pride also comes from helping West Bromwich Albion win the English second-tier league title in the division known as the Championship. The 39-year-old suffered serious injuries during his career, most recently in the last year, but he was always of great help to Zoltán Szélesi and Georges Leekens when Hungary's previous head coaches called him up. Now, the former Pécsi MFC and Ferencváros legend, who is widely known as 'Gerzson', will start his own coaching career under the guidance of Marco Rossi.

Enrico Limone, goalkeeping coach
Marco Rossi has relied heavily on Limone since 2010 when they worked together in Italy's Serie C division and thinks a lot of the man who will take care of all goalkeeper training and preparation in the men's national team setup.

Luigi Febbrari, strength and conditioning coach
The national team's new strength and conditioning coach was born in Castenedolo on 4th July 1951 and has worked for the likes of Atalanta, AS Roma and Hadjuk Split during his career. He will be responsible for the development and regeneration of the players' physical condition.

And those who are continuing in their posts:

Our four physiotherapists will continue with their important work to do with rehabilitation, handling of injuries and refreshment of tired muscles.

Leading the group is Tamás Halmai who is responsible for the MLSZ's sports physiotherapy work and worked with U20 head coach Sándor Egervári when his Hungary national squad won bronze at the FIFA U20 World Cup in Egypt in 2009, after which both went on to work with the full national squad.

Working under Halmai are former Sopron football József Fehér, who has previously gained experience at German club 1860 Munich and with the full Hungarian national team when Pál Dárdai was head coach; Barnabás Végh, who started at Győri ETO in 1999 and was part of the club when it won the Hungarian league title in 2013 before then joining head coach Attila Pintér in the national-team setup the following year; and Reinhard Mörz, who, in a long and varied career, worked at Hertha Berlin, Real Valladolid, Rayo Vallecano and CSKA Moscow before joining MLSZ to work at the afore-mentioned U20 World Cup in 2009 and more recently with the full national team at Euro 2016.

These four also work together with the team doctor who will remain Dr Ádám Szilas, an expert who has already worked with Marco Rossi at Honvéd and has since then served Hungary's youth national teams, again at that U20 World Cup in 2009, before progressing to working with the full squad, again at Euro 2016. The full men's national team's kitman will continue to be László Hegyesi, a former player with Békéscsaba who has been with MLSZ since 1998. He has been assisted since Euro 2016 by László Szabó. The team's manager continues to be Attila Tömő and Gergő Szabó remain the national-team press officer.

In terms of the Academy coaching structure, there have been a few minor changes, most notably with Antal Róth who is now the national director at youth level. Joining the coaching group is Ferenc Bene Junior, son of the legendary Újpest forward of the 1960s and 1970s, who, aged 40 years old, holds a UEFA pro licence and will be the coach of the Under-18 team. Another new member of the backroom staff will be Árpád Milinte, the 42-year-old former Videoton goalkeeper, who will be the goalkeeping coach of the U15 and U16 teams. One coach leaving the overall national-team setup after a memorable few years is Zoltán Szélesi; MLSZ thanks him for his excellent work and wishes the former interim head coach and assistant to a succession of permanent head coaches the best of luck for the future.

The strength and conditioning coaching staff will also be boosted, Sándor Sáfár and György Szigeti joining Gábor Schuth in taking responsibility for the physical conditioning parts of the training sessions as well as the physical tests and analysis. A new video analyis expert also arrives in the form of former footballer Adrian Szekeres, although he has been working in this role for MLSZ in a temporary capacity since January.

Youth national team coaching structure:
U21 - Michael Boris
U19 - Antal Németh
U18 - Ferenc Bene
U17 - Sándor Preisinger
U16 and U15 - Attila Belvon