OTP Bank Liga: Debrecen lose top-flight status

Debrecen, league champions seven times in the past 16 seasons and one of only two Hungarian clubs along with Ferencváros to have reached the UEFA Champions League group stages, have occupied the podium positions less regularly in recent years but still finished last season in third place under the guidance of head coach András Herczeg and were knocked out by Italian club Torino in the UEFA Europa League qualifiers earlier this campaign. The club experienced mixed form under Herczeg this season but his resignation in late December ushered in an unexpected and underwhelming spell under Zoltán Vitelki, the inexperienced 49-year-old's six-month reign seeing only 12 points garnered from a possible 33. In their hour of need, Debrecen turned to former title-winning manager Elemér Kondás but despite a slight upturn in results, it wasn't enough to save the club from a first relegation since 1990/91 and a first season outside the top flight since 1992/93. Their 1-1 draw at home to Paks saw their opponents survive just ahead of them.

The only other issue to be decided on the last day of the league season was which club, Puskás Akadémia or Mezőkövesd, would finish in third spot and thus claim the final Europa League qualification place. It was the former that prevailed, a 2-1 home victory against Budapest Honvéd proving more than enough after fourth-placed Mezőkövesd fell to a single-goal loss at champions Ferencváros. Elsewhere, Kisvárda and Újpest both won and kept clean sheets as they sought to ensure their NB I survival while Zalaegerszeg and MOL Fehérvár played out a 1-1 draw. Hungary's representatives in Europe in the 2020/21 season will be Ferencváros in the Champions League and OTP Bank Liga runners-up MOL Fehervár, bronze medallists Puskás Akadémia and Hungarian Cup winners Budapest Honvéd in the Europa League.

OTP Bank Liga 33rd round:

Diósgyőri VTK 0-2 Kisvárda Master Good (HT: 0-2)
Goalscorers: KIS: Obradovics (8.), Fernando Viana (41.)
DVTK: Bukrán - Orosz (Memolla, 46.), Polgár, Szűcs, Vági - Márkvárt, Iszlai, Korbély (Hasani, 61.), Rui Pedro (Molnár, 46.), Kiss T. (Makrai, 71.) - Ivanovszki (Cortes, 83.)
Kisvárda: Dombó - Baranyai, Rubus, Kravcsenko (Tischler, 73.), Hej - Szimovics (Szőr, 61.), Lucas - Kovácsréti, Cukalasz, Obradovics (Sassá, 60.) - Fernando Viana (Ene, 73.)

Debreceni VSC 1-1 Paksi FC (0-1)
Goalscorers: DEB: Trujic (75.), PAKS: Könyves (17.)
DVSC: Kosicky - Kinyik, Szatmári, Pávkovics, Ferenczi - Kusnyír (Garba, 80.), Bényei (Milunovic, 46.) - Kundrák (Haris, 67.), Tőzsér, Szécsi (Trujic, 46.) - Adeniji
Paksi FC: Rácz - Osváth, Szélpál, Gévay, Szabó J. - Windecker, Balogh B. - Hahn (Böde, 60.), Bertus (Szakály D., 60.), Könyves (Haraszti, 79.) - Sajbán (Kulcsár, 53.)

Újpest FC 5-0 Kaposvári Rákóczi (3-0)
Goalscorers: ÚJP: Simon K. (12.), Novothny (44.), Bacsa (45+1., 49.), Máté (57.)
Újpest FC: Banai - Balázs B., Máté, Ristevski, Burekovic - Simon K. (Szakály P., 74.), Onovo, Nwobodo (Csongvai, 60.), Perosevic (Bacsa, 43.) - Zsótér (Katona, 59.), Novothny (Koszta, 73.)
Kaposvári Rákóczi: Pogacsics (Bonnyai, 71.) - Nagy J., Ur, Szabó A., Hadaró (Vachtler, 46.) - Szakály A., Trebotic - Bévárdi (Pintér Á., 46.), Palic (Csiki, 53.), Balázs Zs. (Nagy R., 46.) - Ádám

ZTE FC 1-1 MOL Fehérvár FC (0-1)
Goalscorers: ZTE: Babati (83.), FEH: Hodzic (4.)
ZTE FC: Demjén - Bolla, Szépe, Katanec, Tamás K. - Mitrovic, Bedi (McWoods, 81.) - Bőle, Barczi (Kocsis G., 56.), Radó - Bobál G. (Babati, 56.)
MOL Fehérvár FC: Kovács D. - Fiola, Rus (Vinicius, 75.), Musliu, Hangya - Houri, Nikolov - Bamgboye (Petrjak, 62.), Hodzic (Nego, 62.), Kovács I. (Nyári, 62.) - Futács (Nikolic, 85.)

Ferencváros 1-0 Mezőkövesd Zsóry FC (1-0)
Goalscorers: Tokmac (41.)
Ferencváros: Dibusz - Botka, Otigba, Blazic, Civic (Heister, 46.) - Vécsei (Leandro, 57.), Kharatin, Sigér (Frimpong, 87.) - Zubkov (Varga R., 57.), Boli, Tokmac (Skvarka, 81.)
Mezőkövesd: Szappanos - Farkas D., Pillár, Nesterov, Silye - Cseri (Meszki, 81.), Karnitski, Berecz, Pekár (Vajda S., 66.) - Zivzivadze (Dragóner, 73.), Jurina (Nagy D., 66.)

Puskás Akadémia FC 2-1 Budapest Honvéd FC (1-1)
Goalscorers: PUS: Nagy Zs. (35.), Slagveer (83.), HON: George (22.)
PAFC: Tóth B. - Szolnoki, Meissner, Hadzhiev, Deutsch L. - van Nieff - Gyurcsó (Slagveer 46.), Plsek (Urblík, 76.), Knezevic (Spandler, 88.), Nagy Zs. - Vanecek
Honvéd: Tujvel - Batik, Kamber (Cipf, 87.), Lovric - Mezgrani, Hidi, Szendrei (Moutari, 73.), Gazdag, Uzoma - Ugrai, George (Kesztyűs, 47.).