Szarvas announces squad for Women's Euro play-off tie versus Scotland

Alexandra Szarvas's team finished in third place in their European Championship qualifying group, so they can qualify for the finals tournament if they win their play-off semi-final tie against group winner Scotland at the end of October, and then a final against the winner against the winner of the Finland-Montenegro contest sometime between 27th November and 3rd December.

Hungary will host Scotland at the Bozsik Arena at 6:15pm CET on 25th October, with the second leg due to take place four days later at Easter Road Stadium in Edinburgh at 8:35pm CET. There are 14 foreign-based players in the Hungary squad, including Anna Csiki, who recently moved to Women's Super League side Tottenham and whose clubmate Martha Thomas is a member of the Scottish national team.

Szarvas has also given a vote of confidence to a potential debutant, selecting 21-year-old Budapest Honvéd forward Vivien Csuhai, but due to injury, she'll be without her captain Henrietta Csiszár and Diána Németh. On the other hand, there are returnees to international duty in the form of Lauren Brzykcy and Beatrix Fördős.

Based on the FIFA world rankings (Scotland 23rd, Hungary 46th) Scotland should be favourites to progress, our opponent possessing eight players from England's top league, while returning to their squad after injury are Real Madrid striker Caroline Weir and Manchester United midfielder Emma Watson. One potential newcomer in the Scotland squad is Celtic midfielder Shannon McGregor, while Scotland's regular captain is also missing due to injury.

"Unfortunately, not a single training camp has passed so far when I could count on everyone," Szarvas told mlsz.hu. "However, I'm very happy that Lauren Brzykcy and Beatrix Fördős will return and that a new face has joined the squad in Vivien Csuhai. As for our opponents, they qualified participate in the World Cup in 2019, which in itself indicates that we'll face a very strong team. Most of their squad play in top leagues, so we can say that they have more playing strength than we do. Similar to in the matches against Switzerland, our focus will definitely be on stable, aggressive defence, and I expect outstanding humility and dedication from everyone. Our strength lies in the unity of the team; we don't have star players, so – as in previous training camps – we will work a lot on our mentality."

Tickets for the first leg of the tie in the Bozsik Arena on 25th October can be purchased on the website meccsjegy.mlsz.hu at a price of 1,500 HUF per ticket. This home leg will be broadcast live by M4 Sport.

From 4pm on 21st October, the Hungary Women's squad's first training session on the centre pitch of the Telki training centre will be open for public viewing. After the training, the programme continues indoors in the main hall, where MLSZ will greet interested parties with a quiz and gift packages, even providing registered children with tickets to the Hungary-Scotland match. As part of the event, Judit Berkesi will talk to three selected players, to whom the participating fans can ask questions.

Hungary's next two fixtures:

October 25: Hungary-Scotland 18:15 CET (Bozsik Arena)
October 29: Scotland-Hungary 20:35 CET (Easter Road Stadium, Edinburgh)

Hungary's squad:

Goalkeepers
Lauren Brzykcy (Vittsjö)
Fruzsina Schildkraut (Honvéd)
Anna Terestyényi (Turbine Potsdam)

Defenders
Beatrix Fördős (Inter)
Laura Kovács (ETO FC)
Vírág Nagy (SV Meppen)
Hanna Németh (Werder Bremen)
Cintia Öreg (ETO FC)
Laura Palakovics (Puskás Academy) Viktoria Szabó (FC Zurich)
Lilla Turányi (Bayer Leverkusen)

Midfielders
Diána Csányi (FC Zurich)
Anna Csiki (Tottenham)
Zsanett Kaján (Lazio)
Evelin Könczeyné Fenyvesi (FTC)
Fanni Nagy (ETO FC)
Luca Papp (VFL Wolfsburg)
Sára Pusztai (OH Leuven)
Dóra Zeller (FC Köln)

Forwards
Vivien Csuhai (Honvéd)
Victória Nagy (FTC)
Emőke Pápai (Werder Bremen)
Kinga Siklér (MTK)

Scotland Women's squad
Eartha Cummings (FC Rosengard)
Jenna Fife (Rangers)
Lee Gibson (Glasgow City)
Jenna Clark (Liverpool)
Nicola Docherty (Rangers)
Kathy Hill (Rangers)
Sophie Howard (Leicester City)
Rachel McLauchlan (Brighton & Hove Albion)
Emma Mukandi (London City Lionesses)
Kirsty Smith (West Ham Utd)
Erin Cuthbert (Chelsea)
Lisa Evans (Glasgow City)
Sam Kerr (FC Bayern)
Shannon McGregor (Celtic)
Jamie-Lee Napier (Bristol City)
Amy Rodgers (Bristol City)
Caroline Weir (Real Madrid)
Lauren Davidson (SK Brann)
Claire Emslie (Angel City)
Kirsty Hanson (Aston Villa)
Brogan Hay (Rangers)
Martha Thomas (Tottenham Hotspur)
Emma Watson (Manchester Utd)