Who's who in terms of elite club coaches in Hungary?

(photo: Mezőkövesd head coach Attila Kutor was one of those pictured to received their UEFA Pro coaching licence in July 2018)

OTP Bank Liga - coach profiles

Újpest – Nebojša Vignjević (Serbia)

Aged 50. Belgrade-born former midfielder. Won the Montenegrin championship and cup double as head coach with Rudar Pljevlja in 2010 before repeating the cup success a year later. Took FK Vojvodina to third-place in the Serbian championship as well as the Serbian Cup final in 2013, then became Újpest manager in the summer of 2013, leading the club to Hungarian Cup success against Diósgyőr on penalties in his first season. Took the Megyeri út club to the final once again in 2016 before leading them to third-place in the league last season, as well as his second Hungarian Cup success courtesy another victory on penalties, this time against Puskás Akadémia.

Paks – Aurél Csertői

Aged 53. Played as an attacking midfielder and forward for home-town club Győr in the first half of the 1990s before moving to MTK where he won a Hungarian championship in 1997. Capped 11 times for Hungary whilst at Győr, he eventually hung up his boots in 2002 after spells at Honvéd and Pápa. Led Videoton to third-place in NB I in 2006, as well as winning the Hungarian Cup that year – the club’s first major piece of silverware. Took Haladás to third-place – and European football for the first time in 33 years – in 2009, joining Paks during the 2013/14 season, since which time he has consistently led his side to respectable mid-table finishes despite working with a modest budget.

Vidi – Marko Nikolić (Serbia)

Aged 39. Came up through the youth system at Rad Belgrade but had to retire from being a player aged just 20 because of injury. Became the youngest ever manager in Serbian league history when he took over at Rad aged just 29, steering the club to a Europa League spot in 2010/11. Briefly managed FK Vojvodina in 2013 before taking over from Vuk Rašović at Partizan midway through the 2013/14 season and leading the Belgrade club to 2nd place. Took Partizan to the Europa League group-stage the following season before being replaced in March 2015 by Zoran Milinković. Returned to Partizan in the summer of 2016, leading the club to a league and cup double in 2017. Joined Vidi that summer, leading them to the title in his first season with the Székesfehérvár club and then reaching the Europa League group-stages this season.

Ferencváros – Serhiy Rebrov (Ukraine)

Aged 44. Began his career at Shakhtar Donetsk before joining Dynamo Kyiv in 1992 where he formed a lethal striking partnership with Andriy Shevchenko both at club and national team level, becoming joint-top all-time scorer in the Ukrainian league with 123 goals and scoring 15 times in 75 matches for Ukraine. Left Dynamo for Tottenham Hotspur for £11 million in 2000, spending four years with the London club, the last two on loan to Fenerbahçe. Then spent a year at West Ham United before returning to Dynamo in 2005, finishing his career in Russia at Rubin Kazan. Won nine Ukrainian championships and seven cups, as well as a Turkish championship and two Russian ones. Became head coach at Kyiv in April 2014, leading the club to two championships and two cups before leaving in 2017. Managed Saudi side Al-Ahli in the 2017/18 season. Took over at Ferencváros in September last year, replacing previous incumbent Thomas Doll.

Budapest Honvéd – Attila Supka

Aged 56. Played for Honvéd, Újpest, Debrecen and Videoton in the 1980s. Led Debrecen to their first two league titles in 2005 and 2006, before joining Honvéd in October 2006. He took the Budapest club to two eighth-place finishes, a Hungarian Cup victory in 2007, and the final in 2008. Managed Zalaegerszeg in 2008/09 before returning to Honvéd in January 2011, steering the club to 10th and 4th place – and thus European football – in his season and a half at the Bozsik Stadion. Supka returned for a third tenure at the club in autumn 2017 after stints at Pécs, Sopron and Szeged, taking the club to another fourth-place finish and European football once again.

Debrecen – András Herczeg

Aged 62. Another coach in his third spell at his current club. Herczeg played as a midfielder for the then second-division Debrecen in the 1970s before taking over as youth coach in the late ‘80s. He first coached Loki from spring 1997 until October 1998, before spending years as a youth and assistant coach at the club. He returned to the managerial hot-seat during the 2007/08 season. A Hungarian Cup win in 2008 was followed by the league title in 2009, a treble – league, cup, and league cup – in 2009, qualification for the Champions League group-stage in 2009/10, another league title in 2010, and qualification for the Europa League in 2010/11, before he stepped aside to become head of the club’s revamped youth set-up. Took over as interim coach for the final league game of the 2016/17 season following the sacking of Leonel Pontes, before officially taking over the reins in June of 2017.

MTK – Tamás Feczkó

Aged 41. Hailing from Nyíregyháza, Feczkó played for several lower-level Hungarian teams before entering the coaching profession. Attained his UEFA Pro Licence in 2015, after which he coached Balmazújváros for two years, leading them to the top flight for the first time in their history before leaving for MTK in the summer of 2017. Led the Budapest side back to NB I at the first attempt as NB II champions and has adjusted to life in the top-flight with relative ease at the Hidegkuti Nándor Stadion.

Diósgyőr – Fernando Fernández (Spain)

Aged 39. An attacking midfielder and second striker who came through the youth ranks at Malaga before joining Real Madrid Castilla. Spent a successful 2-year loan period at Valladolid before moving to Real Betis where he scored 28 times in 148 appearances. Returned to home-town club Malaga for three years before joining Diósgyőr in 2012, scoring six times before he retired from playing in 2013. Coached CD El Palo in the Spanish third division before taking over the youth team at Malaga. Joined Diósgyőr as head coach late on in the 2017/18 season, helping the club avoid relegation courtesy of a 2-1 victory over champions-elect Videoton – the all-important winning goal coming in the 88th minute – in the last game of the season.

Mezőkövesd – Attila Kuttor

Aged 48. Much-travelled central defender during his playing career, appearing for Diósgyőr, Videoton, Győr, MTK, Debrecen, Siófok, and Haladás before hanging up his boots aged 40. Amassed 574 league appearances, scoring 51 goals in his 22 years as a professional. Won a Hungarian championship with MTK in 1997, as well as Hungarian Cups in 1997, 1998, 2000 (all with MTK), and 2006 (with Videoton). Won 19 caps for Hungary between 1994 and 2003. Interim Haladás head coach in 2015, Kuttor took over at Mezőkövesd in October 2017.

Haladás – Ferenc Horváth

Aged 45. A prolific scorer for Videoton and Ferencváros in the mid-to-late 1990s, Horváth also won a league and cup with Belgian side Genk, an Israeli cup with Maccabi Tel Aviv, and played in Germany (Energie Cottbus), Portugal (Estoril Praia) and Scotland (Livingston) before a further two spells with the Székesfehérvár club with which he won the Hungarian Cup in 2006. Horváth won 32 caps for Hungary, scoring 11 times, including a brace in a 2-2 home draw with Italy in a 202 World Cup qualifier. Coached Kecskemét, Paks, Győr, Videoton, Diósgyőr and Balmazújváros before taking over at Haladás as a replacement for Michal Hipp in September 2018.

Puskás Akadémia – János Radoki

Aged 46. Emigrated to Germany with his parents as a child, playing as a defender for Augsburg, SpVgg Greuer Fürth and SSV Ulm, among others, during his playing career. Took over the reins at Greuer Fürth in November 2016 and was head coach there until August 2017. Took over at the Puskás Akadémia helm in during the recent winter break, in December 2018.

Kisvárda – László Dajka

Aged 59. Hailing from Nyíregyháza and originally a youth-team player with Kisvárda, Dajka played as a midfielder or forward in the great Honvéd team of the 1980s, joining teammates József Andrusch, Sándor Sallai, Imre Garaba, Antal Nagy, Lajos Détári and Kálmán Kovács at Hungary’s ill-fated World Cup campaign at Mexico ’86. Won 24 caps for Hungary and notched 58 league goals in 282 appearances for the Budapest side before signing for UD Las Palmas in 1988. Also played in Switzerland before winding his career down at Kecskemét, after which he has spent the best part of 25 years as a coach at various Hungarian – mostly lower-division – sides. Took over at Kisvárda from former Debrecen coach Elemér Kondás – who had taken the team to NB I for the first time in their history – in August 2018.

Women's JET-SOL Liga:

Ferencváros (Budapest) – Balázs Dörnyei. At the Ferencváros club since obtaining his UEFA A licence in 2007. Started working with the boys' youth teams before moving to coach the club's women.

MTK (Budapest) – András Cseh. Age 55. Formerly a midfielder, Cseh spent eight years as part of the great Honvéd team in the 1980s and early 1990s, winning five Hungarian championships and one Hungarian Cup with the Budapest side. Won four caps for Hungary in 1992. After hanging up his boots began coaching in youth football, working at MTK, Puskás Akadémia and, more recently, Újpest. Took over as MTK Hungária head coach in the summer of 2018, replacing György Szabados.

Diósgyőr (Miskolc) – Sándor Fórizs. Born in March 1977, Fórizs was formerly a midfielder who played for Szeged, Kaposvár, Békéscsaba and then in Icelandic Division Two for KA, before returning to Hungary. The 41-year old has been at DVTK for several years now.

Haladás Viktória (Szombathely) – Attila Simon. Studied at TF under the tutelage of István Bacsó before coaching at the Illés Academy in Szombathely and then NB II club Veszprém. He led the Haladás VSE U12 team and the County division 1 club Egyházasrádóc before taking over from Csaba Csordás in July 2017 when Csordás went to the men’s team as a coach.

Astra (Budapest) – János Dombó. Has won a number of league and cups with Astra having been there for many years. Alongside his club duties, Dombó was announced as head coach of women’s futsal national team in February 2018.

ETO Győr (Győr) – Tamás Horváth. Now in his second spell as head coach, the experienced Horváth has been in this position since replacing Zsolt Lenzsér in November 2017.

Szent Mihály (Szeged) – Mihály Hódi. Hódi replaced Flórián Retek at the head of Bordány SK women's football team in September 2015, having earlier cut his teeth at Balstya and as Attila Vágó's assistant at NB II club Szigetszentmiklós. His experience in women's football started at Sándorfalva in 2000 and Szeged's main club was not unknown to him when he took over, his wife Zsuzsanna having earlier played for the team in 2011 and then been head coach too. Mihály has been in this post for around a year and has spearheaded the club's challenge in its first NB I season.

MLE Sporttelep (Pécs) – No current head coach. Róbert Ráck is the team's assistant coach.