Hungarian Football Federation: Football development must continue

The results of the Hungarian Football Federation supporter’s questionnaire show that people feel the standard of football needs to be raised. The comprehensive development of Hungarian football continues, creating the opportunity for young talent to flourish.

At its meeting on Thursday the presidency of the Hungarian Football Federation was given a flash report on the results of the questionnaire initiated by the federation in mid-February and which was completed by 30,000 football fans in less than two weeks. Feedback is important for the federation decision-makers and the task for the coming weeks and months is a more detailed analysis. At first glance, it can be said that the great majority of football lovers support the MLSZ’s endeavours in incentivising the provision of playing time to young Hungarian players as well as regulating the number of foreign players. The majority also consider the development of women’s football and futsal to be necessary. The federation’s presidency considers it important confirmation that supporters feel, when evaluating football, that the most important factor is raising the standard of Hungarian domestic league matches. More detailed analysis will soon be on the official federation website, mlsz.hu.

The MLSZ has set out a comprehensive development plan covering numerous areas and considers the further development of football to be its most important task in the mid-term. The basis for this is served by practicing a higher standard of youth-football coaching, a condition of which is suitable infrastructure and a cornerstone of which is preparing and training coaches participating in the programme in accordance with international best-practices. Without the right tempo of training exercises there is no chance of a visible increase in the standard of matches, whereas the championship system must aid in providing the most promising Hungarian talent with truly competitive football all the way from youth to senior level.

The presidency has examined the proposed league setup for the near future after taking into account numerous initiatives and suggestions. One option mooted was to extend the NB I season to include a fourth round of matches for a total of 44 matches per team (4×11), but before the comprehensive modernisation of all stadia and given the Hungarian climate, this is not thought to be currently realistic. The recent system of a 12-team NB I and a 20-team NB II will continue, as will the current Hungarian Cup system. Reducing the number of teams in NB II was considered but taking into account the aim of developing football in all parts of the country the presidency held the view that the current number of teams is justified.

Gábor Halmai was welcomed as the new NB I committee president in place of the outgoing Pál Orosz having been voted in by the top-flight team leaders last month.

The federation’s financial plan for 2017 has been approved by the presidency. 90% of the federation’s direct expenditure will go towards amateur (grassroots) and youth football. Prioritisation of amateur football means that this year this area will receive 33% more funding. Support of amateur clubs continues with 90% of competition fees being covered and the budget safeguards the continued operation of the OTP Bank-Bozsik programme and the sources of funding for the renovation of amateur sports facilities, predominantly in the capital city Budapest.

Source: MLSZ – Press release