2014-15 Hungarian Football League – Summary

The 2014-2015 football season in Hungary has proved to be a competition which was taking place in two fronts. Enthusiastic spectators who brought themselves to visit the stadiums weekly could see both good and less good clashes. Meanwhile, the Hungarian Football Federation was working on the background to propose more severe checks and harsher penalties on the clubs, allegedly in order to increase the number of domestic players on the pitch from the next season.

A total of 16 teams contested the 2014-2015 OTP Bank League, including 14 sides from the 2013–14 season and two promoted from the 2013–14 Ness Hungary second-division.

Dunaújváros PASE and Nyíregyháza Spartcaus entered the league as the two promoted teams from the second-division. The two promoted teams replaced Kaposvári Rákóczi and Mezõkövesd Zsóry FC, which were relegated to the second-division at the end of the previous season.

Videoton FC won the title with four games to spare even before the championship ended. Since the establishment of the football club, it was the second time the club claimed the Hungarian first-division trophy, and this time, they did so from start to finish. They won the championship with a club record of 71 points.

Videoton FC won the championship this season by 7 points over the silver medallist Ferencvárosi TC. By winning both the Hungarian Cup and the Hungarian League Cup, the runner-up Ferencvárosi TC ran its best season over the last decade. Although their season did not start as easily as they had imagined, the club signed several high-profile players during the winter transfer window, with the help of whom it became possible for ‘The Green Eagles’ to pull off a miraculous recovery and reach their ultimate goal.

The third-placed of the 2014-2015 OTP Bank League is MTK Budapest. Since the club claimed the trophy in 2008, this year was the first time that the team reached the podium, which is an impressive achievement from such a young team.

Debreceni VSC came into the season as defending champion of the 2013–14 season, but this time, the history did not repeat itself, as the club ended the season only in fourth place.

Undoubtedly, one of the most important players of the season was Nikolics Nemanja, who has now became a prolific goal scorer, as this was the third time he ended up on the peak of the Hungarian first-divisional top goal scorers’ standing, this time with 21 goals.

As for the relegations, the Hungarian Football Federation rejected the first-division licence of Gyõri ETO FC, Kecskeméti TE, Pécsi MFC, Nyíregyháza Spartacus FC, and Lombard Pápa, meaning that they are not allowed to compete in Hungary’s first-division football championship next year, regardless of their position in the table. Nevertheless, it is only Lombar Pápa that is relegated from the first-division based on its position on the standing out of the five clubs. The other relegated team is Dunaújváros PASE, which entered the league this year, but the first-division proved to be more than they could chew as they only took the fifteenth place.

The promoted clubs from the second-division are the winner Vasas FC and the runner-up Békéscsaba 1912 Elõre, both of which have already competed in the first-division several times.

The number of first-league clubs will be reduced to 12 from the beginning of the 2015-16 season, and the championship will consist of three times eleven rounds

2014-2015 OTP Bank League Table

1    Videoton FC     71
2    Ferencváros     64
3    MTK Budapest FC     57
4    DVSC-TEVA     54
5    Paksi FC         51
6    Újpest FC         51
7    Diósgyõri VTK     48
8    Gyõri ETO FC     38
9    Kecskeméti TE     38
10    Puskás Akadémia FC     35
11    PMFC-MATIAS     31
12    Nyíregyháza      30
13    Budapest Honvéd FC     28
14    Szombathelyi Haladás     25
15    Dunaújváros PASE     22
16    Lombard FC Pápa     19

written by Gábor Hajnal

Photo: MTI

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