Péter Szijjártó, Minister of Foreign Affairs and Trade, has become president of Budapest Honvéd, and thanks to a new sponsor, the team’s budgetary flexibility will increase by hundreds of millions of forints over the next four years, it was announced at the football club’s event in Budapest on Monday.
As the ministry’s statement reads, the minister first thanked the club for the honorary invitation and said that this was not the first time he had been asked, but now, for the first time, the ownership, professional, and human resources were in place to enable him to contribute to two things.
As he said, one of these is that the time has come for Budapest Honvéd to regain its rightful position in Hungarian and international football, so that the team is once again taken seriously by everyone.
“The other reason we decided to embark on this joint venture is that we want the Hungarian Football Academy, the Budapest Honvéd academy, to be famous for training children and young people who not only receive the professional training they need to find their place in adult football, but who are also good people,” he emphasized.
These are the two objectives we have agreed on, and we will all do our utmost to achieve them,”
he stated.
Péter Szijjártó believes that there are three important conditions for this. The first is that a four billion forint investment program will be launched with the support of the government, part of which will be the renovation and operation of the sports hall and the academy. In his speech, he also referred to other developments that will take place in the near future.
“The second point is very important. We have agreed with the sports administration and the parliamentary majority that at the end of November, Bozsik Stadium and the Hungarian Football Academy will become the property of Budapest Honvéd,”
he announced.
“This means that we will be at home. So this will be a real home field. We will not be coming as guests on Saturdays and Sundays (…) And, of course, this will mean that Bozsik Stadium will be home not only to the adult team, but also to the youth one and academy ones, so we will make it possible for each of our academy teams to play at least one match at Bozsik Stadium in every league season,” he added.
Regarding the third point, the minister said it was wrong that one of the most influential clubs in Hungarian football and sports history did not have a main sponsor, but he said that this would now change.
Photo: Facebook/Péter Szijjártó
“The situation is that from now on, Budapest Honvéd will have a major international company with a Singaporean ownership background, which is a world leader in its industry, as its main sponsor. We signed the contract with Vulcan Shield Global yesterday, which means that the club’s budgetary flexibility and financial strength will increase by hundreds of millions of forints over the next four years,” he said.
Together with the owner, the board, and the professional managers, we want every Honvéd fan to be able to hold their heads high, be proud of their team, and on Mondays, our colleagues should not be criticizing us, but rather we should be criticizing others. So our investments with the main sponsor are starting, the contract has been signed, the properties will soon be ours, and from now on, guys, it is up to you,”
he summarized.
Tamás Leisztinger, the club’s owner, emphasized that managing a sports team is similar to managing a business, and there are several ways to do this, such as a “one-man show,” but there is a more sophisticated solution, as one does not have unlimited time or an unlimited network of contacts, so he decided to appoint a five-member board to assist him.
Fact
Budapest Honvéd Football Club, commonly known as Budapest Honvéd or simply Honvéd, is a Hungarian sports club based in Kispest, Budapest, with the colors of red and black. Originally formed as Kispest AC, they became Kispest FC in 1926 before reverting to their original name in 1944. Honvéd means Homeland Defense.The team enjoyed a golden age during the 1950s when it was renamed Budapesti Honvéd SE and became the Hungarian Army team. The club’s top players from this era, Ferenc Puskás, Sándor Kocsis, József Bozsik, Zoltán Czibor, and Gyula Grosics helped the club win the Hungarian League four times during the 1950s and also formed the nucleus of the legendary Hungary national team popularly known as the Golden Team.
Via MTI; Featured image: Facebook/Péter Szijjártó
The post Foreign Minister Has Been Appointed the President of Budapest Honvéd FC Soccer Club appeared first on Hungary Today.
