Sorry Győr Not a Winner

As if crossing just the one border isn't exciting enough, this weekend allowed me the opportunity to cross two. After realising that Hungarian first tier football is now pretty close to Brno geographically, I booked a 6.25am Flixbus to Győr on the Saturday, with the return at 6.25pm on the Sunday.

At the time of booking, I saw the early start as a bridge to cross when I got there, but surprisingly when that bridge came, it wasn't as bad as I'd feared. Though buses are infrequent (at least the cheap ones seem to be), Brno to Győr takes a mere three hours, with a good chunk of that spent static at Bratislava bus station.

As for bridges themselves, Győr seemed to have plenty, as well as many other wonderfully charming aspects to make this a bit of a hidden gem. Being in between the likes of Prague, Bratislava and Budapest, it might be fair to say not too many people make the stop in Győr. In fact, its population is actually lower than that of Stevenage, but I'd sooner spend a weekend there.

I would argue that everyone should add it to their list, especially with the Christmas markets now in full swing (as of the day of my arrival by some coincidence). They had some interesting stuff but nothing that could tempt me to begin the Christmas shopping just yet.

I checked into my surprisingly lovely apartment given the reasonable price, before meeting with Russell and Rob. We grabbed an incredibly sweet but beautiful mulled wine then made our way to the ground, which was some 40 minutes away. We stopped via a charming pub in which we were the only three patrons at the time. 

We also stopped in a similar pub after the game that genuinely felt like someone's living room, but was decidedly more crowded with some delightful Győr fans, one of whom, according to B1 Hungarian speaker Russell, drunkenly laughed at a bald man and said "You don't have any fucking hair." What a place. After the game, we also went to watch some second tier hockey for free; a 6-2 win for Győri ETO against Obuda.

After a slightly mad dash to find the ticket office, we picked up our tickets and headed inside ETO Park, only missing the opening six minutes to get beer and nachos. The first half was a little uneventful, with the hosts having the bulk of possession and a couple more chances. It was Zoltan Gera's Kecskeméti who took the lead with their only shot, with an incisive breakaway finished by Barnabas Kovacs.

One thing that struck me on looking at the Flashscore lineups was the diversity of Győri ETO, who only started one Hungarian. They had Slovaks and Albanians, as well as players from Brazil, Serbia, Romania, Togo, Croatia and Tunisia. This was on stark contrast to Gera's side who were entirely native. 

Before the start of play, Gera's side were very much adrift at the bottom, having only amassed six points. Győri meanwhile had hit something of a brick wall following a relatively good start for the newly promoted side - four of their last five finished level, giving them the title of (sigh) Győr specialists (I promise you that works - no YOU shut up).

Anyway, the second half was infinitely more entertaining than the first. Tunisian Ouijdi Sahli deservedly levelled the score five minutes into the second half. I highly recommend checking out his remarkably journeyman career, where he's spent time in Tunisia, Kazakhstan, Greece, Montenegro and Serbia before coming to Hungary. He was also Győri's best player for sure.

From then on, it looked as though there would only be one winner, but Daniel Lukas hadn't read the script, stunning the hosts with a free kick that Slovak Samuel Petras should have done better with. From then on, Győri ETO were completely nullified and looked completely out of ideas or even drive to get something from the game.

They were offered a glimmer of hope deep into stoppage time when the referee pointed to the spot for an apparent handball. He went to check with VAR before overruling the initial call, much to the delight of the away dugout, and the ire of the home fans. So 1-2 it finished, with Kecskeméti refusing to give up the ghost just yet, and Győri perhaps looking over their shoulders a little more.

In any case, it transpired to be an excellent advert for the Hungarian top flight, with my prior experience of Hungarian football in the third tier being somewhat on the abysmal side - a narrow 1-0 away win for Puskas Akademia's reserves against Keruleti. I've no plans to return to Hungary this season, though I hope I'll be back sooner rather than later.

To add insult to injury, this was only Kecskeméti's 2nd win this season. Their first? Also a 2-1 win over Győri...

Five things you didn't know about Győr 

1.) Győri ETO have a surprisingly storied history, having won the league back in 1963 for the first time, and subsequently ended up getting to the European Cup semi finals, where a 4-0 aggregate defeat to Benfica befell them. 

2.) ETO Park holds around 15,600, which may be beyond the general needs of Győri ETO, but it has allowed the city to host four international friendlies for the Hungarian team - Russia, Bulgaria, Kuwait and Finland.

3.) Győr is not the only name the town goes by - the German name for the city is Raab, which has also been adopted in Czech and Slovak. This dates back to the 5th Century Celts, who named the town Arra Bona (Good Altar). In fact, during the Ottoman Occupation, due to Hungarian commanders having burnt the town to prevent the Turks from doing any damage, the town is known as Yannik kale in Turkish, which translates to 'burnt castle'.

4.) In 1989, the city won an award for the protection of its monuments, and a walk around the city will show you exactly why, even 25 years on. Almost everywhere you turn near the river has an astonishing building to showcase.

5.) The biggest minority in Győr is actually the ethnic German community, often known as Danube Swabians. That said, they only make up 1.5% of the city's population, followed by the Roma population at 0.8%.