Hungary's Homegrown Nuclear Team

 

It's often said that January goes on forever, and if you happen to enjoy attending football matches and live in Central Europe, a truer word could not be spoken. At least those in England, France, Germany, Spain, Portugal, wherever else have the luxury of football to attend. Here, you've got the occasional friendly but little else worth making the effort for.

Having said that, there is some mild regret at my having not attended Admira Wacker 4-5 Horn in a mid-season battle between top and bottom of the Austrian 2nd tier. But still, hey ho...

Since I last wrote on my wonderfully enjoyable adventures in Celje back in December, I've seen a grand total of three matches - all with my beloved and very mid-table (at the time) Stevenage side. This is best summarised by the fact I saw a 0-3 defeat (Wycombe at home), a 3-0 win (Bristol Rovers at home), and of course a goalless draw (Lincoln away). I did briefly think about writing a piece on Stevenage and my response to these games in order to fill in the gaps, but I'll save that for another time.

For now, thanks to a good friend of mine in Bratislava offering to drive an apparently awkward public transport journey to Paksi of Hungary, it was the ideal opportunity to get back into the swing of things. They would host a team I'd already seen this season in Gyori ETO back in November, as they lost 2-1 to strugglers Keczkemeti. 

With the last Hungarian league game having taken place in mid-December, there would probably be a bit of competitive rustiness for both sides to shake off. That said, Paks have certainly enjoyed the better first half of the season, with the side currently sitting in fifth, and furthermore coming into the second half of the season on the back of friendly wins against Gornik Zabrze, Pogon Szczecin and LASK.

As for their last few competitive fixtures,  they've lost at table toppers Puskas Akademia (3-1), as well as MTK Budapest (3-1), with a win against the latter at home also sandwiched in between (4-2). Gyor also enjoyed a mixed bag of form after that aforementioned loss to Kecskemet - a loss (0-2) and a win against those aforementuoned table toppers Puskas Akademia (0-3), as well as a thrilling 3-4 defeat to Diosgyor.

So what we're left with is likely an interesting battle between two teams who struggle defensively, and can be unpredictable at the best of times. Given that I'm still waiting for my first goal of 2025, I might stick next month's rent on it finishing goalless.

The ground, the game, and any other business

Another friend of mine from Budapest mentioned how there was barely anything in Paks beyond the nuclear power station which essentially powers Hungary. Would this be a case of simply turning, watching a game, then leaving?

Well, apart from the lovely Kebab before the game, yes. We tried to find a restaurant to no avail, with seemingly the only one in town being fully booked. Otherwise, the town gave off Chrudim vibes - a small town too big to be a village, but too small to be a town near Pardubice, with a host of buildings looking worse for wear in just the same way as in Paks. 

I took the 8.22 from Brno to Bratislava, where Alex would pick me up from the station, thus beginning a fairly swift two and a half hour drive for a 2.30 kick-off. We arrived at 1, allowing plenty of time to explore Paks, and I dare say we didn't need all that time. There didn't seem to be a focal point or a main square, or anything of particular note beyond the nuclear power station visible on the way in. It felt nothing like the home of a top flight team.

That said, plenty were gathered and ready outside the game when we parked up and approached for kick-off, with the ground on the northern edge of town as you enter - in fact, we technically parked outside of Paks according to the signage. Fehervari uti Stadion (forgive the lack of diacritics here Hungarian readers) holds some 4,671, with a healthy 2,510 in attendance for this game.

Gyori ETO brought quite a few, who made a significant noise behind the goal, opposite the so-called Atomic Strike Ultras group behind the other goal who also made some surprisingly good noise considering their numbers. Both sets of fans deserved better than a fairly uneventful first half, in which neither team really threatened.

In the second half, it was fairly even, with Paksi perhaps looking the more likely to score. But as minute 70 rolled into town, I feared a goalless streak would be making itself apparent for 2025. Well, I have a lot to thank Bence Otvos for, whose cross from an indirect free-kick eluded everyone and nestled into the bottom corner. 

It felt harsh on Gyor, who'd not done too much wrong, but they hit back three minutes later through an Algerian on loan from Charleroi, Nadir Benbaouli following a brilliantly worked counter attack. Suddenly the game seemed to liven up. 

Despite this random flurry (can two goals be a flurry?), it finished as it started, albeit with a goal apiece rather than the predicted zero. Truth be told, it was still a fairly uneventful game between two fairly direct sides. Given the sheer size of Paksi's front two, their directness is fair enough. And given Gyori's pace across the pitch, it's not surprising how effective they seemed to be on the counter.

Though the game wasn't a classic, it will always be remembered for the pre-match entertainment of a dog being walked the perimeter of the pitch in order to have a ball thrown for it courtesy of various fans. More clubs should be doing this, and I won't rest until they do.

Five things you didn't know about...Paksi:

1. A Magyar Csapat

The club is renowned for only signing Hungarian players with a system similar to Bilbao's La Cantina - something the club refers to as a magyar csapat (The Hungarian Team). By all accounts, it seems to be working well, given the club's relative success and attacking football in recent years. 

That said, an interesting point was raised by a friend of mine, David (of Zbrojovkast - the English Zbrojovka Brno podcast that nobody asked for - go check it out for a poorly made quiz from yours truly late next week)...

Anyway, David wondered if such a policy could actually be legally permissable, which is a good point given all the necessary equality laws in place. Answers on a postcard...

2. Nuclear Power

As mentioned above, the town of Paks is known only for its nuclear power plant, which powers a significant part of the country. What I find fascinating is that a town said to only have a nuclear power plant going for it faced off against a Czech side known only for its Skoda factory in Mlada Boleslav in this season's Europa League. 

In fact, the chairman Janos Suli is the owner and CEO of this nuclear facility, as well as an electrical engineer, a former mayor of Paks, and a part of the Orban government. Then again, when it comes to football in the country, who isn't the latter of these...?

3. European Nightmares

Speaking of Euope, this season was only Paks' 2nd appearance in Europe, with the club having seen off UE Santa Coloma of Andorra (5-0 on aggregate), Tromso of Norway (4-1 on aggregate) on the way to Europa League 3rd Qualifying Round heartbreak against...errm...Hearts in 2011 (2-5).

This season, the club started with a humiliating defeat against 2nd tier Romanian side Corvinul Hunedoara, where even a 0-2 win in Romania couldn't reverse the damage of a 0-4 loss at home.  They dropped into Conference League qualification, seeing of Larnaca of Cyprus 5-0, then Mornar of Montenegro (5-2), before that aforementioned loss to Mlada Boleslav by that same scoreline.

4. League Fortunes

Though formed in the fifties, the club only made it to the third tier in 1995, before an ascent to the top flight in 2006-07. The club have remained in the top division ever since, with 2010-11 being their closest to winning a title - Videoton (now Fehervar) won by five points in the end. They came 2nd against last season, though were miles behind the seemingly perennial champions Ferencvaros. 

5. Cup Success

Despite besting them in the league, Ferencvaros couldn't do the same in the Magyar Kupa, with Paks winning 2-0 against the League winners after extra time at Puskas Arena in front of 51,900 fans. Kristof Papp gave Paks the lead, with Zsolt Haraszti putting the icing on the cake in stoppage time.