{"id":27440,"date":"2018-12-12T14:48:18","date_gmt":"2018-12-12T14:48:18","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/dev2.atlatszo.exot.hu\/uncategorized\/will-the-hungarian-government-bring-sekler-football-to-success\/"},"modified":"2022-07-07T08:28:43","modified_gmt":"2022-07-07T08:28:43","slug":"will-the-hungarian-government-bring-sekler-football-to-success","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/dev2.atlatszo.exot.hu\/en\/english\/will-the-hungarian-government-bring-sekler-football-to-success\/","title":{"rendered":"Will the Hungarian government bring Sekler football to success?"},"content":{"rendered":"<p class=\"western\" lang=\"en\"><strong>The Football Academy of Seklerland is the first big investment of the Football Academy Network funded by the Hungarian government, which is planning to build establishments in the neighboring countries bearing ethnic Hungarians. Up until now the cost of the Sekler Football Academy reached 3.7 billion forints (equaling 11,5 million euros). Its professional team plays in the third national league, though the aim was to play in the second league. In contrast, Sepsi OSK is the team enjoying the praises: put together out of nothing, they managed to climb up to the first league, and thus received 2 billion forints in order to build a stadium. L\u0151rinc M\u00e9sz\u00e1ros, a childhood friend of Hungarian PM Viktor Orb\u00e1n who has seen astonishing business success, is behind both projects.<\/strong><\/p>\n<p class=\"western\" lang=\"en\">Since 2013 a total of 22,5 billion forints (70 million euros) were transferred by the Hungarian government to football academies of neighboring countries. Stadiums and football pitches are spreading at high speed in Transylvania (Romania), the Historical Upper Hungary (Slovakia), Vojvodina (Serbia), Zakarpattya (Ukraine), Prekmurje (Slovenia), and Croatia. Among the supported teams and projects several are successful, but several show signs of being not more than mere unsuccessful attempts.<\/p>\n<p class=\"western\" lang=\"en\">The money comes via the Hungarian Football Federation and the Bethlen G\u00e1bor Fund. Almost everywhere there is a connection with the Pusk\u00e1s Football Academy, with L\u0151rinc M\u00e9sz\u00e1ros as the main figure behind it. Our series<a href=\"https:\/\/atlatszo.ro\/kozlemenyek\/nyert-palyazatunk-az-ij4eu-europai-tenyfeltaro-ujsagiras-alapnal\/\"> supported by the IJ4EU European Investigative Fund<\/a> examines these investments.<\/p>\n<p class=\"western\" lang=\"en\"><span lang=\"en\"><a href=\"https:\/\/kimittud.atlatszo.hu\/request\/11456\/response\/17472\/attach\/3\/kerelem%20feljegyz.pdf\">The two page long application<\/a> sent by the president of the <a href=\"http:\/\/fkcsikszereda.ro\/\">Cs\u00edkszereda Football Club<\/a>, Zolt\u00e1n Szondy was registered on the 12<\/span>th<span lang=\"en\"> of June, 2013. The letter in which he asks for 200 million forints for founding the Sekler Football Academy went through the administration of the Bethlen G\u00e1bor Fund, a fund set up for the financing of Hungarian communities living outside the borders of Hungary, as smootly as hot knife through butter and consequently, has been positively evaluated on the exact same day. On the 18<\/span>th<span lang=\"en\"> of May 2018, less than a week after having received it, the committee of the Bethlen G\u00e1bor Fund (<a href=\"https:\/\/drive.google.com\/drive\/folders\/1TDUt_5GvisQXDd0w0XymigXlj5X2HGd_\">contract<\/a> and <a href=\"https:\/\/drive.google.com\/drive\/folders\/1TDUt_5GvisQXDd0w0XymigXlj5X2HGd_\">budget plan here<\/a>) <a href=\"http:\/\/bgazrt.hu\/_files\/TAMOGATASOK\/BH\/51.pdf\">decided to support it<\/a>. <\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"western\" lang=\"en\">Zolt\u00e1n Szondy addressed his request to Zsuzsanna R\u00e9p\u00e1s, the Deputy State Secretary in charge of Hungarian minorities living outside the borders of the Republic of Hungary. His tigh-lipped request refers to several important pieces of information about the project, such as the content of the June 2013 agreement made between the local council of Cs\u00edkszereda (Miercurea Ciuc) and the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.pfla.hu\/\">Ferenc Pusk\u00e1s Academy of Felcs\u00fat<\/a>, presided by L\u0151rinc M\u00e9sz\u00e1ros.<\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"embedly-card\">\n<h4><a href=\"https:\/\/atlatszo.ro\/tamogatasok\/nemzeti-futballmania\/abel-a-gyepen-a-magyar-kormany-viragoztatja-fel-a-szekely-focit\/\">\u00c1bel a gyepen: a magyar korm\u00e1ny vir\u00e1goztatja fel a sz\u00e9kely focit?<\/a><\/h4>\n<p>A Sz\u00e9kelyf\u00f6ldi Labdar\u00fag\u00f3 Akad\u00e9mia a magyar korm\u00e1ny hat\u00e1ron t\u00fali fociakad\u00e9mia-h\u00e1l\u00f3zat\u00e1nak els\u0151 nagy beruh\u00e1z\u00e1sa. Az eddig 3,7 milli\u00e1rd forintba (11,5 milli\u00f3 eur\u00f3) ker\u00fcl\u0151 akad\u00e9mia feln\u0151tt csapata a rom\u00e1n bajnoks\u00e1g harmadik lig\u00e1j\u00e1ban j\u00e1tszik, noha a m\u00e1sodik liga volt a c\u00e9l. Hozz\u00e1juk k\u00e9pest a Sepsi OSK a bezzegcsapat: a semmib\u0151l l\u00e9trehozott klub hat \u00e9v alatt az els\u0151 lig\u00e1ba jutott, majd 2 milli\u00e1rd forintot kapott stadion\u00e9p\u00edt\u00e9sre.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p><script async src=\"\/\/cdn.embedly.com\/widgets\/platform.js\" charset=\"UTF-8\"><\/script><\/p>\n<p class=\"western\" lang=\"en\">The future academy is to be operated jointly: the local council of Cs\u00edkszereda has created an association which provides the club with a grass strip and an artificial turf, a sports hall and several smaller pitches. The Pusk\u00e1s Ferenc Academy will provide the professional content of the training program.<\/p>\n<p class=\"western\" lang=\"en\">The request letter also reveals that the Sekler Football Academy is a network comprising several Sekler towns that would function as subcenters: these are Sz\u00e9kelyudvarhely, Sepsiszentgy\u00f6rgy, Bar\u00f3t and Gyergy\u00f3szentmikl\u00f3s, with the local councils providing land or an already existing infrastructure suitable for building a football pitch.<\/p>\n<h2 class=\"western\" lang=\"en\">When two people with similar ideas meet<\/h2>\n<p class=\"western\" lang=\"en\">The children with special talent would continue their training in Cs\u00edkszereda, where they would be able to improve their skills by participating in the Romanian junior championship. The request also stresses that due to the preferential naturalization of Hungarians in Seklerland, \u201cthe children with special talent could participate in the Hungarian national football team, joining junior players of the same age group\u201d.<\/p>\n<blockquote>\n<p class=\"western\" lang=\"en\">\u201cTwo people with similar ideas have met: prior to the 2010 election, the Hungarian prime minister, still as an opposition politician planned to connect Seklerland to Hungarian soccer. I had the same idea\u201d \u2013 said Zolt\u00e1n Szondy, replying to<em> \u00c1tl\u00e1tsz\u00f3 Erd\u00e9ly\u2019s<\/em> question about the beginnings.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<p class=\"western\" lang=\"en\">How did these two ideas come together? \u201cI wrote a study about the idea and the study has reached the Pusk\u00e1s Academy\u201d \u2013 said Szondy, adding that they had started coordination with Ferencv\u00e1ros Football Club, but the professional director, <a href=\"http:\/\/www.amigeleken.hu\/hirek\/dvtk\/ifj-tajti-jozsef-a-dvtk-sportigazgatoja-2018-06-01\">J\u00f3zsef Tajti<\/a> later joined the Pusk\u00e1s Academy and took the plans with him (meanwhile Tajti has become the professional director of the Carpathian Basin Academic System, where besides Romania, he is responsible of the training of junior players in Slovakia, Ukraine, Serbia, Croatia, Slovenia \u2013 editorial comment).<\/p>\n<p class=\"western\" lang=\"en\">The support given to the football club registered as association (with the official name: Asocia\u0163ia Futball Klub Cs\u00edkszereda\/Association Cs\u00edkszereda Football Club) is found consistently among the series of funding decisions made by the committee of the Bethlen G\u00e1bor Fund: up until 2016 the Bethlen G\u00e1bor Fund has granted 1.8 billion forints (5.5 million euros) for the functioning of the academy, and in 2014 the Hungarian Football Federation also gave a support of 1.8 billion forints (5.5 million euros).<\/p>\n<h3 class=\"western\" lang=\"en\">Providing accomodation in Cs\u00edkszereda and building more football pitches<\/h3>\n<p class=\"western\" lang=\"en\">This money was used to cover operation costs and to carry out investments in infrastructure. In Cs\u00edkszereda, at the stadium on Stadion street 3, a new artificial turf pitch was built by the contractor (<a href=\"https:\/\/drive.google.com\/file\/d\/1P85jVFCngMSyCFtYY6l3X3qTvblGhs_R\/view?usp=sharing\">City Group Corporation SRL<\/a>) for 330 thousand euros. They also built a new grandstand replacing the old one in ruins. The constructor also built the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/MartonAronKozpont\/\">M\u00e1rton \u00c1ron Talent Support Center<\/a>, which provides accommodation for 200 youngsters training at the Sekler Football Academy, as well as for other high school students coming from neighboring towns and villages.<\/p>\n<p class=\"western\" lang=\"en\">The land for the accommodation facility was provided by the city council, but another piece of land had to be acquired for 9.4 million forints in order to be able to start building the grandstand and the accommodation facility. According to the media, the investment reached 1.4 billion forints (4.5 million euros). The bulk of the costs was covered by the Hungarian state, the remaining amount is <a href=\"https:\/\/www.maszol.ro\/index.php\/tarsadalom\/69607-erdely-legkorszer-bb-bentlakasat-adtak-at-csikszeredaban\">the donation of L\u0151rinc M\u00e9sz\u00e1ros<\/a>. The value of the construction contract signed with <a href=\"https:\/\/drive.google.com\/file\/d\/15i4Zv9bGGtqz9M_k0CniAs6BIVpnx13e\/view?usp=sharing\">ING Service SRL<\/a> is of 8 million lei (1.7 million euros) including VAT.<\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"embedly-card\">\n<h4><a href=\"https:\/\/english.atlatszo.hu\/2018\/12\/11\/the-orban-government-spent-billions-on-hungarian-football-clubs-in-serbia-romania-and-slovakia\/\">The Orban government spent billions on Hungarian football clubs in Serbia, Romania and Slovakia<\/a><\/h4>\n<p>The Hungarian government is financially supporting soccer wherever it can: new stadiums are being built across the country. Besides professional soccer, there is a huge amount of money spent on junior teams and training the new generations of soccer players as well.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p><script async src=\"\/\/cdn.embedly.com\/widgets\/platform.js\" charset=\"UTF-8\"><\/script><\/p>\n<p class=\"western\" lang=\"en\">At Sz\u00e9kelyudvarhely an artificial turf pitch was built on a land provided free of costs by the local council \u2013 the constructor again is the City Group Corporation SRL, the costs equal that of the Cs\u00edkszereda pitch: 330 thousand euros. The construction contracts <a href=\"https:\/\/drive.google.com\/file\/d\/1L3SWZDZUjj6DcaLhgQGEyYZlfFhariw-\/view?usp=sharing\">are available here<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p class=\"western\" lang=\"en\">Apart from the above mentioned establishments in 2018, artificial turf pitches with lighting system and grandstand were also built in Ny\u00e1r\u00e1dszereda (Miercurea Nirajului) and K\u00e9zdiv\u00e1s\u00e1rhely (T\u00e2rgu Secuiesc), and the center in Cs\u00edkszereda benefited of another grass training pitch, located outside the city. The 2019 plan is to build lighting system for the center pitch in Cs\u00edkszereda.<\/p>\n<p class=\"western\" lang=\"en\">In an interview given at the end of 2017 Szondy <a href=\"https:\/\/szekelyhon.ro\/aktualis\/merre-tovabb-szekelyfold-labdarugo-akademia\">also talked about<\/a> the plans of expanding the Cs\u00edkszereda center with a new grandstand capable of hosting 1000 spectators and an annexed building. Answering our questions the president mentioned that they are indeed working on the plans of the new grandstand, but unless FK Cs\u00edkszereda advances to the second league, it would end up being quite useless and they are not into lobbying for starting the construction.<\/p>\n<figure id=\"attachment_25445\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-25445\" style=\"width: 740px\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-large wp-image-25445\" src=\"https:\/\/atlatszo.ro\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/01\/DSC01983-740x413.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"740\" height=\"413\" \/><figcaption id=\"caption-attachment-25445\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">The main buildings of the Sekler Football Academy: the new center pitch in Cs\u00edkszereda along with the new grandstand and the M\u00e1rton \u00c1ron Talent Support Center. Photo: Zolt\u00e1n Sipos<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<h3 class=\"western\" lang=\"en\">They are contracting players from the region<\/h3>\n<p class=\"western\" lang=\"en\">Zolt\u00e1n Szondy doesn\u2019t really have any background in football: he became known as a journalist and as member of the city council, when in the early 2000s faced the businessman <a href=\"http:\/\/itthon.transindex.ro\/?cikk=4103\">Istv\u00e1n Csibi feared by everyone in Cs\u00edkszereda<\/a>. Those who know him agree that he is rather a politician than a pragmatic sports professional.<\/p>\n<p class=\"western\" lang=\"en\">At the beginning, the goal of the senior team was to play in the second league, but they haven\u2019t succeeded yet. The FK Cs\u00edkszereda has failed to show results and even such successes as winning the eight-finals against in the <a href=\"http:\/\/fkcsikszereda.ro\/megtortent-a-csoda\/\">Romanian Championship against Dinamo<\/a>, a team from Bucharest, cannot compensate for their lack of progress.<\/p>\n<p class=\"western\" lang=\"en\">This might hurt their feelings as the other young team, the Sepsi OSK, supported as well by the Hungarian Government reached the first league in just a couple of years. According to Zolt\u00e1n Szondy, Sepsi OSK and FK Cs\u00edkszereda adopted different strategies: \u201cthe Sepsi OSK contracted very good players from all over the place and their strategy bore results. FK Cs\u00edkszereda contracted ethnic Hungarians from the region in order to complete the number of junior football players at their football club.<\/p>\n<p class=\"western\" lang=\"en\">We started our training in 2013 and the first age group we trained at the academy was born in 2000, they are now 18 years old. Currently six of them are part of the professional senior team, but it is difficult to advance to the next league with 18 year old children. Of course, we would like them to advance to the higher leagues, but we need to wait 3-4 years until we have several players in their twenties. FK Cs\u00edkszereda\u2019s senior team is supported by the local council, the team is not funded by the Hungarian Government.\u201d<\/p>\n<h3 class=\"western\" lang=\"en\">Why is the center at Cs\u00edkszereda?<\/h3>\n<p class=\"western\" lang=\"en\">\u201e<span lang=\"en\">The idea to create the center of Seklerland\u2019s Football Academy in Cs\u00edkszereda is a political decision rather than a professional one. Probably it is the result of the lobby of the mayor of Cs\u00edkszereda, R\u00f3bert R\u00e1duly and that of Zolt\u00e1n Szondy, rather than of a thorough evaluation of the possibilities and needs\u201d <\/span><span lang=\"en-GB\">\u2013<\/span><span lang=\"en\"> said the sports professional to <em>\u00c1tl\u00e1tsz\u00f3 Erd\u00e9ly<\/em>, who wanted to keep his\/her anonymity. <\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"western\" lang=\"en\">\u201e<span lang=\"en\">In Cs\u00edkszereda everything is about hockey, every other sport is chosen by those who are not good enough at playing hockey\u201d <\/span><span lang=\"en-GB\">\u2013<\/span><span lang=\"en\"> said our source, according to whom the academy could have been established in any other Sekler city, be it Sepsiszentgy\u00f6rgy or Sz\u00e9kelyudvarhely. <\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"western\" lang=\"en\">\u201e<span lang=\"en\">The professional staff of the Pusk\u00e1s Academy paid visits to Seklerland, held meetings with different representatives and made the decision that Cs\u00edkszereda would be the best location, taking into account the support offered by the local council\u201d <\/span><span lang=\"en-GB\">\u2013<\/span><span lang=\"en\"> explained Zolt\u00e1n Szondy, adding that Cs\u00edkszereda seemed ideal also due to its central location, that it is at a distance of 40-60 minutes from all Sekler cities.<\/span><\/p>\n<figure id=\"attachment_25446\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-25446\" style=\"width: 740px\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-large wp-image-25446\" src=\"https:\/\/atlatszo.ro\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/01\/erd\u00e9ly.00_00_28_16.Still002-740x416-740x416.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"740\" height=\"416\" \/><figcaption id=\"caption-attachment-25446\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Drone footage of the center in Cs\u00edkszereda. Photo: Atlatszo.hu\/Gergely P\u00e1pai<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<h3 class=\"western\" lang=\"en\">Would we like Hungarian players or good players?<\/h3>\n<p class=\"western\" lang=\"en\">The view adopted by the Academy, according to which training is provided primarily for Hungarian children from Romania does not necessarily lead to good sports results: the pool of children one can choose from is a fairly important factor. It is not the same to select from the half million Hungarian children of the region or from the several million Romanian children of the neighboring counties, our source said, who also added that the same reasoning was applied <a href=\"http:\/\/fkcsikszereda.ro\/felnott-2016-17\/\">to the professional team<\/a>: nationality is more important than results.<\/p>\n<blockquote>\n<p class=\"western\" lang=\"en\">\u201e<span lang=\"en\">Speaking of the pool of children one can choose from: the county of Hargita and Kov\u00e1szna have 600 thousand inhabitants, but Iceland, with only 300 thousand inhabitants managed to <a href=\"https:\/\/index.hu\/sport\/futball\/2016\/eb\/csapat\/izland\">qualify for the European Championships<\/a>\u201d <\/span><span lang=\"en-GB\">\u2013<\/span><span lang=\"en\"> replied the president of the club. Szondy also elaborated on why they were making selection based on nationality: \u201eFor us it is important that the language of trainings is Hungarian, as we define ourselves as a Hungarian Club. We have sub-centers in Southern Transylvania where Romanian children are in majority.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<p class=\"western\" lang=\"en\">At the beginning we had several coaches from Hungary, but none of them was the real deal. \u201eThe problem is not with the program, but with the fact that the coaches from Hungary didn\u2019t respect it\u201d, our source said, according to whom it is no coincidence that the current coach of FK Cs\u00edkszereda is Valentin Suciu, the coach who managed <a href=\"http:\/\/liga2.prosport.ro\/liga-3\/bursa-transferurilor\/csikszereda-si-a-numit-un-nou-antrenor-dupa-despartirea-de-balint-optiunea-tehnicianul-care-a-dus-o-pe-sepsi-din-liga-4-in-liga-1-17274543\">to catapult Sepsi OSK to the first league<\/a>.<\/p>\n<h3 class=\"western\" lang=\"en\">It is not our goal to send children by the dozens to the Pusk\u00e1s Academy<\/h3>\n<p class=\"western\" lang=\"en\">Currently 4-4500 children are training at the Sekler Football Academy. The fluctuation among the young is very high, so, it is very difficult to say exact numbers. In the case of the U16-U19 teams 83 children are playing and residing at the center in Cs\u00edkszereda.<\/p>\n<p class=\"western\" lang=\"en\">\u201eUp to now 6 children went to the Pusk\u00e1s Academy. Nor our, nor the goal of the Pusk\u00e1s Academy is to send children their way and send them away from Transylvania. The truly talented children can choose to play at Pusk\u00e1s, where they can evolve more rapidly than at a third league team as the one in Cs\u00edkszereda, explained Szondy, stressing that one child per year is given the chance to continue playing at Pusk\u00e1s.<\/p>\n<p class=\"western\" lang=\"en\">The Romanian teams are also reaching out to them, but not too often. Steaua wanted one of our 16 year olds, but he rejected the offer. Steaua has shown interest in another child with Romanian nationality, but he has chosen to play at Pusk\u00e1s. Bologna, Verona and first league Romanian teams also reached out, but none of their offers were serious.\u201d<\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"embedly-card\">\n<h4><a href=\"https:\/\/english.atlatszo.hu\/2018\/12\/18\/hungarian-government-spent-billions-on-football-academies-in-slovenia-ukraine-and-croatia\/\">Hungarian government spent billions on football academies in Slovenia, Ukraine and Croatia<\/a><\/h4>\n<p>The Hungarian government is financially supporting soccer wherever it can: new stadiums are being built across the country. Besides professional soccer, there is a huge amount of money spent on junior teams and training the new generations of soccer players as well.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p><script async src=\"\/\/cdn.embedly.com\/widgets\/platform.js\" charset=\"UTF-8\"><\/script><\/p>\n<h3 class=\"western\" lang=\"en\">Sepsi OSK: the Sekler success story<\/h3>\n<p class=\"western\" lang=\"en\">Sepsi OSK, founded in 2011 is the opposite of FK Cs\u00edkszereda. The difference between them is due to the club\u2019s leadership: Sepsi OSK\u2019s view is pragmatic, learns from errors, and their professionals have a skilled managerial approach. Their enthusiasm and professionalism brought results for the team. Their supporters, the Sekler Legion, are also well organized, says our anonymous source. He also added that the Sepsi OSK is accepted by the Romanian football: proved by the fact that at the Gala of the Romanian Football, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.maszol.ro\/index.php\/sport\/105319-dioszegi-laszlo-lett-az-ev-klubelnoke\">L\u00e1szl\u00f3 Di\u00f3szegi was awarded the prize of club manager of the year<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p class=\"western\" lang=\"en\"><span lang=\"en\">L\u00e1szl\u00f3 Di\u00f3szegi, the owner of the <a href=\"https:\/\/drive.google.com\/open?id=1Exk66Y6BJYF4ffXFeNnbIZ9hgzewEVJg\">Di\u00f3szegi bakery<\/a> founded the Sepsi OSK in 2011 together with D\u00e1vid Kert\u00e9sz. As Di\u00f3szegi himself has said in an interview, the idea of founding the football team came when following a surgery he was forced to stay in bed for two months. <\/span><\/p>\n<blockquote>\n<p class=\"western\" lang=\"en\"><span lang=\"en\">\u201eI called my friend, D\u00e1vid Kert\u00e9sz and I said to him: D\u00e1vid, the city doesn\u2019t have a football team. Let\u2019s found one! And we did\u201d <\/span><span lang=\"en-GB\">\u2013<\/span><span lang=\"en\"> Di\u00f3szegi recalled. <\/span><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<h3 class=\"western\" lang=\"en\">They don\u2019t want coaches from Hungary<\/h3>\n<p class=\"western\" lang=\"en\"><span lang=\"en\">The association literally<a href=\"http:\/\/sepsiosk.ro\/index.php\/hu\/fooldal\/tortenet\"> started from zero<\/a>: in 2011 they started out in the fifth national league, the so-called \u201ccharriot championship\u201d and from there, during the past 6 years they climbed their way up to the first league of the national championship. \u201cWe didn\u2019t even dare to think of the first league. We were hoping to reach the second league\u201d <\/span><span lang=\"en-GB\">\u2013<\/span><span lang=\"en\"> said the businessman. <\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"western\" lang=\"en\">Even though the mayor of Sepsiszentgy\u00f6rgy (Sf\u00e2ntu Gheorghe), \u00c1rp\u00e1d Antal is one of Fidesz\u2019s most loyal Transylvanian allies, and among the club\u2019s sponsors we find companies from Hungary such as OTP, MOL or Gyermelyi, the club\u2019s activity is independent of politics.<\/p>\n<p class=\"western\" lang=\"en\"><span lang=\"en\">As long as the club has good results, the sponsors won\u2019t interfere with the fday to day decisions. There is a tacit agreement: they are not allowing coaches or advisors from Hungary\u201d <\/span><span lang=\"en-GB\">\u2013<\/span><span lang=\"en\"> said one of our sources, who is familiar with Romanian football. The head coach <a href=\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Valentin_Suciu\">was Valentin Suciu<\/a>, his guidance Sepsi OSK skyrocketed to the first league. After him the next head coach was <a href=\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Eugen_Neagoe\">Eugen Neagoe<\/a>. <\/span><\/p>\n<h3 class=\"western\" lang=\"en\">The Hungarian investor passes unnoticed<\/h3>\n<p class=\"western\" lang=\"en\">While Seklerland has all eyes on the Sepsi OSK football club, the founding of the Sepsi OSK SA, the joint stock company with a similar name in 2017 passes unnoticed. To have a company behind the club is default setting in the professional league.<\/p>\n<p class=\"western\" lang=\"en\">The Sepsi OSK SA is only partly owned by Sepsi OSK sports association. 51% of shares is owned by <a href=\"https:\/\/drive.google.com\/open?id=1DyLxawfAa3sV_H4EsDTRGbDYQebIHdA1\">Hodut Rom SRL<\/a>, the Romanian subsidiary of the Hungarian <a href=\"https:\/\/drive.google.com\/file\/d\/1XVNmuOQQpSY7iH8qGCUIsn9Mlue-VRJc\/view?usp=sharing\">H\u00f3dmez\u0151v\u00e1s\u00e1rhelyi \u00dat\u00e9p\u00edt\u0151 Kft.<\/a><\/p>\n<p class=\"western\" lang=\"en\">The owner of H\u00f3d\u00fat Kft. road construction company is K\u00e1roly Varga, the former business partner of the president of the Felcs\u00fat Football Academy, L\u0151rinc M\u00e9sz\u00e1ros.<\/p>\n<p class=\"western\" lang=\"en\">The Hodut Rom SRL is also running pensions and according to their 2017 annual balance it had a turnover of 68 thousand euros and a 1.3 million euros debt, with a fixed capital (probably real estate) of 1.8 million euros.<\/p>\n<p class=\"western\" lang=\"en\">We don\u2019t know why a Romanian subsidiary of a Hungarian construction company running pensions is interested in football: D\u00e1vid Kert\u00e9sz, the manager of Sepsi OSK did not reply to our questions.<\/p>\n<p class=\"western\" lang=\"en\"><span lang=\"en\">But even though a <a href=\"https:\/\/net.jogtar.hu\/jogszabaly?docid=A16H1801.KOR&amp;timeshift=fffffff4&amp;txtreferer=00000001.TXT\">government decree of on 20<\/a><\/span>th<span lang=\"en\"> of December, 2016 allocated 1 billion forints (3 million euros) for the Sepsiszentgy\u00f6rgy Sports Academy, the Hungarian Football Academy did not sign a contract with the Sepsi OSK Sports Club. Instead, they waited until the 7<\/span>th<span lang=\"en\"> of April, 2017, when the Sepsi OSK SA company was registered. The ink has barely dried on the registration documents when on the 12<\/span>th<span lang=\"en\"> of April <a href=\"https:\/\/drive.google.com\/file\/d\/1NOk551ivIJCQNzkq1Vgstb1sovcea1Ip\/view?usp=sharing\">they have signed the grant contract<\/a>. <\/span><\/p>\n<figure id=\"attachment_25447\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-25447\" style=\"width: 740px\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-large wp-image-25447\" src=\"https:\/\/atlatszo.ro\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/01\/IMG_20180726_161204-740x475.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"740\" height=\"475\" \/><figcaption id=\"caption-attachment-25447\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">The old stadium in Sepsiszentgy\u00f6rgy with the new lights. Photo: Zolt\u00e1n Sipos<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<h3 class=\"western\" lang=\"en\">Hungarian investment and Slovakian reflectors in the Romanian state held stadium<\/h3>\n<p class=\"western\" lang=\"en\">According to the contract, Sepsi OSK SA is committing to the renewal of the city stadium: as Sepsi OSK is playing in the first league since 2017, it was necessary to have a heated lawn as well as night time lighting. The tests of the 400 thousand euro worth lighting system have been carried out <a href=\"https:\/\/szekelyhon.ro\/sport\/fenybe-borult-a-szentgyorgyi-stadion\">in July<\/a> 2018.<\/p>\n<p class=\"western\" lang=\"en\">Nor the Sepsi OSK, nor the Hungarian state was keen on investing in this old facility: the city stadium located in the Szemerja neighborhood of Sepsiszentgy\u00f6rgy is owned by the state and is operated by the Romanian Ministry of Youth and Sports. But at the end of November 2018, following a second attempt, the local council<a href=\"https:\/\/www.3szek.ro\/load\/cikk\/118581\/az-onkormanyzaton-mar-nem-mulik-sepsiszentgyorgyi-varosi-stadion\"> has adopted the decree which stipulates that the facility\u2019s ownership will be transferred to the local council<\/a>. For now they are waiting for the approval of the Ministry of Youth and Sports.<\/p>\n<p class=\"western\" lang=\"en\">Why was such an investment required? \u201cThe new club needed a grace period in order to be able to start the works on the night lighting and on the pitch heating system\u201d \u2013 <a href=\"https:\/\/www.maszol.ro\/index.php\/sport\/97390-csinta-samu-klubigazgato-jov-re-mar-nem-a-jopofa-ujonc-csapat-lesz-a-sepsi-osk\">said the director of the club<\/a>, Samu Csinta in June, 2018.<\/p>\n<blockquote>\n<p class=\"western\" lang=\"en\">\u201eWe are no longer considered newcomers in the field, so for the next championship season we need to make the necessary investments. Even if there were options for heating the pitch, we had to solve the night time lighting. This is how the state will end up receiving a lighting equipment from the Sepsi OSK (as far as we know, an old night time lighting sytem has been received from Dunaszerdahely \u2013 <em>editorial note<\/em>). We do it hoping that the ownership of the stadium will soon be transferred and it will finally be owned by the city council, so the invested money will have reached a good destination\u201d, said Csinta, before the ownership transfer took place.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<h3 class=\"western\" lang=\"en\">M\u00e9sz\u00e1ros\u2019s name was already circulating at the time of planning<\/h3>\n<p class=\"western\" lang=\"en\">The contract signed with the Hungarian Football Academy reveals that of the 1 billion forint support approximately 150 million forints were destined for operation, and the remaining 850 million for investment and equipment. The Sepsi OSK committed to operating an office, to extend its administrative staff and professional assets, and prepare the building of a stadium capable of hosting 5-6 thousand spectators at the outskirts of the city (the number of seats later was extended to 7 thousand \u2013 <em>editorial comment<\/em>).<\/p>\n<p class=\"western\" lang=\"en\">It is still not known what will the destiny be of the Sepsi OSK stadium: though the contract with the Hungarian Football Federation expires at the end of 2018, in November the Hungarian engineering company close to L\u0151rinc M\u00e9sz\u00e1ros has not even carried out the plans of the facility.<\/p>\n<p class=\"western\" lang=\"en\">When at the end of November we visited the site, two training pitches were completed, and only the preparatory earth works of the stadium have been executed, thus the authorization for the execution of the stadium with a seating capacity of 7 thousand will most certainly be postponed until next year. If the contract with the Hungarian Football Federation will be extended.<\/p>\n<p class=\"western\" lang=\"en\">L\u0151rinc M\u00e9sz\u00e1ros\u2019s name has been circulating since the beginning: the responsible of the plans is the <a href=\"https:\/\/drive.google.com\/file\/d\/1mZG86s8SCIJtNfM1dikAfCftJKwHV_cS\/view?usp=sharing\">Fej\u00e9r Tervez\u0151 \u00e9s M\u00e9rn\u00f6kiroda Kft.<\/a> This company has ties with L\u0151rinc M\u00e9sz\u00e1ros\u2019s children.<\/p>\n<h3 class=\"western\" lang=\"en\">The planning is delayed<\/h3>\n<p class=\"western\" lang=\"en\"><span lang=\"en-GB\">The budget allocated for engineering services is 10 million forints, but it seems that for some reason, the planning has been delayed: in an interview given on the 7<\/span><span lang=\"en-GB\">Th<\/span><span lang=\"en-GB\"> of June, 2018, Samu Csinta, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.maszol.ro\/index.php\/sport\/97390-csinta-samu-klubigazgato-jov-re-mar-nem-a-jopofa-ujonc-csapat-lesz-a-sepsi-osk\">optimistically said<\/a> that the whole design pack will be ready within days. <\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"western\" lang=\"en\">When we visited Sepsiszentgy\u00f6rgy in November, the manager of Sepsi OSK SA, D\u00e1vid Kert\u00e9sz said that the designs weren\u2019t ready yet. We bumped into him by accident: we were there to see the pitches when Kert\u00e9sz showed up and in a conversation lasting for a couple of minutes revealed a couple of details of the investment.<\/p>\n<p class=\"western\" lang=\"en\">We asked him about who will build the stadium. According to Kert\u00e9sz, it is not yet known who the contractor will be, but this decision will be taken in Hungary.<\/p>\n<p class=\"western\" lang=\"en\">On the 29th of November, when we asked for an interview over the phone, Kert\u00e9sz made us understand that he cannot answer our questions. The questions were sent to him over email <a href=\"https:\/\/docs.google.com\/document\/d\/1RppupYL_ZoU2zMcrRsxAlJB8_Gpa11tb0-9fZuo2bnU\/edit?usp=sharing\">can be seen here<\/a>.<\/p>\n<figure id=\"attachment_25448\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-25448\" style=\"width: 740px\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-large wp-image-25448\" src=\"https:\/\/atlatszo.ro\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/01\/DSC02008-740x494.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"740\" height=\"494\" \/><figcaption id=\"caption-attachment-25448\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">The site of the new stadium in November 2018. Photo: Zolt\u00e1n Sipos<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<h3 class=\"western\" lang=\"en\">The lot is the property of the Hungarian investor<\/h3>\n<p class=\"western\" lang=\"en\">The complex made up of center pitch and several training pitches will be located at the North-Eastern area outside of the city on the lot next to the Sepsi Arena. The lots totaling 98 thousand square meters are owned by Hodut Rom SRL and will be rented out to Sepsi OSK SA for an indefinite period. We couldn\u2019t find out know how much the rental costs would be: the documents we received from the Hungarian Football Federation did not include the annex containing the details of the rental fee.<\/p>\n<p class=\"western\" lang=\"en\"><span lang=\"en\">On the 23<\/span>rd<span lang=\"en\"> of March, 2018 <a href=\"https:\/\/drive.google.com\/file\/d\/1ItSWsQ2zUWIhX4FUR4Wx3BeyAm3czmbZ\/view?usp=sharing\">another million was added<\/a> to the one received on the spring of 2017 by Sepsi OSK SA. As in the case of the first financial support, <a href=\"https:\/\/net.jogtar.hu\/jogszabaly?docid=A17H2065.KOR&amp;timeshift=fffffff4&amp;txtreferer=00000001.TXT\">a government decree<\/a> guarantees the financial support for the Hungarian Football Federation. <\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"western\" lang=\"en\"><span lang=\"en\">As 2017 was about qualifying the lot as suitable for hosting sport activities, with designing the stadium and with obtaining the requested authorizations, 2018 should have been about implementation. But not much implementing has been done: by the end of 2018 only the training pitches were executed, some digging had been done, but the ground work hasn\u2019t been started yet. This might cause problems, as both grant contracts end on the 31<\/span>st<span lang=\"en\"> of December, 2018 and no payments can be covered after this time frame.<\/span><\/p>\n<p lang=\"en\"><strong>Translation: Etelka Tam\u00e1s<\/strong><\/p>\n<p lang=\"en\"><em>Featured image: L\u0151rinc M\u00e9sz\u00e1ros, the president of the Pusk\u00e1s Ferenc Football Academy, T\u00fcnde Szab\u00f3, the state secretary responsible for sports of the Ministry of Human Capacities, as well as Zolt\u00e1n Szondy, the director of the Cs\u00edkszereda Football Club inaugurate the M\u00e1rton \u00c1ron Talent Support Center in September 2016. Photo:<\/em> <em> <a href=\"https:\/\/www.pfla.hu\/?q=news\/6963\">pfla.hu<\/a><\/em><\/p>\n<p lang=\"en\"><em>This investigation was financially supported with a grant from <a href=\"https:\/\/www.investigativejournalismforeu.net\/\">the IJ4EU fund<\/a>.<\/em><\/p>\n<p lang=\"en\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter wp-image-25066 size-medium\" src=\"https:\/\/atlatszo.ro\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/12\/ij4eu_logo_BLUE-300x149.png\" alt=\"\" width=\"300\" height=\"149\" \/><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The Football Academy of Seklerland is the first big investment of the Football Academy Network funded by the Hungarian government, which is planning to build establishments in the neighboring countries bearing ethnic Hungarians. Up until now the cost of the Sekler Football Academy reached 3.7 billion forints (equaling 11,5 million euros). Its professional team plays [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":7,"featured_media":27442,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8],"tags":[1285,1289,1290,1291,1292,1293,1294,1295,1296,1297,1298,1299,1300,1301],"ppma_author":[2992],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v21.5 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>Will the Hungarian government bring Sekler football to success? - \u00c1tl\u00e1tsz\u00f3 Erd\u00e9ly<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/dev2.atlatszo.exot.hu\/en\/english\/will-the-hungarian-government-bring-sekler-football-to-success\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Will the Hungarian government bring Sekler football to success? - \u00c1tl\u00e1tsz\u00f3 Erd\u00e9ly\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"The Football Academy of Seklerland is the first big investment of the Football Academy Network funded by the Hungarian government, which is planning to build establishments in the neighboring countries bearing ethnic Hungarians. 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Up until now the cost of the Sekler Football Academy reached 3.7 billion forints (equaling 11,5 million euros). 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Az \u00c1tl\u00e1tsz\u00f3 Erd\u00e9ly egyik alap\u00edt\u00f3ja, jelenleg f\u0151szerkeszt\u0151je \u00e9s egyben kiad\u00f3ja is vagyok. Alapk\u00e9pz\u00e9sen filoz\u00f3fi\u00e1t tanultam, majd szociol\u00f3gia mesterit v\u00e9geztem a Babe\u0219-Bolyai Tudom\u00e1nyegyetemen. 2001-t\u0151l 2014-ig a Transindex.ro internetes port\u00e1ln\u00e1l dolgoztam. 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