July 4. 2022.
SuLiga winners played in the Netherlands
István Szőke Foundation represented FTC in Breda, in the prestigious Community Champions League.

The second season of the Fradi SuLiga has come to an end and the competition for schools and youth communities was won by the "Szőke István Akadémia" (István Szőke Academy) "Szöszi 2" team from the District IX, and they earned the honour of representing Ferencváros in Breda on 23 June against Werder Bremen, Feyenoord, Benfica, Club Brugge, Valerenga and NAC Breda.

The 10 young people and their 2 companions had an adventurous journey. Starting from Debrecen airport, they passed via Charleroi in Belgium and Antwerp to the Dutch border town Breda, the headquarters of the European Football for Development Network and of the province of North Brabant. But the 12-hour journey was no problem for the youngsters. After checking into the 12-person accommodation, which catered for all needs, they headed straight to the swimming pool to enjoy the rest of the afternoon, after having provided the rule-abiding Dutch with proof of their swimming skills in the absence of certificates.

Long journey or not, the very pleasant environment of the Katjeskelder made it as hard to go to sleep as if they had just bathed in the euphoria of the victory of the Hungarian national team in England. Although it caused some disadvantges on the day of the tournament, they finally arrived at the Boiemeer sports ground in time and filled with good spirits thanks to the loud music  on the bus played by the Norwegians.

Unfortunately, the tournament provided little joy or success. Despite an average age of 12.8, the team of 11-15 year olds were placed in the U15 group in the morning, where they were given little room to assert themselves. NAC Breda's street league team beat ours 3-0, Valerenga 7-0 and Benfica 4-0. They managed to play Breda in the play-off match as equals, but that also ended in a 1-0 defeat.

After lunch, the U15 and U13 teams were re-divided into two groups based on their positions from the morning. Thanks to the mixed group, our team finally managed to claim a 2-0 win against Brugge U13. However, they were unlucky to lose again to NAC Breda U15 2-0, Werder Bremen U13 5-0 and Feyenoord U13 2-0 in the battle for 5th place overall. In the end, they finished the eight-team tournament in 6th place.

However, the good atmosphere compensated for the young people from Ferencváros, who became friends with several players from other teams, and many new friendships were made on Instagram and TikTok.

The morning of the last day was spent exploring the city centre of Breda, which despite the short walk made a deep impression on the youngsters with its clean, tidy streets and houses, cycling culture and consistent Dutch attitude to the rules. Most of them are not in an easy position in terms of family background or close environmental examples. It is therefore particularly gratifying that the programme has been able to fully meet its objectives, as they have taken this important lesson back home to Budapest with them, along with the great experience, the love of sport and a stronger communal feeling.

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