After defeating Kecskemét, DVTK and Újpest, our defending champions and UEL league stage men's football team hosted Nyíregyháza in the 6th round of the OTP Bank Liga at the Groupama Arena (our team has played two matches less in the tournament so far).
In 2024, Ferencvárosi Torna Club also joined the national campaign to fight childhood cancer. In the spirit of the Golden September, the players of Ferencváros men's football team and the professional staff marched out onto the pitch with a golden ribbon before the match against Nyíregyháza.
Before the kick-off whistle, there was also a celebratory toast. On behalf of the Albert Foundation, the son of our legend, former footballer and head coach of our women's football team, Flórián Albert, presented awards to three of our junior footballers. The "Best Player" award went to Ádám Madarász, while the "Top Goal Scorer" award was shared between our U14 midfielder Mihály Bucsák and U16 centre Bertold Bokros, who both finished the previous season with 14 goals.
First half
In the 2nd minute Civic's shot was blocked and later a corner was fought out by the visitors, but the game was played in midfield for the first ten minutes. In the 17th minute, Gruber was fouled in front of the penalty area, Kady lined up for the free kick but his shot bounced off the line. From the ensuing corner, however, Gartenmann positioned himself well and headed home to give our team the lead (1-0)!
The Danish defender already scored on his debut match! Varga then sent the ball cleverly into the goal, but he was on offside.
In the 32nd minute, Kady fired over. Five minutes later, Dibusz made a great save on Kovácsréti's shot and Jokics was inaccurate. At the start of extra time Kady got the ball, saw that the Nyíregyháza goalkeeper was out, but failed to lift the ball accurately and we went into the break with a one-goal lead.
Second half
At the start of the second half, Botka and Civic were active on both ends of our defence, but the visitors' defence managed to clear, and then Dibusz needed to save by Kovácsréti's close range header. In the 57th minute, Ben Romdhane shot into the goalkeeper from close range. A minute later Zachariassen was looking for a ball, our player headed the ball into the hands of a Nyíregyháza defender and a penalty was awarded. Barnabás Varga shot confidently into the bottom right corner, doubling our lead (2-0)! We made two substitutions in the 62nd minute: Varga Barnabás and Ben Romdhane came off, Traoré and Kehinde came on. Three minutes later, after a defensive mistake, the away team made it 2-1 through Kovácsréti. In the 73rd minute, our head coach Pascal Jansen changed two more players: Botka was replaced by Makreckis and Maiga by Pappoe. In the 88th minute we needed a reflex move by Dibusz to keep our lead. Two minutes before the end of normal time, Gruber was replaced by Bassey.
At the start of the eight-minute extra time, Zachariassen shot over after Traoré's cross into the middle and then Bassey's shot was also cleared. Nyíregyháza put the pressure on us in the final stages of the match but could not equalize.
So our team continues to maintain its 100% record in the NB I, winning its fourth game in a row and leading the table with 12 points, despite two games in hand!
Men's football, OTP Bank Liga, Round 6
FTC-Nyíregyháza Spartacus FC 2-1 (1-0)
Groupama Aréna, 8175 spectators, Ref.: Dr. Bence Csonka
FTC: Dibusz - Botka (Makreckis, 73.), Gartenmann, Raul Gustavo, Civic - Ben Romdhane (Kehinde, 62.), Maiga (Pappoe, 73.) - Kady, Zachariassen, Gruber (Bassey, 88.) - Varga B. (Traoré, 62.)
Nyíregyháza: Bese - Baki, Alaxai, Jokics - Navrátil, Kesztyűs, Keita (Leoni, 70.), Nagy B. - Kovácsréti (Pinte, 81.), Eppel (Beke, 62.), Gresó (Babics, 70.)
Yellow cards: Keita (29), Alaxai (32), Kovácsréti (34), Botka (37), Zachariassen (81), Baki (84), Jokics (84)
Goals: Gartenmann (18), Varga B. (59) resp. Kovácsréti (65)
Varga scored, but our team lost 2-1 against Tottenham in the UEL main draw.
Ferencváros won 3-0 with a hat trick from our Brazilian striker and are back on top.
Traoré only managed to make it closer against Anderlecht, who won 2-1.
Ferencváros won 3-1 away to MTK in the seventh round of the championship.
Our Brazilian striker and Abu Fani scored, leading Ferencvaros forward in the cup.
Matheus Saldanha, 25, joins our football team from FK Partizan in Serbia.
24-year-old Gábor Szalai arrives at Ferencváros from Lausanne-Sport in Switzerland.
English, German, Dutch, Greek, French, German, Ukrainian, Swedish and Belgian opponents in the UEL.