Dárdai's debut for the national team could take place in March this year.Continue reading
According to Sándor Csányi, the future of Hungarian national football team’s head coach, Marco Rossi, is assured after the European Championship.
In an exclusive interview with M4 Sport, the president of the Hungarian Football Federation (MLSZ) said that the Italian coach’s contract runs until January 1, 2026, meaning that he will lead the team in the UEFA Nations League and FIFA World Cup qualifiers.
Rossi has been in charge of the national team since the summer of 2018.
Last year, they qualified for a major tournament for the first time since 1985, after finishing unbeaten at the top of their qualifying group for the European Championship.
Photo via Facebook/Marco Rossi
Sándor Csányi also revealed the national team’s future program.
Ninety-nine percent sure that in the spring we will play Turkey and Kosovo and we will play at home,”
he noted. “Later, just before the European Championship, we will play against Ireland and Malta; Ireland away, Malta at home, probably in a provincial stadium or the Groupama Arena,” the MLSZ president summed up.
Csányi spoke about the number of tickets for the Hungarian national team’s matches. Based on UEFA data, between 400,000 – 500,000 tickets were ordered from Hungary for the group matches against Switzerland, Germany, and Scotland.
“The 400,000-500,000 ticket requests obviously does not mean the same number of people, as many people I know have requested tickets from two or three different websites. On the other hand, there are 200,000 members of the MLSZ supporters’ club, hence it is likely that they made up the majority of the applicants,” he said, adding that UEFA could give away 10,000 tickets per match.
The MLSZ president pointed out that
after Márton Dárdai, there would be other players who, although they started their careers abroad, would choose the Hungarian national team.
“In MLSZ we are constantly looking for players of Hungarian origin who regularly play in a top league or are youth national team players in a country. We have a few more candidates we would like to see who are of Hungarian origin. It is too early to talk about names, but I can tell you that there will definitely be more,” promised the MLSZ president.
He also mentioned the OTP Bank League (the national league of clubs, also known as NB I), resuming on Friday, and emphasized that he was very satisfied with the autumn season in terms of quality, but he was confident that the number of spectators would improve. The president also said that it is possible that the way the NB I is run will change from the 2025-26 season.
In addition, according to Csányi, all the conditions are in place to host a Champions League final in Budapest. “UEFA is very keen to host matches in Budapest because almost all the conditions are there, the only thing is that there is not enough space at the airport for private planes to park here, and UEFA is waiting for guarantees that we will solve this issue,” concluded the MLSZ president.
Via MTI; Featured image via Facebook/MLSZ – Magyar Labdarúgó Szövetség