Balázs Dzsudzsák, captain of the national football team, returned to Hungary from the United Arab Emirates in early May with the help of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs during the coronavirus epidemic. Although the two-week quarantine obligation was still in effect for those who returned to the country, the footballer was spotted shortly afterwards enjoying the reopening of the capital. It turned out that he had a diplomatic passport. Since then, an explanation for the footballer’s special passport was also given: “as the captain of the national team, he is worthy of it.”
When the captain of the national football team, Balázs Dzsudzsák returned home with the help of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in May, like others, he would have been subjected to two weeks of official quarantine under the current epidemiological regulations. Regardless, not long after the restrictions eased, he was spotted among pictures of a newly opened Budapest uploaded to Viktor Orbán’s Facebook, so it turned out he didn’t have to stay home in quarantine.
Shortly afterwards, he also visited a match in the company of Foreign Minister Péter Szijjártó, and then he appeared at a demonstration organized after the double stabbing murder in Deák Square. It was then revealed that the football player had a diplomatic passport, which is why he did not have to comply with the quarantine regulations.
After the incident, Ágnes Vadai, MP of the Democratic Coalition, asked Levente Magyar, Undersecretary of State at the Foreign Ministry, why Dzsudzsák had received a diplomatic passport. According to Magyar, Balázs Dzsudzsák, as the captain of the Hungarian national football team is worthy of a diplomatic passport. Although the current regulations state that those who perform a diplomatic mission can receive this type of document, the answer did not elaborate on what exactly the diplomatic mission was in the case of Dzsudzsák.
featured photo: Tibor Illyés/MTI