Overall football in Hungary is caught in a vicious circle that few can see a way out of, and a retched state of affairs that new national team coach Erwin Koeman has to overcome if the national team are to reach any heights of achievement in trying to qualify for the 2010 World Cup.  Factors such as poor crowds, few attractive teams, low quality players and  widespread football hooliganism mean that getting people through turnstiles at league games  is hard and  a major obstacle for the Magyar FA to overcome.   Off the field financial problems and corruption has seen the country's major side Ferencvaros demoted to lower leagues and seen ongoing FA/club in court out of court squabbles which do little to attract any sponsorship or new investment to the grass roots of the game.

Like other central European countries who are struggling to compete with the major leagues in Europe, Hungary does have a strong football identity and strong established fan cultures if on small but visable scales.  Serious ultra culture has caught on at most clubs and Ujpest, Ferencvaros and Debrecen fans in particular pride themselves on enthusiastic smokebomb filled fire cracker matchday atmospheres.   

Since the 1990s and the incoming of African and Brazilian players, clubs have had problems with some unruly fans expressing anti-semitic, racist and hateful sentiments towards opposing and even there own players.   Various underground elements operate mafia like rackets around various aspects of Budapest daily life and this would also appear to be the case with some football fans operating within an untouchable like bubble. And we are not just speaking about intermittent racist chants and songs. 

These sentiments are expressed via massive banners, fights and graffitti inside and outside grounds by tough street aware football groups and there would appear to be little authorities can do about it without driving away people who are basically grass roots working class football fans.  

Hungary's capital Budapest is the hotbed of Hungarian football.  Recent years have seen the regional Debrecen and Gyor coming to the fore and dominating the league, but the spectre of MTK Budapest, Ferencvaros and Kipest Honved are never far away when the titles are being handed out.   The country's major clash is the Ferencvaros-Ujpest Budapest derby which more often that not spills over into violence; and very serious violence.    

Ferencvaros despite recent problems are Hungary's major football force, the most loved and hated in equal measure.  Located in the Budapest suburb of Ferencvaros the club were once the favoured club of Nazi's in 1940's Hungary, but the working class area the stadium is located in is also central historically to the Hungarian 1956 uprising, an event which did so much to break up the golden team of the 1950's.  Fradi to date are also the only Hungarian team to ever win a European trophy having won the Inter city Fairs Cup in 1965 and finished runners up twice in 1968 and 1975.  In 1995 the club also qualified for the Champions league but this was not without controversy as racist chanting in a game versus Ajax Amsterdam saw heavy UEFA sanctions whilst club mis-management has seen sanctions from the Hungarian FA culminating in demotion in 2006.   Great names are few in today's Hungarian football scene but they are still in existance stadium wise.   Ferencvárosi TC's stadium is named after the great Florian Albert who was one of the major players at the 1966 World Cup in England outshining even Pele and Eusebio.

With playing colours of blue and white MTK Budapest/Hungaria are one of Budapest's 'other' clubs.  Historically a club with jewish and liberal origins they were banned during the Second World War by the Nazi puppet government and hundreds of the clubs administrators, fans and some players perished in the the concentration camps.  After the war the club became the Voros Lobogo club (Red Banner) a communist team of the hated communist secret police but have went back to using the MTK name of its origins.   Todays MTK are a modernising club with European ambitions and business structures eager to drive the club forward to successes of the past.  Recent coaches have tried to get success for the club but yet progress has not been made in the demoralised football nation.   Like Ferencvaros, the club stadium is named after its greatest player Nandor Hidegkuti the deep lying centre forward from the famous 1950's Hungarian team.

Ujpesti TE or as they were once better known Újpesti Dózsa, are based in the northern Ujpest port district of Budapest.  In the 1980's they were a big side reaching the Quarter finals of the 1984 ECW-C where they lost to Aberdeen.  The club's colours are purple and white and with their 20 league titles and 8 cup titles they are one of the most successful clubs in the country.  Any trip in a taxi in Budapest will see taxi mirrors adorned with either an Ujpest pennant or a Ferencvaros one.  But the club today are lucky to still be in existance as with the fall of the communist government and the termination of state sponsorship there have came financial problems with the club nearly going out of business in 1999. 

Újpest is once again back amongst the top teams of Hungary and the clubs Ferenc Szusza ground (once again named after a famous player) has seen improvements for both fans and the media.   The club's financial situation is relatively stable (by Hungarian standards) with one of the largest budgets in the country. Fan wise Újpest has a large and loyal fanbase and can be regarded as a 'Manchester United' of Hungary.   Újpest fans are famous for being the best travelling fans in the country with links to Fiorentina and Austria Vienna due to the violet club colours.  The club have the oldest organised Ultra group Ultra Viola Bulldogs. 

Other rivalries exist in Budapest with Kispest Honved FC being one of the city's main sides.  The side were the country's Army team and enjoyed its heyday in the post war years when it provided the nucleus of the Mighty Magyar team of the 1950's.  And yes you have guessed right, the club do play at a stadium named after a great famous player, this time Josef Bozsik.   Very much Budapest's also-rans in the style of Fulham or West Ham, Kipest Honved are on the fringes of the big two but are still a big named club in a country lacking in recent success stories.  Like so much else in Hungary they will forever be remembered for yester-year, past glories and being the home of former heroes.

Also in Budapest are Vasas SC located in the district of Angel Land in the north.   They are traditionally the team of Iron workers being founded in 1911 as the "Sport Club of Iron and Steel Workers".   The club's fans are said to have an allegience with Ujpest fans.  However, it is pretty ironic that even more famous than Vasas though is the People's ('Nep') Stadion, the stadium now renamed in honour of national treasure Ferenc Puskas.  The flagship of Communist Hungary, the stadium has its own metro station and the stadium can be seen on exiting the metro stop.

For football fans eager to see originality on the terraces then Budapest ranks highly on any overseas venture.  Sadly passion is thin on the ground in general as the Hungarian league has become demorilised and down trodden in recent times.  A state backlash against organised fan groups has seen even the established fan bases drift off now and again and only the Ujpest against Ferencvaros match day can account high on the 'attractive' equation.  The league itself is one of the worst in terms of player quality and despite a yearning for a more modern football administration, the country has struggled to shake off memories of the past as it seeks to progress to the future.   Budapest itself seems a large party city with attractive areas and sights in abundance for tourists, but in terms of football tourism it gets few foreign visitors.   The country is a massive football  country but harks back too often to its golden generation of the 1950's.  Very few countries give fomer players a state funeral but this is exactly what Ferenc Puskas got in Budapest when he died.

Whilst rules and regulation reign supreme, some would say sadly, in the United Kingdom, visable organisation and regulation would seem non-existant in Hungary.  Street riots have been seen in Budapest in recent years and any organised structure may onloy be done by illegal forces.  The taxi system in Budapest is said to be run by mafia like underground structures.  In football the accepted western football structures of administrative organisation, over riding health/safety structures and security are basically non-existant or at the very best 'flimsy' in Hungary.   For some, this may not seem a problem and it gives scope to something which at its best can be called 'very different' when compared to say the supremely organised and uber-successful English Premiership.  The grounds in Budapest have there own feel and character though and hopefully they will retain these characteristics as the years progress but do so together was an essence of on-field progress.

The questions we are left with after visiting Budapest revolve around what football fans in Hungary actually want in terms of football.  As leagues around Europe progress and club sides achieve at a higher European wide level, Hungarian club sides are non-existant even at the final qualifying rounds.  Yes, Budapest has its own unique football culture which should remain but this fabric woven has become one of perpetual failure and something has to be changed if only to give a success starved and varied fan base some sort of faith in football once again.  

Budapest is one of Europe's great city destinations whatever your interests and requirements are.  With the glorious Danube by night the city is on par with Prague and Paris.   The main shopping strip in Budapest the Vaci Utca allowes strolling and spending in equal measure whilst Opera fans can enjoy the finest Operatic performances at the Hungarian State Opera House at very inexpensive prices.   In terms of football in Hungary and specifically to Budapest, the performances on offer on the field are never going to match up to the finest on offer in Rome or Milan.   Stadium atmosphere is never going to match up to that on offer in Germany or England.   Any trip to Budapest may enable you to see a domestic match or two as well as some differing fan groups and atmospheres but you have little chance of seeing a Champions League game in Budapest let alone a UEFA cup game.   The league system is poor at the moment with all the best players playing outside of Hungary.    What is more at a Hungarian game you may be welcomed in a friendly city and at the stadium be safe as houses but you might also witness racist chanting, aggressive looking fans and muscle bound mafia underground driven security staff at games.  And, for the average football fan, that may just be a little too much to take.