Cseri chosen as football player of the year in Hungary

Mezőkövesd midfielder Tamás Cseri has won the RangaAdó award for best OTP Bank Liga player, ahead of two key members of Ferencváros’ championship-winning squad.

In a separate award voted for by fans, the best goal this season was adjudged to have been scored by Benjámin Babati of Zalaegerszeg in the very last round of fixtures.

As is traditional, the Hungarian Football Federation again held its annual awards ceremony to recognise the outstanding performers of a football season which finally ended last week, this time the award winners receiving their prizes in an unusual way, a legacy of saftey measures employed in the ake of the coronavirus pandemic which delay the end of the season.

By the end of the last Saturday in June, the 2019-2020 season had produced countless memorable moments,

Ferencváros retaining their championship title for the first time in 24 years ahead of MOL Fehérvár FC and Puskás Akadémia, while Honvéd won the Hungarian Cup 11 years after their most recent triumph.

Therefore, Ferencváros will represent Hungary in the UEFA Champions League while the three other afore-mentioned teams will compete in the Europa League.

This year, MLSZ announced the winners of seven categories (Player of the Year, New Discovery of the Year, Top Goalscorer, Best Coach in the OTP Bank Liga, Best Referee, Best Goal and the Fair Play Award).

The winners of each category was decided on the basis of votes by the clubs, specifically the team captain, head coach and the oldest and youngest squad member voting for the three players they considered the best in each category.

Exceptions to this system were the referee of the year, the top goalscorer and the Fair Play award, while fans were able to vote for the goal of the year on the M4 Sport website. No prizes were awarded in the women’s categories this year because there were no final results in the Simple Női Liga due to the coronavirus pandemic.

The awards were presented in an unusual way – in the studio of M4 Sport studio by Tibor Nyilasi, a member of the MLSZ Executive Committee and head of the Technical Committee.

Podium places in each category:

Best OTP Bank Liga coach:

1. Serhiy Rebrov (Ferencváros)
2. Attila Kuttor (Mezőkövesd-Zsóry FC)
3. Gábor Márton (ZTE FC)

Best New Player:

1. Bendegúz Bolla (ZTE FC)
2. Norbert Szendrei (Budapest Honvéd)
3. Patrik Demjén (ZTE FC)

Best Player:

1. Tamás Cseri (Mezőkövesd-Zsóry FC)
2. Isael da Silva Barbosa (Ferencváros)
3. Miha Blazic (Ferencváros)

Best Referee:

1. Balázs Berke
2. Gergő Bogár
3. Ferenc Karakó

OTP Bank League Fair Play Award:

1. Ferencváros
2. Mezőkövesd-Zsóry
3. Újpest FC

Top Goalscorer:

1. András Radó (ZTE FC)
2. Norbert Könyves (Paksi FC)
2. Davide Lanzafame (Budapest Honvéd)
2. David Vanacek (Puskás Akadémia)

Best Goal:

1. Babati Benjámin (ZTE FC)
2. Dániel Gazdag (Budapest Honvéd)
3. Olegszandr Zubkov (Ferencváros)

Reaction from the award winners:

András Radó, ZTE FC (top goalscorer):

“This title is a huge thing in my career. I would like to thank my teammates, without whom this would not have been possible, the coaches and all the staff at the club. I very much hope that I will be here again with such an award in my hands. I’ve had a more prolific season than this one, but that time I only finished in 3rd place goal scorer list. Now this amount (13) was enough and naturally I’m very happy with this award too.”