Ferencváros wins championship – VIDEO

Ferencváros have wrapped up the Hungarian NB I league title with six games to spare after nearest rivals MTK lost 4-1 away at Paks. Ferencváros lost 2-1 to Debrecen but it didn’t matter. It’s their 29th title, their first for 12 years and the closure of a tumultuous period in the club’s history during which they spent three seasons in the second tier having been relegated for off-pitch reasons.

This latest club honour is fully deserved, ‘Fradi’ having led the table for the whole season and their lead over the rest of the 12-team league currently standing at 22 points. It has been a real team effort but the 17 goals of the league’s top scorer Dániel Böde were obviously instrumental in this success, as were the steadying influence of veteran Zoltán Gera who had been an important figure in that last tile win of 2004 and then spent 10 seasons in England before returning to Ferencváros in 2014. The mix of experience from the likes of Gera and Tamás Hajnál and the youthful energy of András Radó, Roland Varga and the outstanding goalkeeper Dénes Dibusz has set apart Hungary’s most successful club from the rest once again this season.

Ferencváros head coach Thomas Doll:

“Of course I am happy that we have become champions but in truth I will only be happy tomorrow. We deserved to win the gold medal as we’ve had a great, successful season, but I would have been happier if more of our fans could have seen this achievement. They will expect to see a better game from us in the forthcoming Hungarian Cup semi-final. At European level this will still not be enough so we certainly need to strengthen in the summer. For now, I’m happy I can already celebrate my birthday next week as a champion”.