Marked for Mate Varga
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Player ratings28 Aug 2028
Successful dribbles: 33. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
Squad28 Aug 2028
“I remember the meeting. I remember exactly what was promised in it.” Haladas may remember it differently, which is precisely the problem.
Squad28 Aug 2028
Roland Szolnoki was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
Squad28 Aug 2028
Laszlo Fiola falls out with a teammate over standards
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
Squad28 Aug 2028
At 26 the improving is meant to be over. It is not: 3 points better than the mark taken at the start of the year, which is the sort of thing that happens to players who take the boring parts of the job seriously.
Back issues
From our football correspondent
Steady
Match5 Aug 2028
A 2-goal lead gone for Haladas
It is a specific kind of quiet, a ground watching a winning position dissolve. Fehervar kept coming because nothing stopped them, and Haladas will be asked about the last half hour all week.
Squad7 Aug 2028
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Tamás Fadgyas and Haladas agree another 2 years.
Squad7 Aug 2028
Form comes and goes; this has not gone. César Ayón is 23, and the version of him training now would not have got into the side he was in a year ago.
Squad7 Aug 2028
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Haladas this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad7 Aug 2028
At 27 the improving is meant to be over. It is not: 3 points better than the mark taken at the start of the year, which is the sort of thing that happens to players who take the boring parts of the job seriously.
Player ratings7 Aug 2028
A performance of 8.16 does not come along often, and when it does the rest of the team becomes scenery. He was magnificent.
Match5 Aug 2028
It finished 2‑2, and it somehow always looked like it would. One of those afternoons where the table moves less than the tempers.
Market7 Aug 2028
“We are a long way apart, and pretending otherwise helps nobody.” Neither side is close, and the calendar is not on the club's side.
Player ratings7 Aug 2028
Successful dribbles: 10. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Market29 May 2028
“This is not anger. I have thought about it for months, and nothing that has happened lately changed my mind.” The request is on a desk at Haladas, and it is not being withdrawn.
Squad29 May 2028
Dominik Fiola breaks a bone — 72 days out
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 72 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
Squad29 May 2028
An individual honour is a strange thing in a team game, and the best of them are never argued with. He has had the sort of year that ends with his name being read out, and Haladas have had the benefit of it.
Squad29 May 2028
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Haladas this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad29 May 2028
A move Henrique Pacheco would have made for nothing
There is a version of every career where the player ends up somewhere he chose rather than somewhere that chose him. Henrique Pacheco is living that version at Haladas, and it tends to show in the first month.
Market29 May 2028
He is 18, and the scouting reports agree on the only line that matters: the ceiling. Signings like this are lottery tickets written by professionals.
In brief
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Market
Mate Varga returns from a loan that gave him nothing
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Market
Haladas shop where it costs nothing
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad8 May 2028
A fracture rules Dominik Fiola out for 96 days
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Haladas will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
Squad8 May 2028
Roland Szolnoki was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
Loan watch8 May 2028
“I did not go to Zalgiris to sit and watch. I want to come back to Haladas and fight for my place.” 5 appearances in 42 matches say the rest.
In brief
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Squad
Words at Haladas training over how hard people work
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Squad
Home is on Edher Segura's mind
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Boardroom
The Haladas production line keeps running
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Loan watch
Decision time nears on Mate Varga
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad10 Apr 2028
Laszlo Fiola breaks a bone — 36 days out
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 36 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
Squad10 Apr 2028
Roland Szolnoki was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
Squad10 Apr 2028
“I never wanted to be anywhere else. There is unfinished business here.” Barnabás Németh commits to Haladas for another 3 years.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad10 Jan 2028
Tin Plavotić was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
Squad10 Jan 2028
A move Tamás Csilus would have made for nothing
There is a version of every career where the player ends up somewhere he chose rather than somewhere that chose him. Tamás Csilus is living that version at Fehervar, and it tends to show in the first month.
Squad10 Jan 2028
Gustavo Velázquez falls out with a teammate over standards
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
Squad10 Jan 2028
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Gustavo Ramírez, and the manager let it.
Market10 Jan 2028
Gergő Kocsis is free to find somewhere else
“I was told straight, and I would rather have it straight.” The manager at Fehervar has been clear about where Gergő Kocsis stands, which is more than many ever get.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad10 Jan 2028
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 36 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
Squad10 Jan 2028
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Haladas this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad10 Jan 2028
Words at Haladas training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Laszlo Fiola is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Market3 Jan 2028
The offer was not close and it was refused without much discussion. Whether the second one is refused as quickly is another matter.
Squad3 Jan 2028
A fracture rules Damjan Đokanović out for 43 days
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Haladas will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
Squad3 Jan 2028
An individual honour is a strange thing in a team game, and the best of them are never argued with. He has had the sort of year that ends with his name being read out, and Haladas have had the benefit of it.
Squad3 Jan 2028
“I never wanted to be anywhere else. There is unfinished business here.” Tamás Fadgyas commits to Haladas for another 2 years.
Squad3 Jan 2028
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Haladas this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Market3 Jan 2028
The phone has started ringing about Mate Varga again, and this time the name on the line is Fehervar. Haladas are listening politely and promising nothing.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Player ratings27 Dec 2027
Two goals and a mark of 8.48 to go with them. Strikers are judged on afternoons like this one and remembered for far fewer of them than people imagine.
Squad27 Dec 2027
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the team. 6 saves, several of them the sort nobody expects to see stopped, and a scoreline that flatters everybody in front of him.
Match25 Dec 2027
Beaten 3‑5, and beaten fairly. The manager kept his words short afterwards, which was probably wise.
Squad27 Dec 2027
Norbert Fiola was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
Match25 Dec 2027
8 goals. Both benches spent the second half looking at each other rather than at the pitch. Purists will complain about Haladas and Paksi in equal measure; everybody else had a wonderful time.
Squad27 Dec 2027
“Nobody here is above being told.” It was not said with a name attached, but the dressing room can count, and so can everybody who was listening.
In brief
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Squad
Words at Haladas training over how hard people work
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Player ratings
A masterclass from Andras Nagy
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Player ratings
Nobody could get near Mate Varga
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Market
Haladas shop where it costs nothing
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad6 Dec 2027
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Haladas this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad6 Dec 2027
Rob Hunt signs on for more
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Rob Hunt and Haladas agree another 2 years.
Loan watch6 Dec 2027
“I did not go to TSC to sit and watch. I want to come back to Haladas and fight for my place.” 4 appearances in 16 matches say the rest.
Squad6 Dec 2027
Norbert Szélpál falls out with a teammate over standards
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
Player ratings6 Dec 2027
Dominik Varga was on a different afternoon to everybody else
8.07. There are performances a supporter describes to somebody who was not there and cannot quite convey; this was one, and the number does not help either.
Player ratings6 Dec 2027
Mate Varga runs at them all day
Successful dribbles: 16. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.