Marked for Balazs Botka
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad28 Dec 2026
Balazs Botka in a row with a teammate
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.
Squad28 Dec 2026
Words at Haladas training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. David Botka 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.
Player ratings28 Dec 2026
Successful dribbles: 17. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
Back issues
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Player ratings14 Dec 2026
Successful dribbles: 44. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
Match12 Dec 2026
Haladas do the business in Europe
1‑1. Continental football is where a club finds out what it actually is, and Haladas came through the finding-out well against Rio Ave.
Match14 Dec 2026
Haladas up to position 3
32 points on the board and a place in the leading group. Nobody at the ground is saying the word out loud yet.
Player ratings14 Dec 2026
Mate Botka, 20, plays like he has been here for years — 7.81
A mark of 7.81 means one thing beside a twenty-nine-year-old's name and something else entirely beside a 20-year-old's. Nobody at the ground needed telling which this was.
The terraces14 Dec 2026
There is a particular warmth a ground reserves for a 22-year-old it feels ownership of. Gustavo Neves has it now, and everything he does for the rest of his time here will be measured against the goodwill he was handed for free.
Match12 Dec 2026
Bekescsaba made Haladas work for it, but the scoreboard read 2‑0 at the end and the table does not ask how.
Squad14 Dec 2026
Words at Haladas training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. René Meléndez 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.
Player ratings14 Dec 2026
Marked 8.08 — the sort of number a correspondent writes down twice to be sure. Everything he tried came off, and what he did not try was not worth trying.
Squad14 Dec 2026
Gabor Varga in a row with a teammate
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.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Squad23 Nov 2026
“I was told what my role would be, and I signed on that basis. It has not happened.” A grievance with a date attached is the hardest kind to settle.
Match21 Nov 2026
The wait goes on for Haladas
4 without a win now, and the ground has developed the special quiet of a crowd that expects the worst. One scrappy 1-0 would cure most of it; that is the maddening part.
Squad23 Nov 2026
Balazs Botka 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.
Match21 Nov 2026
The goals have deserted Haladas
4 matches, no goals, and a training ground that has tried everything. It will end — droughts always do — but nobody at Haladas can tell you which week it ends in.
Player ratings23 Nov 2026
Successful dribbles: 19. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
Match21 Nov 2026
Beaten 0‑1, and beaten fairly. The manager kept his words short afterwards, which was probably wise.
Squad23 Nov 2026
René Meléndez 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.
Squad23 Nov 2026
The manager has not finished forgetting Laszlo Orban's mistake
Publicly it is behind everybody. It is not behind the man who picks the team, and the only place that shows is a team sheet. He will get another chance; he will get it in a match that matters less.
The terraces23 Nov 2026
The spotlight tightens on Laszlo Orban
Every touch is being weighed now, in print and everywhere else. Some players grow into that and some are quietly ruined by it, and nobody knows which in advance.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Player ratings16 Nov 2026
Successful dribbles: 42. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
Squad16 Nov 2026
Balazs Botka in a row with a teammate
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.
Squad16 Nov 2026
Words at Haladas training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. David Botka 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
Crisis
Match7 Nov 2026
A chastening European night for Haladas
0‑6 against Real Madrid. The honest reading is not that the players were poor; it is that the distance between this club and that one is currently measured in things money takes years to buy.
Match9 Nov 2026
Haladas are in among the leaders
Position 1 and 28 points on the board. Nobody at the ground will say the word out loud yet, and everybody at the ground is thinking it.
Squad9 Nov 2026
There were 7 saves in it, and at least three that had no business being saves at all. The ten outfield players owe him a drink and they know it.
Squad9 Nov 2026
Balazs Botka 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.
Match7 Nov 2026
Nobody could stop scoring
6 goals. Both benches spent the second half looking at each other rather than at the pitch. Purists will complain about Haladas and Real Madrid in equal measure; everybody else had a wonderful time.
Squad9 Nov 2026
David Botka 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.
Match7 Nov 2026
0‑2 to Ferencvaros, and no complaints worth printing. The performance asked for nothing more than it got.
Squad9 Nov 2026
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Laszlo Sallai, and the manager let it.
Boardroom9 Nov 2026
Nobody left the Haladas dressing room in a hurry
The door stayed shut a long time after the final whistle. What was said in there is between them; whether it worked is between them and Saturday.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Player ratings26 Oct 2026
Successful dribbles: 45. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
Squad26 Oct 2026
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the team. 11 saves, several of them the sort nobody expects to see stopped, and a scoreline that flatters everybody in front of him.
Match24 Oct 2026
1‑11. There is a level at which football is played every single week by clubs that have been doing it for fifty years, and an evening like this is what it feels like to arrive there without having done it.
The terraces26 Oct 2026
The ground has had enough
“We travel everywhere and we get this.” 6 of the 23 senior players heard it walking off, and the ones who did not hear it were not playing.
Match24 Oct 2026
12 goals. Both benches spent the second half looking at each other rather than at the pitch. Purists will complain about Haladas and Real Madrid in equal measure; everybody else had a wonderful time.
Squad26 Oct 2026
David Botka 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.
Squad26 Oct 2026
The manager makes an example of Laszlo Orban
“If you cannot run for the shirt, somebody else will wear it.” No name was used and none was needed; every player in that room knew who it was for.
Match24 Oct 2026
Nobody wins at Haladas
8 home matches unbeaten. Visiting sides arrive already talking about the atmosphere, which is usually the sign that they have half-lost before kickoff.
Squad26 Oct 2026
The team sheet said everything about Norbert Szélpál
Warm-up bib, ninety minutes of watching, and a handshake at the end that fooled nobody. Big matches tell you who a manager trusts; this one told Norbert Szélpál.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Match12 Oct 2026
Haladas up to position 1
21 points on the board and a place in the leading group. Nobody at the ground is saying the word out loud yet.
Player ratings12 Oct 2026
Successful dribbles: 23. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
Squad12 Oct 2026
Andras Bese 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.
Match10 Oct 2026
It finished 2‑1, and it was Gustavo Neves’s afternoon: on the scoresheet when it mattered, and the reason the points belong to Haladas.
Player ratings12 Oct 2026
A performance of 8.17 does not come along often, and when it does the rest of the team becomes scenery. He was magnificent.
Squad12 Oct 2026
René Meléndez 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 ratings12 Oct 2026
A performance of 8.00 does not come along often, and when it does the rest of the team becomes scenery. He was magnificent.
Loan watch12 Oct 2026
“I watch every Haladas game from here. That says everything about where my head is.” The loan at Debrecen runs its course, but his heart never made the trip.
Squad12 Oct 2026
Clubs make promises constantly and the page usually only hears about them when they are broken. This one was honoured, and the dressing room noticed that faster than any supporter did.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Match3 Oct 2026
A European night to remember for Haladas
0‑0 against Rio Ave, under lights, against people who do not speak the same language as the crowd. These are the evenings a club measures its decade in, and there are never as many of them as anybody expects.
Player ratings5 Oct 2026
Successful dribbles: 27. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
Squad5 Oct 2026
Balazs Botka in a row with a teammate
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.
Match3 Oct 2026
1‑3 to Debrecen, and no complaints worth printing. The performance asked for nothing more than it got.
Squad5 Oct 2026
Words at Haladas training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. David Botka 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.
Player ratings5 Oct 2026
The game went through Akos Fiola — 6.54
Marked 6.54 on 12 actions at both ends of the pitch. Midfielders like this get described as unspectacular by people who have never tried to play against one.
Squad5 Oct 2026
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Balazs Botka, and the manager let it.
Squad5 Oct 2026
The award is a small thing with a heavy meaning: for four weeks nobody in this division did his job better. Haladas have the trophy on a shelf and the player in the side.
Market5 Oct 2026
Another week, another link, another denial nobody quite believes. Haladas know the market decides these things, not the back pages — but the back pages are louder.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Player ratings28 Sep 2026
Successful dribbles: 23. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
Squad28 Sep 2026
Balazs Botka 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 Sep 2026
David Botka 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.
The terraces28 Sep 2026
At 22 he is being sung about by people twice his age, which is an affection a signing has to earn over years and a local kid gets for turning up. It is also the hardest thing in football to live up to.
Match26 Sep 2026
Ask anyone on the way out what separated the sides and you will get one name: Gustavo Neves. 1‑0 against Bekescsaba, and the applause at the whistle was mostly his.
Player ratings28 Sep 2026
Marked 8.02 — the sort of number a correspondent writes down twice to be sure. Everything he tried came off, and what he did not try was not worth trying.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Player ratings21 Sep 2026
Successful dribbles: 50. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
Match19 Sep 2026
Haladas win it in stoppage time
The board had gone up, the arguing had started, and then the ball was in the net in the 91th minute. MTK Budapest will replay every second of the added time for a week.
Match19 Sep 2026
Haladas come up short in Europe
0‑1 away to the standard of FC Midtjylland. Nobody will pretend this was a scandal; the gap is real, it is measurable, and closing it is a project rather than a team talk.
Squad21 Sep 2026
Balazs Botka in a row with a teammate
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.
Match19 Sep 2026
A 1‑0 win over MTK Budapest, earned rather than given, and the sort of afternoon that sends everyone home talking about next week instead of this one.
Squad21 Sep 2026
Words at Haladas training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. René Meléndez 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
Upbeat
Player ratings7 Sep 2026
Successful dribbles: 38. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
Player ratings7 Sep 2026
2 goals, and the second was the one that settled it. Marked 9.38, and he could have had a third with better luck at the near post.
Market7 Sep 2026
The bid was some way short and Haladas did not need long over it. Nobody in the game reads a first refusal as the end of anything.
Market7 Sep 2026
“I have given everything here and I need a new challenge.” The request is formal, and the relationship will never be quite the same again.
Match5 Sep 2026
Haladas make it 3 in a row
Momentum is a hard thing to buy and an easy thing to lose, and right now Haladas have 3 straight wins of it.
Match5 Sep 2026
Diosgyor made Haladas work for it, but the scoreboard read 3‑2 at the end and the table does not ask how.
Squad7 Sep 2026
Words at Haladas training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. David Botka 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.
Squad7 Sep 2026
Mate Botka is the division's best young player this month
At 20 he has spent a month being better than everybody his age in the league, which is a different and harder thing than one good afternoon. Haladas will try very hard not to make too much of it.
Squad7 Sep 2026
Gabor Varga in a row with a teammate
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.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Player ratings31 Aug 2026
Nobody could get near Mate Botka
Successful dribbles: 58. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
Match26 Aug 2026
Haladas march on in the cup
Ujpest are out and Haladas go through, 1‑0 the final word. The bracket opens up a little, and everyone allows themselves a look at it.
Match26 Aug 2026
Some goals win a match and some take one off somebody else. Istvan Fiola scored in the 87th minute, Ujpest had already begun thinking about the journey home, and Haladas took the lot.
Market31 Aug 2026
“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.
Market31 Aug 2026
Haladas say no — this time
The offer from Bekescsaba for Viktor Nagy was heard out and sent back the same day. First bids are rarely meant to succeed; they are meant to find out how loudly the door closes.
Squad31 Aug 2026
Andras Bese 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.
Match29 Aug 2026
Whatever happens, Haladas do not lose
6 games unbeaten now. Some were earned and some were survived, but a habit is forming — and habits are the hardest thing in football to play against.
Match29 Aug 2026
Three points for Haladas, 2‑0 the final word against Puskas Akademia in a contest settled by the finer margins.
Player ratings31 Aug 2026
Marked 8.27 — the sort of number a correspondent writes down twice to be sure. Everything he tried came off, and what he did not try was not worth trying.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Player ratings17 Aug 2026
Mate Botka runs at them all day
Successful dribbles: 52. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
Market17 Aug 2026
Haladas say no — this time
The offer from Ferencvaros for Szabolcs Fiola was heard out and sent back the same day. First bids are rarely meant to succeed; they are meant to find out how loudly the door closes.
The terraces17 Aug 2026
Supporters turn on the $320.0K sale of Balazs Sallai
He is going to Fehervar, the club has $320.0K it did not have on Friday, and the phone-ins have already decided how they feel about that. Selling well and selling somebody they loved are not the same skill.
Squad17 Aug 2026
Balazs Botka 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.
Market17 Aug 2026
Business is business: Balazs Sallai goes
Fehervar paid $320.0K and Haladas took it, which is the whole story in one sentence. The longer version involves a wage budget and will be told all season.
Squad17 Aug 2026
David Botka 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.
The terraces17 Aug 2026
Haladas supporters have found a favourite in Mate Botka
There is a particular warmth a ground reserves for a 20-year-old it feels ownership of. Mate Botka has it now, and everything he does for the rest of his time here will be measured against the goodwill he was handed for free.
Squad17 Aug 2026
Balazs Botka gets it from the manager
“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.
Match15 Aug 2026
It finished 1‑0, and it was Akos Fiola’s afternoon: on the scoresheet when it mattered, and the reason the points belong to Haladas.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Player ratings10 Aug 2026
Nobody could get near Mate Botka
Successful dribbles: 46. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
Market10 Aug 2026
Honved come back empty-handed
The bid was some way short and Haladas did not need long over it. Nobody in the game reads a first refusal as the end of anything.
Market10 Aug 2026
Add another name to the list: Ferencvaros have asked the question everybody in the game has been asking about Szabolcs Fiola. The answer from Haladas has not changed — yet.
Squad10 Aug 2026
“The easiest signature of my career.” Balazs Botka and Haladas agree another 3 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.
Squad10 Aug 2026
Balazs Botka 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 Aug 2026
David Botka 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 Aug 2026
The manager makes an example of Szabolcs Fiola
“If you cannot run for the shirt, somebody else will wear it.” No name was used and none was needed; every player in that room knew who it was for.
Player ratings10 Aug 2026
Gabor Gulacsi ran the middle of the pitch — 6.53
He won it back and then made something of it, which is two jobs and the reason the scoreline looks the way it does. 9 combined actions and a mark of 6.53, and not one of them will make a highlights package.
Match8 Aug 2026
1‑1, and both dressing rooms will call it two points lost. A draw that asked plenty of questions and answered none of them.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Player ratings3 Aug 2026
Mate Botka runs at them all day
Successful dribbles: 62. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
Squad3 Aug 2026
Balazs Botka in a row with a teammate
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.
Squad3 Aug 2026
Words at Haladas training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. David Botka 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.
Match1 Aug 2026
It needed Akos Fiola to find the net to bring anything home at all: 1‑1 against Vasas, and half the dressing room will call it a point won.
Squad3 Aug 2026
Balazs Botka asks for a word with the manager
“I would rather say it to his face than read about it.” The meeting was requested by the player, which tells you most of what you need to know.
Squad3 Aug 2026
Akos Fiola finally opens his account
He wheeled away like a man who had been carrying it for months, because he had. Haladas have their signing off the mark and one press-conference question retired.