From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad15 Feb 2027
Đorđe Gordić 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 Debrecen this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Transfer targets15 Feb 2027
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Sunderland have kept their man, and Debrecen go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
The dugout15 Feb 2027
The manager makes an example of Márk Szécsi
“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.
The dugout15 Feb 2027
Amos Youga has been promised minutes
A conversation in the manager’s office, and a commitment that came out of it. Promises like that are cheap to make and expensive to break, and Amos Youga has written the date down.
Market15 Feb 2027
Every press conference now starts and ends the same way: with Dominik Kocsis’s future. The manager has run out of new ways to say nothing.
Market15 Feb 2027
The window shut and Bence Batik is still in the building
Debrecen spent a month trying to move him and nobody rang back. He trains with a squad that has told him where he stands, and both sides start counting down to the next one.
Squad15 Feb 2027
Nobody writes a headline about a tutor. Nobody has to be told, either, what happens to a signing who spends two years being the man nobody can talk to at lunch.
Squad15 Feb 2027
Questions about Flórián Cibla on the training pitch
The standards have slipped, and in a building where everybody watches everybody it has not gone unremarked. This is how a player loses a place before he loses one.
The dugout15 Feb 2027
Public backing, and the sort that costs a manager something if it turns out to be wrong. Adrián Guerrero has been told in front of everybody that the shirt is his.
Back issues
From our football correspondent
Steady
Market8 Feb 2027
Debrecen say no — this time
The offer from Honved for Blaž Bošković 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.
Transfer targets8 Feb 2027
The approach was made and the answer came back in a sentence. There is no number on the table because there was no number that would have been enough.
Squad8 Feb 2027
Botond Vajda 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.
The dugout8 Feb 2027
Máté Kohut 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.
Squad8 Feb 2027
The competition arrived without a word said to him about it. Cristopher Varela keeps the shirt for now, at Debrecen's convenience rather than his own.
Squad8 Feb 2027
His past walked in ahead of him. Players who have been where he has been get a hearing in a dressing room before they have earned one, and he has it for as long as his form does.
Market8 Feb 2027
The name of Víctor Camarasa keeps appearing in other people's back pages. Debrecen say nothing, which says plenty.
Squad8 Feb 2027
“I will know when it is time. I am not there yet.” Dániel Póser is 37, with 255 appearances behind him, and Debrecen will have to plan for whichever answer comes.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad1 Feb 2027
The knee: Leon Myrtaj out for 21 days
21 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Debrecen lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
Market1 Feb 2027
The offer was not close and it was refused without much discussion. Whether the second one is refused as quickly is another matter.
The dugout1 Feb 2027
“I remember the meeting. I remember exactly what was promised in it.” Debrecen may remember it differently, which is precisely the problem.
Boardroom1 Feb 2027
Debrecen close the window on a squad of their own making
3 in and 0 out, and no more changes for months. The manager has what he has, the supporters have their opinion of it, and the table will have the last word.
Transfer targets1 Feb 2027
Everything agreed with MTK Budapest, everything agreed with the player; a doctor is the only person left to persuade. The photograph is a day or two away.
Transfer targets1 Feb 2027
Door shut on Jajá
Debrecen asked and Pafos said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
Squad1 Feb 2027
14 days, the medical staff say, and medical staff are optimists by profession. The team sheet will look wrong without him.
Squad1 Feb 2027
The manager has re-ordered his thinking and Gergő Bánfalvi has come out of it lower. He will be told it is temporary, and the players who have heard that before will avoid his eye.
Squad1 Feb 2027
A year in and the city has not opened up, the language has not come, and lunch is eaten alone more often than anybody at Debrecen would admit. It shows on Saturdays.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad25 Jan 2027
The knee: Leon Myrtaj out for 30 days
30 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Debrecen lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
Market25 Jan 2027
Bence Batik hands in a written request
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Debrecen can pretend not to have heard.
Transfer targets25 Jan 2027
The clubs had agreed and the player had not. A snub, and a public one: Porto keep him, and the supporters here are left wondering what he had heard about the place.
Transfer targets25 Jan 2027
Debrecen asked and Vasas said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
The dugout25 Jan 2027
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Ákos Szendrei, and the manager let it.
Squad25 Jan 2027
Alessio Beaudouin 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.
Market25 Jan 2027
It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Adrián Guerrero signs something — a contract at Debrecen or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
Squad25 Jan 2027
“I want to play”: Máté Kohut speaks
“I respect the manager and I am not going to sit here and pretend I am happy.” It is the most common sentence in football and it has never once been the end of a story.
The dugout25 Jan 2027
Nothing in writing and nothing in public: a word about playing time, given face to face at Debrecen. The team sheets over the next month will show whether it was worth having.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Market18 Jan 2027
The offer was not close and it was refused without much discussion. Whether the second one is refused as quickly is another matter.
The dugout18 Jan 2027
“I remember the meeting. I remember exactly what was promised in it.” Debrecen may remember it differently, which is precisely the problem.
Transfer targets18 Jan 2027
The approach was made and the answer came back in a sentence. There is no number on the table because there was no number that would have been enough.
Squad18 Jan 2027
Words exchanged at Debrecen
Botond Vajda and a teammate said things this week that will take longer than a week to unsay. It was not about football, and both of them play on Saturday.
The dugout18 Jan 2027
Amos Youga 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.
Transfer targets18 Jan 2027
Debrecen have made the call to Stockport County. No fee, a share of the wages, and a spare shirt in the position where the squad has been thinnest all season.
Transfer targets18 Jan 2027
Debrecen have made the call to Porto. No fee, a share of the wages, and a spare shirt in the position where the squad has been thinnest all season.
Squad18 Jan 2027
“I never wanted to be anywhere else. There is unfinished business here.” Alessio Beaudouin commits to Debrecen for another 4 years.
Squad18 Jan 2027
The system has changed and his position has not. A footballer can improve his form; he cannot improve the manager’s formation, and that is the whole of the problem.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Transfer targets11 Jan 2027
A medical, a signature, a shirt held up in front of a sponsor’s board. Debrecen have done the hard part with Ferencvaros, and the part that remains is the part supporters actually see.
Transfer targets11 Jan 2027
Debrecen asked and Vasas said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
Squad11 Jan 2027
Botond Vajda 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.
Squad11 Jan 2027
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Botond Nyikos and Debrecen agree another 3 years.
Squad11 Jan 2027
Every shape has positions in it and this one does not have his. Debrecen will either change the shape, change his job, or change his club, and he is waiting to hear which.
Squad11 Jan 2027
Ádám Lang has company in his position
The competition arrived without a word said to him about it. Ádám Lang keeps the shirt for now, at Debrecen's convenience rather than his own.
Market11 Jan 2027
The name of Víctor Camarasa keeps appearing in other people's back pages. Debrecen say nothing, which says plenty.
The dugout11 Jan 2027
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Debrecen, and both men came out saying it was fine.
Market11 Jan 2027
No fee and no drama: Alessio Beaudouin has signed at Debrecen, and the wage bill is the only line that moved.
In brief
-
The dugout
Álex Bermejo has been promised minutes
-
The dugout
Ádám Lang keeps his manager's vote
-
Match
Nothing left to play for but pride at Debrecen
From our football correspondent
Steady
The dugout4 Jan 2027
Benedek Erdélyi: that is not what I was promised
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Debrecen have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
Squad4 Jan 2027
There are footballers who have a good season and footballers a season is remembered for, and the second kind get their names read out in a hall in the summer. Debrecen will be quietly delighted and privately nervous.
Squad4 Jan 2027
Words exchanged at Debrecen
Đorđe Gordić and a teammate said things this week that will take longer than a week to unsay. It was not about football, and both of them play on Saturday.
Transfer targets4 Jan 2027
The approach was made and the answer came back in a sentence. There is no number on the table because there was no number that would have been enough.
Squad4 Jan 2027
46 days, the scan says, and scans are kinder than reality. The fixtures in that window have just become somebody else’s job.
The dugout4 Jan 2027
A promise honoured for Ádám Lang
It is not much of a headline and it is the reason players believe the next promise. Debrecen told Ádám Lang something would happen and then it happened, which in this industry passes for remarkable.
Transfer targets4 Jan 2027
A loan enquiry to Ferencvaros: cover, or a look at somebody the club cannot afford to buy yet. Either way the answer will come back inside the week.
Transfer targets4 Jan 2027
A loan enquiry to Honved: cover, or a look at somebody the club cannot afford to buy yet. Either way the answer will come back inside the week.
Squad4 Jan 2027
Josua Mejías makes the team of the month
Four or five weekends of consistency, measured against everybody else in the division. A quieter compliment than an award and a more reliable one.
In brief
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Market
No place for Bence Batik in the plan
-
Boardroom
Open for business: Debrecen enter the window
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The dugout
Amos Youga has been promised minutes
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Player ratings28 Dec 2026
Successful dribbles: 32. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
Match28 Dec 2026
The season ends: position 7 for Debrecen
The last league game has been played and the table has stopped moving: 30 points. The summer begins on Monday, and so does the argument about what it all meant.
Squad28 Dec 2026
Đorđe Gordić 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.
The terraces28 Dec 2026
He is 22 and the ground already sings his name, which is a thing that happens to local boys and almost never to signings. Everything from here is measured against an affection he did nothing to earn except be from here.
Match26 Dec 2026
Ask anyone on the way out what separated the sides and you will get one name: Dominik Kocsis. 2‑0 against Bekescsaba, and the applause at the whistle was mostly his.
Player ratings28 Dec 2026
There is a version of this player everybody suspected was in there, and on this evidence it is. 8.52, and no argument anywhere in the ground.
The dugout28 Dec 2026
“That is what I want every week. Not the result, the way they went about it.” The manager, after 2‑0, already talking about the next one.
The dugout28 Dec 2026
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Márk Szécsi, and the manager let it.
The dugout28 Dec 2026
Fran Manzanara knocks on the manager's door
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Debrecen, and both men came out saying it was fine.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Player ratings21 Dec 2026
Successful dribbles: 33. He went past people as if he had been told there was a prize for it, and by the end the full-back had stopped pretending to try.
Match19 Dec 2026
Ask anyone on the way out what separated the sides and you will get one name: Csanád Vilmos Dénes. 1‑0 against Haladas, and the applause at the whistle was mostly his.
Player ratings21 Dec 2026
Marked 7.95. Ask anyone leaving the ground what settled it and you will get one name, which is the only award that has ever really counted.
The dugout21 Dec 2026
He found out with everybody else, an hour before kick-off, from a sheet of paper on a wall. Nobody at Debrecen pretended it was anything other than a decision about him.
The dugout21 Dec 2026
The view from the dugout
“We controlled it. There were spells I did not like and we will look at them, but the group showed me something.” Norbert Lisztes, on a 1‑0 win that he was already picking apart on the walk to the press room.
The dugout21 Dec 2026
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Uroš Ljubomirac, and the manager let it.
Looking ahead21 Dec 2026
Every squad has one of these fixtures for somebody every season. This one is Dániel Póser’s: the club that knew him first, the supporters who will decide in the first minute whether to applaud, and Debrecen needing him to play as if none of it matters.
The dugout21 Dec 2026
The manager wanted a different profile for this opponent, which is a real football reason and no consolation. He did nothing wrong and he did not play.
Market21 Dec 2026
Every press conference now starts and ends the same way: with Dominik Kocsis’s future. The manager has run out of new ways to say nothing.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Player ratings14 Dec 2026
Successful dribbles: 31. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
Squad14 Dec 2026
Botond Vajda 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.
The dugout14 Dec 2026
Amos Youga 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.
The dugout14 Dec 2026
The manager’s verdict
“I am frustrated, honestly. We did enough to win and we did not win.” Norbert Lisztes was not hiding it after 0‑0, and nobody in the Debrecen dressing room was either.
Match12 Dec 2026
The crowd waited for a goal that never came. MTK Budapest defended in numbers and left with what they came for, and the two sides could be playing still without troubling a scorer.
The dugout14 Dec 2026
The plan did not have a place for Fran Manzanara
Nobody at Debrecen is suggesting he is out of form. The manager simply wanted somebody with a different set of qualities for ninety specific minutes, and there is nothing a player can train to fix that.
Squad14 Dec 2026
Numbers do not stay secret in a dressing room and never have. He is not asking for more than he is worth; he is asking why somebody beside him is worth more, and at Debrecen that is a harder question to answer.
Market14 Dec 2026
Another week, another link, another denial nobody quite believes. Debrecen know the market decides these things, not the back pages — but the back pages are louder.
The dugout14 Dec 2026
He asked about his future and was given an answer with minutes in it. The manager has now made a promise in a building where promises are remembered, and the clock on it has started.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Player ratings7 Dec 2026
Successful dribbles: 30. He went past people as if he had been told there was a prize for it, and by the end the full-back had stopped pretending to try.
Squad7 Dec 2026
There were 6 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.
Squad7 Dec 2026
“The easiest signature of my career.” Dominik Kocsis and Debrecen agree another 4 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.
Match5 Dec 2026
Beaten 0‑2, and beaten fairly. The manager kept his words short afterwards, which was probably wise.
The dugout7 Dec 2026
“I could talk about decisions and I could talk about luck. I will not. We lost.” The manager, 0‑2, and a press conference that lasted four minutes.
The dugout7 Dec 2026
Amos Youga left out for the big one
A player who expected to start watched it instead. The manager will call it a decision for the team; Amos Youga will call it something else in private.
Squad7 Dec 2026
Gergő Tercza named in the team of the month
A month is long enough that nobody gets in by accident. Gergő Tercza is in the division's best eleven for it, which is a quieter compliment than an award and a more reliable one.
The dugout7 Dec 2026
The manager makes an example of Blaž Bošković
“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.
Looking ahead7 Dec 2026
Every squad has one of these fixtures for somebody every season. This one is Bence Batik’s: the club that knew him first, the supporters who will decide in the first minute whether to applaud, and Debrecen needing him to play as if none of it matters.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Player ratings30 Nov 2026
Botond Vajda beats them one at a time
Successful dribbles: 35. There was always a defender in front of him and there was never a defender in front of him for long.
Match25 Nov 2026
Debrecen bow out of the cup
Honved go through and Debrecen go home, 1‑1 the scoreline that did it. The dressing room will call the league the priority now, because that is what dressing rooms say.
Squad30 Nov 2026
A shoot-out is remembered by its ending, and this one ends with Cristopher Varela: 1 kept out, and a set of supporters who will describe every one of them for the next twenty years.
The dugout30 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.
The terraces30 Nov 2026
He is 22 and the ground already sings his name, which is a thing that happens to local boys and almost never to signings. Everything from here is measured against an affection he did nothing to earn except be from here.
Match28 Nov 2026
A 1‑0 win over Diosgyor, earned rather than given, and the sort of afternoon that sends everyone home talking about next week instead of this one.
Squad30 Nov 2026
A falling-out at Debrecen
Botond Vajda and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Player ratings30 Nov 2026
Twelve yards and the whole ground holding its breath, and it did not go in. He will put his name down for the next one, which is the only thing to do.
The dugout30 Nov 2026
A promise honoured at Debrecen
Something was said to Cristopher Varela and then it happened. In this industry that passes for remarkable, and the dressing room noticed faster than any supporter could.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad23 Nov 2026
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the whole of the defence. 11 saves, several of them the kind nobody expects to see made, and ten outfield players who owe him a drink.
Squad23 Nov 2026
Words exchanged at Debrecen
Botond Vajda and a teammate said things this week that will take longer than a week to unsay. It was not about football, and both of them play on Saturday.
Player ratings23 Nov 2026
Successful dribbles: 16. He went past people as if he had been told there was a prize for it, and by the end the full-back had stopped pretending to try.
The dugout23 Nov 2026
The view from the dugout
“We did not lose. Some weeks that is all you get, and I would rather have the point than not.” Norbert Lisztes chose the glass-half-full version of 0‑0; the supporters left with the other one.
Match21 Nov 2026
Nil-nil, and few chances worth the name. Puskas Akademia came to defend and left with exactly what they came for.
Looking ahead23 Nov 2026
He used to wear the other shirt. On Saturday he plays against Diosgyor in this one, and whatever he says this week about it being just another game will be untrue.
The dugout23 Nov 2026
The plan did not have a place for Blaž Bošković
Nobody at Debrecen is suggesting he is out of form. The manager simply wanted somebody with a different set of qualities for ninety specific minutes, and there is nothing a player can train to fix that.
Market23 Nov 2026
Every press conference now starts and ends the same way: with Dominik Kocsis’s future. The manager has run out of new ways to say nothing.
Squad23 Nov 2026
“I have done everything asked of me in training and it has not changed a thing on a Saturday.” The most familiar complaint in football, and one Debrecen will have to answer with minutes or with a transfer.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Squad16 Nov 2026
A one-man rearguard from Dániel Póser
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.
Squad16 Nov 2026
A falling-out at Debrecen
Đorđe Gordić and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Match14 Nov 2026
0‑1 to Ferencvaros, and no complaints worth printing. The performance asked for nothing more than it got.
Player ratings16 Nov 2026
Botond Vajda beats them one at a time
Successful dribbles: 17. There was always a defender in front of him and there was never a defender in front of him for long.
The dugout16 Nov 2026
The manager’s verdict
“That is on me. I pick the team and I picked wrong.” Managers say that when they mean it and when they need to be seen to, and after 0‑1 Norbert Lisztes left the room before anybody could ask which.
Squad16 Nov 2026
International break empties Debrecen
4 call-ups is a compliment to the squad and a headache for the man running it. He will get them back in a fortnight, tired, in various states of repair.
The dugout16 Nov 2026
The manager makes an example of Uroš Ljubomirac
“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.
Looking ahead16 Nov 2026
Puskas Akademia next, and one man in the Debrecen dressing room knows their training ground better than his own. The reception will tell him what they thought of him.
Player ratings16 Nov 2026
Shots: 6, not one of them in. A centre forward is paid for one thing, and on this evidence he has forgotten which thing it is.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Player ratings9 Nov 2026
Successful dribbles: 45. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
Squad9 Nov 2026
Words exchanged at Debrecen
Đorđe Gordić and a teammate said things this week that will take longer than a week to unsay. It was not about football, and both of them play on Saturday.
The terraces9 Nov 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.
Match7 Nov 2026
It finished 1‑0, and it was Dominik Kocsis’s afternoon: on the scoresheet when it mattered, and the reason the points belong to Debrecen.
The dugout9 Nov 2026
Amos Youga 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.
Player ratings9 Nov 2026
Some games turn on a moment; this one turned on a man. 7.63 on the card, and the Debrecen support went home talking about one name.
The dugout9 Nov 2026
“We earned that. I asked them for a reaction and I got one, and now I want the same again on Saturday.” Norbert Lisztes on a 1‑0 afternoon that pleased him more than he was prepared to show.
Looking ahead9 Nov 2026
The leaders are next for Debrecen
Ferencvaros top the table and they are coming into view. Nothing to lose, which is what every manager says before losing.
The dugout9 Nov 2026
The manager has not finished forgetting Flórián Cibla'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.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Player ratings2 Nov 2026
Successful dribbles: 28. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
Player ratings2 Nov 2026
Balázs Dzsudzsák, 39, rolls back the years — 8.07
There is an age at which every good afternoon gets described as a throwback, which is unfair and also accurate. 8.07 at 39, and nobody on the pitch was better.
Match31 Oct 2026
Another one collected away from home
3 on the bounce on the road for Debrecen. The coaches leave early, arrive at unlovely grounds in the dark, and keep coming home with three points.
Match31 Oct 2026
Fehervar made Debrecen work for it, but the scoreboard read 1‑0 at the end and the table does not ask how.
Squad2 Nov 2026
Csanád Vilmos Dénes is the division's best young player this month
At 21 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. Debrecen will try very hard not to make too much of it.
Squad2 Nov 2026
The award goes to Balázs Dzsudzsák, and nobody around here is inclined to argue with the choice.
The dugout2 Nov 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.
Squad2 Nov 2026
Somebody has moved past him. It is not a dropping and it is worse than one, because a dropping is about a Saturday and this is about where he stands.
The dugout2 Nov 2026
“We earned that. I asked them for a reaction and I got one, and now I want the same again on Saturday.” Norbert Lisztes on a 1‑0 afternoon that pleased him more than he was prepared to show.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Player ratings26 Oct 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.
Match24 Oct 2026
Vasas left with the points after a 0‑2 defeat that will take some explaining on the terraces.
The dugout26 Oct 2026
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Cristopher Varela, and the manager let it.
The dugout26 Oct 2026
“We were not good enough today and I am not going to dress it up.” Norbert Lisztes after 0‑2, in the tone of a man who knows the next question and does not intend to answer it.
Squad26 Oct 2026
The division's best last weekend was a Debrecen man
It is a small honour and it is not nothing: somebody watched every match in the division and decided that Balázs Dzsudzsák was the best thing in any of them.
Looking ahead26 Oct 2026
He used to wear the other shirt. On Saturday he plays against Fehervar in this one, and whatever he says this week about it being just another game will be untrue.
The dugout26 Oct 2026
Amos Youga does not fit this one
Ninety specific minutes wanted a different sort of player, and the manager picked one. He is not out of form and he is not in the side, and both are true.
Market26 Oct 2026
Every press conference now starts and ends the same way: with Dominik Kocsis’s future. The manager has run out of new ways to say nothing.
Squad26 Oct 2026
“I did not sign to watch. Nobody does.” The oldest complaint in the game, and Debrecen will have to answer it with minutes or with a move.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Match17 Oct 2026
Paksi will want this one forgotten quickly: 3‑0, every duel lost, and a long ride home. Debrecen were ruthless in the way good sides are ruthless.
Player ratings19 Oct 2026
Two goals and a mark of 9.51 to go with them. Strikers are judged on afternoons like this one and remembered for far fewer of them than people imagine.
Player ratings19 Oct 2026
The hardest thing about being 21 in a senior side is that nobody makes allowances. Csanád Vilmos Dénes did not need any: 8.50, and he looked the most comfortable man on the pitch.
Squad19 Oct 2026
Botond Vajda 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.
The dugout19 Oct 2026
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Fran Manzanara, and the manager let it.
Player ratings19 Oct 2026
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.
The dugout19 Oct 2026
The manager’s verdict
“I am not going to get carried away and I will not let them either. It was a good day. There will be harder ones.” Norbert Lisztes kept it short after the 3‑0 win, which is what managers do when they are happy.
Squad19 Oct 2026
Somebody watched every match in the division at the weekend and decided he was the best thing in any of them. A small honour, and most careers end without one.
Looking ahead19 Oct 2026
Every squad has one of these fixtures for somebody every season. This one is Dániel Póser’s: the club that knew him first, the supporters who will decide in the first minute whether to applaud, and Debrecen needing him to play as if none of it matters.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Match10 Oct 2026
Bekescsaba will want this one forgotten quickly: 4‑1, every duel lost, and a long ride home. Debrecen were ruthless in the way good sides are ruthless.
Player ratings12 Oct 2026
2 goals, and the second was the one that settled it. Marked 9.99, and he could have had a third with better luck at the near post.
Player ratings12 Oct 2026
A brace, and Csanád Vilmos Dénes takes the afternoon — 8.83
There is a particular kind of quiet from an away end watching one man score twice. Csanád Vilmos Dénes provided it, and the 8.83 beside his name is if anything generous to everybody else.
Player ratings12 Oct 2026
Botond Vajda beats them one at a time
Successful dribbles: 30. There was always a defender in front of him and there was never a defender in front of him for long.
Match10 Oct 2026
At last: Debrecen win one
9 matches without a win, and then this, against Bekescsaba. Relief is a strange noise in a football ground and it was the only noise at the end.
The terraces12 Oct 2026
He is 21 and the ground already sings his name, which is a thing that happens to local boys and almost never to signings. Everything from here is measured against an affection he did nothing to earn except be from here.
Squad12 Oct 2026
Botond Vajda 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 Debrecen this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Match12 Oct 2026
Halfway: Debrecen sit in position 9
10 points at the turn. The first half of a season is a promise; the second is a bill, and the town is about to find out which of the two this one was.
Squad12 Oct 2026
4 Debrecen players away with their countries
The training ground goes quiet for a fortnight. 4 men have gone off to be somebody else’s players, and the manager is left with the ones nobody has called.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Player ratings5 Oct 2026
Botond Vajda beats them one at a time
Successful dribbles: 34. There was always a defender in front of him and there was never a defender in front of him for long.
Match3 Oct 2026
9 matches without a win for Debrecen
The run now stands at 9, and the questions being asked around Debrecen are no longer polite ones.
Squad5 Oct 2026
A falling-out at Debrecen
Botond Vajda and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Boardroom5 Oct 2026
Wages swallow 101% of the Debrecen income
Every club pays most of what it earns to its players. Paying nearly all of it is a different arrangement, and it has ended the same way every time it has been tried.
Squad5 Oct 2026
Debrecen are still strangers to each other
9 new signings in one window. Every one may be an upgrade and the side can still be worse for a while, which is the part of a rebuild the verdicts never mention.
Squad5 Oct 2026
Đorđe Gordić makes the team of the month
Four or five weekends of consistency, measured against everybody else in the division. A quieter compliment than an award and a more reliable one.
Match3 Oct 2026
It finished 1‑1, and it somehow always looked like it would. One of those afternoons where the table moves less than the tempers.
The dugout5 Oct 2026
Ádám Lang knocks on the manager's door
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Debrecen, and both men came out saying it was fine.
The dugout5 Oct 2026
“There are things I liked and things we will be doing on Tuesday until they are right.” 1‑1, and a manager who had already decided what Tuesday looked like.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Match26 Sep 2026
8 matches without a win for Debrecen
The run now stands at 8, and the questions being asked around Debrecen are no longer polite ones.
Squad28 Sep 2026
Đorđe Gordić 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 Debrecen this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad28 Sep 2026
A move Szilárd Rostás 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. Szilárd Rostás is living that version at Debrecen, and it tends to show in the first month.
Match26 Sep 2026
0‑1 to MTK Budapest, and no complaints worth printing. The performance asked for nothing more than it got.
Player ratings28 Sep 2026
Successful dribbles: 17. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
The dugout28 Sep 2026
“We were not good enough today and I am not going to dress it up.” Norbert Lisztes after 0‑1, in the tone of a man who knows the next question and does not intend to answer it.
Market28 Sep 2026
Szilárd Rostás is 20, and Debrecen have signed him for the player he will be rather than the one he is. The first team can wait; the point of a deal like this is the years it buys.
Squad28 Sep 2026
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Szilárd Rostás and Debrecen agree another 3 years.
The dugout28 Sep 2026
The manager makes an example of Blaž Bošković
“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.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Match21 Sep 2026
Debrecen sink to position 10
6 points, and a fixture list that is running out. The mathematics are not yet cruel, but they are no longer kind.
Match19 Sep 2026
The wait goes on for Debrecen
7 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.
Player ratings21 Sep 2026
Marked 7.63 at 21, in a side that makes no allowances for age. He did not need any, and he looked the least nervous man on the pitch.
Player ratings21 Sep 2026
Víctor Camarasa pops up at the right end — 7.79
7.79, 1 on the scoresheet, and the specific comedy of a back-four player celebrating like somebody who does this every week. He does not, and that is exactly why the ground reacted the way it did.
Squad21 Sep 2026
Ádám Lang 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.
Match19 Sep 2026
A bad afternoon for Debrecen against Ujpest
2‑3 to Ujpest, and no complaints worth printing. The performance asked for nothing more than it got.
Market21 Sep 2026
The academy exists for exactly this morning. Krisztian Botka has come through every age group the club runs and has now been handed a senior number, and the people who coached him at twelve will be the proudest in the building.
Market21 Sep 2026
There is no fee, no unveiling and no agent on the steps. Peter Szoboszlai has been at this club since he was a boy and is now, formally, one of the first-team squad — which for a local readership beats any signing of any size.
Player ratings21 Sep 2026
Successful dribbles: 18. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Match12 Sep 2026
The wait goes on for Debrecen
6 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.
Player ratings14 Sep 2026
Successful dribbles: 21. He went past people as if he had been told there was a prize for it, and by the end the full-back had stopped pretending to try.
Transfer targets14 Sep 2026
The approach was made and the answer came back in a sentence. There is no number on the table because there was no number that would have been enough.
Match12 Sep 2026
Diosgyor left with the points after a 0‑1 defeat that will take some explaining on the terraces.
The dugout14 Sep 2026
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Amos Youga, and the manager let it.
The dugout14 Sep 2026
“We were not good enough today and I am not going to dress it up.” Norbert Lisztes after 0‑1, in the tone of a man who knows the next question and does not intend to answer it.
The dugout14 Sep 2026
The plan did not have a place for Amos Youga
Nobody at Debrecen is suggesting he is out of form. The manager simply wanted somebody with a different set of qualities for ninety specific minutes, and there is nothing a player can train to fix that.
The dugout14 Sep 2026
Shifted about, taken off before the hour, asked to do somebody else's running — Balázs Dzsudzsák has had enough of being useful and would like to be picked. Debrecen know, and have known for weeks.
Market14 Sep 2026
The name of Adrián Guerrero keeps appearing in other people's back pages. Debrecen say nothing, which says plenty.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Player ratings7 Sep 2026
Botond Vajda beats them one at a time
Successful dribbles: 28. There was always a defender in front of him and there was never a defender in front of him for long.
Player ratings7 Sep 2026
Marked 7.80 at 21, in a side that makes no allowances for age. He did not need any, and he looked the least nervous man on the pitch.
Match5 Sep 2026
5 matches without a win for Debrecen
The run now stands at 5, and the questions being asked around Debrecen are no longer polite ones.
Boardroom7 Sep 2026
Debrecen close the window on a squad of their own making
17 in and 2 out, and no more changes for months. The manager has what he has, the supporters have their opinion of it, and the table will have the last word.
Transfer targets7 Sep 2026
A deal that was a phone call from completion at lunchtime was dead by midnight. Debrecen will try again when the window opens; Ujpest may not be selling by then.
Transfer targets7 Sep 2026
No thanks: Filip Mevlja rejects the move
Debrecen had done everything except persuade the man himself. He stays at NK Domzale, and the manager goes back to the drawing board with the money still in the bank.
Transfer targets7 Sep 2026
Debrecen asked and Haladas said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
The terraces7 Sep 2026
He is 21 and the ground already sings his name, which is a thing that happens to local boys and almost never to signings. Everything from here is measured against an affection he did nothing to earn except be from here.
Squad7 Sep 2026
200 times in these colours, in all weathers and under four or five different managers. That kind of service is quietly disappearing from the game.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Match29 Aug 2026
Chastening afternoon for Debrecen
A 1‑5 beating by Ferencvaros was the sort of result that empties a stadium long before the final whistle.
Transfer targets31 Aug 2026
The approach was made and the answer came back in a sentence. There is no number on the table because there was no number that would have been enough.
Transfer targets31 Aug 2026
Debrecen have gone to Ujpest with a bid, and the supporters have gone to the internet with an opinion about it. Whether either changes anything is up to the selling club.
Player ratings31 Aug 2026
Marked 7.66 at 21, in a side that makes no allowances for age. He did not need any, and he looked the least nervous man on the pitch.
Transfer targets31 Aug 2026
The deal with NK Domzale is done in every sense but the one that puts him on the pitch. Nothing goes wrong at this stage, except on the occasions when it does.
Match29 Aug 2026
4 matches without a win for Debrecen
The run now stands at 4, and the questions being asked around Debrecen are no longer polite ones.
Match29 Aug 2026
6 goals. Both benches spent the second half looking at each other rather than at the pitch. Purists will complain about Debrecen and Ferencvaros in equal measure; everybody else had a wonderful time.
The dugout31 Aug 2026
The manager makes an example of Adrián Guerrero
“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.
Boardroom31 Aug 2026
The manager kept them in and said what needed saying. A response is expected on Saturday, and if it does not come the questions move upstairs.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Player ratings24 Aug 2026
Successful dribbles: 29. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
Market24 Aug 2026
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Debrecen can pretend not to have heard.
Transfer targets24 Aug 2026
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Haladas have kept their man, and Debrecen go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
Squad24 Aug 2026
100 games in the shirt. Nobody sets out to build a record like that; it happens to a certain kind of player at a certain kind of club, and this town knows what it has.
Squad24 Aug 2026
Botond Vajda 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.
Transfer targets24 Aug 2026
A loan move for Sunusi Ibrahim is in the works
Debrecen have made the call to Jablonec. No fee, a share of the wages, and a spare shirt in the position where the squad has been thinnest all season.
The dugout24 Aug 2026
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Blaž Bošković, and the manager let it.
The dugout24 Aug 2026
“There are things I liked and things we will be doing on Tuesday until they are right.” 0‑0, and a manager who had already decided what Tuesday looked like.
The dugout24 Aug 2026
Benedek Erdélyi dropped after a run of poor form
The one version of being left out a player cannot argue with, and the one he takes worst. Somebody else has been better and the team sheet says so, in public, every week until it changes.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Market17 Aug 2026
$3.7M. No player has ever cost Debrecen more, and expectation arrives with him.
Squad17 Aug 2026
3 goals in one afternoon from one man. The other players were also present, a witness confirmed.
Player ratings17 Aug 2026
At 39 every good afternoon gets called a throwback, and this one was: 8.52, and nobody on the pitch better.
Player ratings17 Aug 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.
Market17 Aug 2026
The offer was not close and it was refused without much discussion. Whether the second one is refused as quickly is another matter.
Transfer targets17 Aug 2026
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. MTK Budapest have kept their man, and Debrecen go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
Match15 Aug 2026
6 goals. Both benches spent the second half looking at each other rather than at the pitch. Purists will complain about Debrecen and Fehervar in equal measure; everybody else had a wonderful time.
The terraces17 Aug 2026
Debrecen spend $3.7M on the signing the town wanted
It is the rarest sequence in football: supporters ask for something, and the club goes and does it. $3.7M for Cristopher Varela, and for one week nobody is complaining about anything.
Squad17 Aug 2026
Botond Vajda 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 Debrecen this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Market10 Aug 2026
The offer was not close and it was refused without much discussion. Whether the second one is refused as quickly is another matter.
Player ratings10 Aug 2026
A defender on the scoresheet, which happens rarely enough that everybody in the ground remembers who took the corner. 1 for him, and a mark of 7.53 for the rest of it.
Transfer targets10 Aug 2026
Debrecen asked and Ferencvaros said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
Player ratings10 Aug 2026
Đorđe Gordić beats them one at a time
Successful dribbles: 22. There was always a defender in front of him and there was never a defender in front of him for long.
Squad10 Aug 2026
Đorđe Gordić 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 Debrecen this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Market10 Aug 2026
Add another name to the list: MTK Budapest have asked the question everybody in the game has been asking about Víctor Camarasa. The answer from Debrecen has not changed — yet.
Squad10 Aug 2026
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Csanád Vilmos Dénes and Debrecen agree another 5 years.
Match8 Aug 2026
A bad afternoon for Debrecen against Vasas
1‑2 to Vasas, and no complaints worth printing. The performance asked for nothing more than it got.
Market10 Aug 2026
Clubs spend fortunes looking for players and occasionally find one down the corridor. Peter Gulacsi is that, and the reception he gets on his first appearance will be different in kind from the one any signing receives.
From our football correspondent
Triumph
Match1 Aug 2026
There is no crueller way to lose a football match. Debrecen scored in the 95th minute, the restart barely happened, and the away end was still standing when the whistle went.
Player ratings3 Aug 2026
Marked 7.81 at 21, in a side that makes no allowances for age. He did not need any, and he looked the least nervous man on the pitch.
Player ratings3 Aug 2026
At 39 every good afternoon gets called a throwback, and this one was: 8.16, and nobody on the pitch better.
Transfer targets3 Aug 2026
The offer went to Deportivo La Guaira this week and it is theirs to answer. First bids are rarely meant to succeed; they are meant to find out how loud the door closes.
Transfer targets3 Aug 2026
Debrecen asked and Ujpest said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
Player ratings3 Aug 2026
Successful dribbles: 25. 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
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Balázs Dzsudzsák and Debrecen agree another 2 years.
Squad3 Aug 2026
A falling-out at Debrecen
Ádám Lang and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Match1 Aug 2026
Paksi made Debrecen work for it, but the scoreboard read 2‑1 at the end and the table does not ask how.