From our football correspondent
Crisis
Market7 Sep 2026
“I listened, I thought about it, and I am staying. That is the whole story.” The clubs had agreed a fee. Tamás Fadgyas had not agreed to go, which turned out to be the part that mattered.
Market7 Sep 2026
The offer was not close and it was refused without much discussion. Whether the second one is refused as quickly is another matter.
Boardroom7 Sep 2026
Window shuts: 17 in, 1 out at MTK Budapest
The deadline has passed and the squad is the squad. 17 arrived, 1 left, and everything else printed about this club last month was a rumour that stayed one.
Squad7 Sep 2026
Luka Ilić and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Match5 Sep 2026
1‑3 to Ujpest, and no complaints worth printing. The performance asked for nothing more than it got.
Transfer targets7 Sep 2026
MTK Budapest asked and Lech said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
Squad7 Sep 2026
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and János Szépe was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
The dugout7 Sep 2026
Stipe Radić 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 dugout7 Sep 2026
“The supporters are entitled to be angry. So am I. We will put it right.” 1‑3, a manager saying the necessary things, and a dressing room that heard a different version of them.
Back issues
From our football correspondent
Steady
Match29 Aug 2026
Diosgyor go through and MTK Budapest go home, 2‑2 the scoreline that did it. The dressing room will call the league the priority now, because that is what dressing rooms say.
Player ratings31 Aug 2026
Successful dribbles: 31. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
Market31 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.
Squad31 Aug 2026
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the whole of the defence. 6 saves, several of them the kind nobody expects to see made, and ten outfield players who owe him a drink.
Squad31 Aug 2026
Mihály Kata 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.
Squad31 Aug 2026
Words at MTK Budapest training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Luka Ilić 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.
Transfer targets31 Aug 2026
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Zamora have kept their man, and MTK Budapest go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
The dugout31 Aug 2026
The manager makes an example of Krisztián Hegyi
“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 ratings31 Aug 2026
Alberto Marí was on a different afternoon to everybody else
8.53. 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.
In brief
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Squad
MTK Budapest are still strangers to each other
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The dugout
The view from the dugout
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Market
Honved are about to pick up the phone
From our football correspondent
Triumph
Market24 Aug 2026
Honved come back empty-handed
The bid was some way short and MTK Budapest did not need long over it. Nobody in the game reads a first refusal as the end of anything.
Market24 Aug 2026
“It was not right for me. I am not going to explain why to anybody except the people I owe an explanation to.” A deal agreed between two clubs, and a player who declined to be part of it.
Market24 Aug 2026
Tamás Fadgyas 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 MTK Budapest can pretend not to have heard.
Transfer targets24 Aug 2026
Terms were offered and declined. Whether it was the wages, the role or the town, nobody at AZ is saying, and nobody at MTK Budapest is enjoying the guessing.
Squad24 Aug 2026
Luka Ilić 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.
Squad24 Aug 2026
Mihály Kata 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.
Transfer targets24 Aug 2026
MTK Budapest asked and Huddersfield Town 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 terraces24 Aug 2026
At 19 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.
Match22 Aug 2026
A 1‑0 win over Puskas Akademia, earned rather than given, and the sort of afternoon that sends everyone home talking about next week instead of this one.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Squad17 Aug 2026
12 saves, and a scoreline the ten men in front of him had no right to. Goalkeepers only get noticed on the bad days; this was one of the other ones.
Transfer targets17 Aug 2026
A medical, a signature, a shirt held up in front of a sponsor’s board. MTK Budapest have done the hard part with AZ, and the part that remains is the part supporters actually see.
Squad17 Aug 2026
Luka Ilić 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 MTK Budapest this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Transfer targets17 Aug 2026
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Honved have kept their man, and MTK Budapest go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
Match15 Aug 2026
1‑2 to Ferencvaros, and no complaints worth printing. The performance asked for nothing more than it got.
Market17 Aug 2026
The name of Zalán Kerezsi has come up in conversations MTK Budapest were not part of. Nothing formal, nothing signed — but nothing about it accidental either.
Squad17 Aug 2026
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and János Szépe was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Player ratings17 Aug 2026
Alberto Marí 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.
The dugout17 Aug 2026
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Ilia Beriashvili, and the manager let it.
From our football correspondent
Triumph
Player ratings10 Aug 2026
Successful dribbles: 31. 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.
Squad10 Aug 2026
Luka Ilić arrives at the club he grew up with
Every footballer has an answer to the question about his boyhood club, and most of them never get to act on it. Luka Ilić has, at MTK Budapest, and the first month will show what that does to a man.
Transfer targets10 Aug 2026
Terms were offered and declined. Whether it was the wages, the role or the town, nobody at Astra is saying, and nobody at MTK Budapest is enjoying the guessing.
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.
Squad10 Aug 2026
Mihály Kata 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.
Squad10 Aug 2026
“I never wanted to be anywhere else. There is unfinished business here.” Kristóf Hinora commits to MTK Budapest for another 3 years.
Squad10 Aug 2026
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Luka Ilić was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Transfer targets10 Aug 2026
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Monza have kept their man, and MTK Budapest go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
The terraces10 Aug 2026
He is 23 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.
From our football correspondent
Triumph
Player ratings3 Aug 2026
Successful dribbles: 25. 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.
Squad3 Aug 2026
“The easiest signature of my career.” Mihály Kata and MTK Budapest agree another 3 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.
Squad3 Aug 2026
Adrian Zeljković 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.
Squad3 Aug 2026
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Mihály Kata was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Transfer targets3 Aug 2026
MTK Budapest 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 terraces3 Aug 2026
The crowd has taken to Ádin Molnár
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.
Match1 Aug 2026
A 1‑0 win over Fehervar, earned rather than given, and the sort of afternoon that sends everyone home talking about next week instead of this one.
Player ratings3 Aug 2026
A performance of 8.06 does not come along often, and when it does the rest of the team becomes scenery. He was magnificent.
Market3 Aug 2026
Still no offer on the table, and Patrik Demjén’s deal keeps shrinking. In boardroom language, silence this long stops being an oversight and starts being an answer.