Budafoki

A team of former prodigies inspire second-tier club to stunning cup run

- Ben Bocsak

A cross Europe’s top 30 leagues this season – according to the UEFA coefficient rankings – only two second-tier sides reached the cup final of their respective countries. One of them was Scotland’s Inverness Caledonian Thistle, a club that has spent much of the last 20 years in the top flight. The other was Budafoki MTE, a team that is little known even in Hungary, never mind the rest of the continent. Yet despite all the odds, the club somehow wrote history this season after making it to the Hungarian Cup final for the first time.

Budafoki’s history is sparse. Since its inception in 1912, the club has only competed in the top flight of Hungary twice. Yet it also played a significant role in the foundations of Hungarian football.

After the Second World War, it was here that legendary manager Gusztav Sebes made a name for himself. Under him, Budafoki made it to Hungary’s top flight for the first time in 1945. On the back of that success, Sebes became manager of the Hungarian national team and built the “Aranycsapat” (Golden Team) that reached the 1954 World Cup final.

At Budafoki, Sebes also discovered midfielder Jozsef Zakarias, a member of the Aranycsapat who played a key role in the team’s success to win Olympic gold and record that famous 6-3 victory over England at Wembley.