Ferencváros, the winner of the last seven Hungarian championship titles, have made it to the play-offs of the UEFA Champions League qualifiers after defeating the Bulgarian side PFC Ludogorets Razgrad.
Ludogorets are also dominating their own domestic league, even more so than Fradi, winning the last 14 (!) titles. They also have significant international experience, having played in the group stage and league phase in both the Champions League and the Europa League. Thus, they were a formidable opposition.
In the first leg of the tie in Razgrad, Bulgaria, the teams tied 0–0. However, Ferencváros were closer to victory, despite playing away from home. Fradi striker Lenny Joseph even scored, but it was ruled out for offside.
In the rematch, in the packed Groupama Arena in Budapest, Hungary, it was Ludogorets who got one goal annulled for offside—Ivaylo Chochev had to be disappointed after finding the back of the net in the sixth minute. Hungarian international Barnabás Varga, on the other hand, finally got a goal that stayed on the scoreboard in the tie: he headed a cross from Bence Ötvös into the net from around 13 yards out.
Varga then doubled his tally in the 79th minute. Zsombor Gruber, who just came on from the bench, deftly beat his man inside the box, then his low cross met the goal scorer around seven yards from goal, making it an easy tap-in. This was the fourth goal for Varga in the UCL qualifiers this season. Central back Gábor Szalai set the final, 3–0 scoreline (both for the night and on aggregate) after heading a corner home in the 86th minute.
In the next round, Ferencváros will square off against Qarabağ FK from Azerbaijan in the last hurdle before reaching the coveted UEFA Champions League league phase. Qarabağ FK breezed past their North Macedonian opposition Shkëndija with 6–1 on aggregate in the third qualifying round.
Even if FTC were to fall short against Qarabağ, they would still be eligible to play in the Europa League league phase this season—so plenty of European action is guaranteed for the Hungarian champions!
The last time Fradi made it past the qualifiers in the primary European club competition was in 2020—back then, the group stage format was in place. However, that was during the time of the COVID-19 pandemic, thus the Budapest team had to play most of their games in empty stadiums. Making it to the UCL this year would provide a much better, more memorable experience for the fans. Also, given the introduction of the league phase, Fradi would be guaranteed eight UCL games, instead of the six in the group stage format.
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