Ferencváros have already secured European football for the fall by knocking out the Polish side Górnik Zabrze, as we reported two weeks earlier. Against the Turkish club Trabzonspor, a spot in the UEFA Europa League league phase was at stake, while the loser would go on to compete in the UEFA Conference League.
Despite the signing of Egyptian Liverpool legend Mohamed Salah, Ferencváros took home a surprise 1–0 win from Trabzon, Türkiye last week, with Kristoffer Zachariassen providing the winner. Thus, they had all the reasons to have high hopes coming into the rematch on Thursday, 27 August at the Groupama Arena in Budapest, Hungary.
Fradi had even more reasons to be hopeful in the 13th minute, when Ruslan Malinovskyi of Trabzonspor was sent off by the referee for his rough challenge on Mariano Gómez’s ankle. Trabzon lost a man in the first leg as well. However, Chibuike Nwaiwu got his red card in a much later stage of the game then, in added time.
The home side soon turned the manpower advantage into a goal advantage. In the 19th minute, Callum O’Dowda headed Ádám Nagy’s cross into André Onana’s net from around six yards out.
Fradi retained the initiative for most of the remainder of the first half. Bamidele Yusuf left the clearest chance unconverted. In the 41st minute, he would have been clear on goal, but his clumsy touch sent the ball out for a goal kick—it is uncertain if it was meant to be shot from first touch or a botched attempt at handling the ball… Either way, Fradi fans had little to complain about, with their beloved team being up by two goals on aggregate at half-time.
In the 54th minute, Máriusz Corbu won a ball at the edge of the box, dribbled inside, then curled it into the far-post side netting to make it two for Fradi.
If there was any doubt left on who would be advancing to the EL league phase, it all disappeared five minutes later. Lopes Cabral—who scored the Goal of the Tournament for Cape Verde at the 2026 FIFA World Cup against Argentina—fouled Yusuf inside his own box. Not only did Fradi get a penalty, but Lopes received his second yellow, reducing his side to just nine men for the rest of the game.
Yusuf put away the PK. Young homegrown talent Krisztián Lisztes, coming off the bench, hit the post in the 72nd minute. However, in the 86th minute, he found the net too: he fired a shot into the bottom near corner from around 15 yards out. Thus, the final scoreline was set, 4–0 for Ferencváros, back-to-back wins, 5–0 on aggregate!
This was more than any Fradi fan could have imagined in their wildest dreams coming into the tie.
Ferencváros have made it to the group stage or the league phase of a European competition for the eighth season in a row, making the Europa League line-up for the third season in a row.
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