While the 2026 FIFA World Cup is still ongoing—by this stage, only—in the United States, qualifications for international club competitions have already started in Europe.
In fact, two Hungarian teams, reigning champions ETO FC Győr and reigning cup title holders Ferencváros, have already taken the field—with varying success. Interestingly, both clubs have also delegated a player to the World Cup. ETO’s Nadhir Benbouali played, and even scored, for Algeria, while Lenny Joseph from Ferencváros played in all three group games for Haiti.
The second leg of Fradi’s match-up in the UEFA Europa League qualifying round concluded on Thursday, 16 July. They took on the Serbian side, FK Vojvodina.
In the first leg, Ferencváros were able to get a one-goal advantage after winning 2–1 in Novi Sad, Serbia. Kristoffer Zachariassen, the Norwegian midfielder who is one of the longest-serving members of the squad, opened the scoring for the Hungarians. Vojvodina managed to equalize with an own goal before the end of the first half. However, Bamidele Yusuf found the winner for Fradi late into the game.
At the beginning of the rematch in the Groupama Arena in Budapest, Hungary, Ferencváros got a big helping hand from Hungarian international Kornél Szűcs, playing for Vojvodina. The defender decided to help out the most popular team of his home country, and fouled Joseph in a clear goalscoring opportunity, thus he was sent off after just nine minutes of play.
With the goal and now manpower advantage, Ferencváros left little doubt about who should advance in the Europa League.
Joseph found the net in the 27th minute. Zachariassen, who also scored in the first tie, expanded the lead just seven minutes later. There was one goal left for the second half as well. Hungarian international winger Zsombor Gruber got on from the bench to score the third, final goal in the 71st minute.
Ferencváros beat Vojvodina 3–0 at home, and advanced 5–1 on aggregate to face the Dutch team FC Twente in the next round of qualifying.
ETO FC Győr, on the other hand, were not so fortunate in their European endeavour so far.
They got paired with Icelandic champions Vikingur Reykjavík in the UEFA Champions League qualifying. They promptly lost their road game in Reykjavík, Iceland 1–0, with the Northeners leaving quite a few big chances unconverted as well.
However, that did not trouble the Hungarian football media so much, despite ETO being the higher-ranked team on paper, given that Vikingur have always performed much better on their home turf than on the road in European qualifying. Their players are accustomed to the unusual conditions in Iceland, namely the cold summer weather and the astroturf pitch, unlike their visitors.
When it came to the second leg in Győr, Hungary, on Tuesday, 14 July, however, the Hungarian champions could not turn the tie around as expected.
In fact, it was the Icelanders who took the lead again, with a goal by Daniel Hafsteinsson in the 34th minute. ETO reacted very well initially. Hungarian international and ETO captain Milán Vitális converted a penalty in the 38th minute to bring his team back level in the game. Then, an own goal on the Vikingur Reykjavík side brought the aggregate score to a tie as well right before the half-time break.
Hafsteinsson struck again in the 55th minute. The Győr side could not find a way back into the game after that. The game ended in a 2–2, and Vikingur made it to the next qualifying round with 3–2 on aggregate.
ETO FC Győr’s journey in Europe has not ended, however—they can now join fellow Hungarian clubs Debrecen and Paks in the UEFA Conference League qualifying. There, they will face FC Atert Bissen from Luxembourg next week.
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