The Hungarian men’s football national team have officially started their quest to qualify for the FIFA World Cup for the first time since 1986. The 2026 tournament will be held in the United States, Mexico, and Canada in the summer.
Hungary were drawn into a four-team qualifying group with Portugal, Ireland, and Armenia. The winners of the group make it to WC 2026 automatically, while the runner-ups will have the chance to compete in the play-offs for additional European spots. Hungary’s first challenge was taking on the Irish in Dublin, Ireland on Saturday, 6 September.
Before the game, some political ‘hoopla’ distracted the fans. Irish MEP for the liberal Labour party Aodhán Ó Ríordáin has stated that Prime Minister Viktor Orbán of Hungary, who attended the game as a spectator, was ‘not welcome in Dublin’ because of his views on LGBT issues and the Russo–Ukrainian war. PM Orbán attended the game in peace despite the protest, but did not meet with any Irish government officials.
The game, meanwhile, started as well as it could for the Hungarians. Barnabás Varga adopted his excellent goal-scoring form from his club Ferencváros, and put Hungary ahead only two minutes into the game. The lead was doubled by a header from Galatasaray’s Roland Sallai in the 15th minute, after a great corner kick from Liverpool star player and national team captain Dominik Szoboszlai.
Thus, after the first quarter of an hour, it seemed that nothing could go wrong for head coach Marco Rossi’s team in Dublin.
Alas, that is not how the game ended up transpiring. It was Ireland that scored early into the second half, with AS Roma striker Evan Ferguson finding the net in the 49th minute. Things got really heated for Hungary just three minutes later, when goal scorer Sallai was sent off for retaliating for an uncalled foul.
Hungary still managed to create some chances one man down, but Ireland eventually took over the run of play and were really pushing for the equalizer in the tail end of the game. Eventually, Adam Idah headed home a cross from Ryan Manning in the 93rd minute, setting the final, 2–2 scoreline.
While giving away a two-goal lead for Hungary is disappointing, the draw in the away leg against the Irish still gives them an advantage in the race for second place in the group against Ireland, provided they can beat them at home in Budapest, Hungary in November. Portugal are widely recognized by all sides to be the heavy favourites in the group, and thus no-one is expecting to finish ahead of them.
Next up, Hungary will be facing Cristianio Ronaldo’s Portugal, who battered Armenia 5–0 away in the first round, on Tuesday, 9 September at the Puskás Arena in Budapest.
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