József Varga (; born 6 June 1988) is a Hungarian professional

footballer A football player or footballer is a sportsperson who plays one of the different types of football. The main types of football are association football, American football, Canadian football, Australian rules football, Gaelic football, rugby le ...

who plays as a defensive midfielder.

Club career

Early years

Varga was seven years old when he started playing football, influenced by his father. Playing primarily as a striker he made his breakthrough in 2000. In the 2007–08 season he started in the Debrecen B team before moving on to play for their A team.

Debrecen

Varga's first trophy was won against Budapest Honvéd by 4–1 on aggregate. The first leg finished 1–1 in the Bozsik Stadion. In the UEFA Champions League 2007–08 season Debrecen entered in the second qualifying round. Debrecen faced with the Swedish champion IF Elfsborg. Debreceni VSC were eliminated from the Champions League 1–0 on aggregate. In the Hungarian League 2007–08 season, Varga's team finished second while MTK became first. Debrecen won the Hungarian Cup in the 2007–08 season by beating Budapest Honvéd in the final 9–1 on aggregate. Debrecen played in the

2008–09 UEFA Cup The 2008–09 UEFA Cup was the 38th season of the UEFA Cup football tournament. The final was played at the Şükrü Saracoğlu Stadium, home ground of Fenerbahçe, in Istanbul on 20 May 2009. This season was the final one to use the UEFA Cup for ...

. In the first round of the Central-East region they drew in Kazakhstan against

Shakhter Karagandy Football Club Shakhter ( kk, "Шахтер" футбол клубы, Shakhter fýtbol klýby), commonly referred to as FC Shakhter Karagandy ( kk, Қарағанды/Qarağandı ;Russian: Караганда/Karaganda), is a professional footbal ...

1–1, while in the second leg they beat the Kazakh team by 1–0. Debrecen qualified for the second round by 2–1 on aggregate. In the second round Debrecen faced with the Swiss

BSC Young Boys BSC Young Boys (YB by short abbreviation ) are a Swiss sports club based in Bern, Switzerland. Its first team has won 15 Swiss league championships and six Swiss Cups. YB is one of the most successful Swiss football clubs internationally, reac ...

. Debrecen were eliminated from the UEFA Cup by 3–7 on aggregate. Rudolf won the

2008–09 Nemzeti Bajnokság I The 2008–09 Nemzeti Bajnokság I, also known as NB I, was the 107th season of top-tier football in Hungary. The league was officially named ''Soproni Liga'' for sponsoring reasons. The season started on 25 July 2008 with Kaposvári Rákóczi FC ...

season after beating their provincial rivals Diósgyőri VTK 3–2 away. In the 2009–10 season, Debrecen played in the UEFA Champions League. After beating Kalmar FF,

Levadia Tallinn Football Club Infonet Levadia Tallinn, commonly known as FCI Levadia, or simply as Levadia, is a professional football club based in Tallinn, Estonia, that competes in the Meistriliiga, the top flight of Estonian football. The club's home grou ...

, and Levski Sofia Debrecen reached the group stages of the

2009–10 UEFA Champions League The 2009–10 UEFA Champions League was the 55th season of Europe's premier club football tournament organised by UEFA, and the 18th under the current UEFA Champions League format. The final was played on 22 May 2010, at the Santiago Bernabéu St ...

season. Varga scored a goal against Levski in the Puskás Ferenc Stadium. On 1 May 2012, Varga won the Hungarian Cup with Debrecen by beating MTK Budapest on penalty shoot-out in the 2011–12 season. This was the fifth Hungarian Cup trophy for Debrecen. On 12 May 2012, Varga won the Hungarian League title with Debrecen after beating Pécs in the 28th round of the Hungarian League by 4–0 at the Oláh Gábor út Stadium which resulted the sixth Hungarian League title for the Hajdús.

Greuther Fürth (loan)

On 30 January 2013, Varga joined Bundesliga club Greuther Fürth on loan from Debrecen until the end of the

2012–13 Bundesliga The 2012–13 Bundesliga was the 50th season of the Bundesliga, Germany's premier football league. The season began on 24 August 2012 with the season opening match at Westfalenstadion involving defending champions Borussia Dortmund and SV Werd ...

season. Varga was watched by several Premier League clubs including Swansea but Varga decided to move to Bavaria. On 1 February 2013, Varga played his first Bundesliga match in 2–1 victory over Schalke 04 in

Gelsenkirchen Gelsenkirchen (, , ; wep, Gelsenkiärken) is the 25th most populous city of Germany and the 11th most populous in the state of North Rhine-Westphalia with 262,528 (2016) inhabitants. On the Emscher River (a tributary of the Rhine), it lies ...

at the Veltins-Arena.

Middlesbrough (loan)

On 25 June 2013, Varga signed on a season-long loan with English team, Middlesbrough. He was assigned the number 8 shirt previously worn by Newcastle United loanee Sammy Ameobi last season. He made his debut for the English side in the opening match of the 2013–14 Championship season against Leicester City during an eventual 1-2 home loss. He was deployed by manager Tony Mowbray on the right-wing. He was later played at right back against Millwall and Burnley under the new management of Aitor Karanka, both performances were man of the match performances. At the end of the season Varga returned to Debrecen after Middlesbrough refused to take up the option to buy Varga for €650,000 Middlesbrough boss Aitor Karanka stated this was because Varga was not a natural right back and to employ him as so would be a detriment to the player himself.

International career

József Varga debuted in the Hungary national team on 10 October 2009 against Portugal. However Hungary lost to 3–0 at the Estádio da Luz in

Lisbon Lisbon (; pt, Lisboa ) is the capital and largest city of Portugal, with an estimated population of 544,851 within its administrative limits in an area of 100.05 km2. Grande Lisboa, Lisbon's urban area extends beyond the city's administr ...

Varga's performance was convincing, therefore he became a stable member of the national team during the coaching of the Dutch Erwin Koeman. Since then Varga was called up many times and he even played a defender against

Sweden Sweden, formally the Kingdom of Sweden,The United Nations Group of Experts on Geographical Names states that the country's formal name is the Kingdom of SwedenUNGEGN World Geographical Names, Sweden./ref> is a Nordic country located on ...

in the Euro 2012 qualifiers at the

Puskás Ferenc Stadium Puskás is a Hungarian surname. Notable people with the surname include: *Ferenc Puskás (1927–2006), Hungarian football player and manager **FIFA Puskás Award, the player judged to have scored the most aesthetically significant and "most beauti ...

because two of the key defenders Roland Juhász and

Vilmos Vanczák Vilmos Vanczák (; born 20 June 1983 in Miskolc) is a retired Hungarian footballer who played as a full-back. Club career Újpest Vanczák started to play football in his hometown's club, Diósgyőri VTK, and made his first-team debut at the ...

could not play. Hungary beat 2–1 Sweden so his performance in the defence contributed to the success of the team.

Career statistics

Club

International

Honours

Club

Debrecen * Hungarian League:

2009 File:2009 Events Collage V2.png, From top left, clockwise: The vertical stabilizer of Air France Flight 447 is pulled out from the Atlantic Ocean; Barack Obama becomes the first African American to become President of the United States; 2009 Iran ...

2010 File:2010 Events Collage New.png, From top left, clockwise: The 2010 Chile earthquake was one of the strongest recorded in history; The Eruption of Eyjafjallajökull in Iceland disrupts air travel in Europe; A scene from the opening ceremony of ...

2012 File:2012 Events Collage V3.png, From left, clockwise: The passenger cruise ship Costa Concordia lies capsized after the Costa Concordia disaster; Damage to Casino Pier in Seaside Heights, New Jersey as a result of Hurricane Sandy; People gather ...

Hungarian Super Cup The Hungarian Super Cup is an annual association football match between the League ( Nemzeti Bajnokság I) champions and the Cup (Magyar Kupa) winners. Winners (*) due to violent incidents during the recent 1997–98 Magyar Kupa Final betwee ...

: 2009, 2010 * Hungarian Cup:

2008 File:2008 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: Lehman Brothers went bankrupt following the Subprime mortgage crisis; Cyclone Nargis killed more than 138,000 in Myanmar; A scene from the opening ceremony of the 2008 Summer Olympics in Beijing; ...

* Hungarian League Cup:

Individual

Nándor Hidegkuti Nándor Hidegkuti (3 March 1922 – 14 February 2002) was a Hungarian football player and manager. He played as a forward or attacking midfielder and spent the majority of his playing career at MTK Hungária FC. During the 1950s he was also a ...

Prize: 2009 * Zilahi Prize: 2012

References

External links

József Varga
profile at magyarfutball.hu
József Varga
at dvsc.hu {{DEFAULTSORT:Varga, Jozsef 1988 births Living people Footballers from Debrecen Hungarian men's footballers Hungary men's under-21 international footballers Hungary men's international footballers Men's association football midfielders Debreceni VSC players Létavértes SC players SpVgg Greuther Fürth players Middlesbrough F.C. players Fehérvár FC players Puskás Akadémia FC players Nemzeti Bajnokság I players Bundesliga players English Football League players Hungarian expatriate men's footballers Expatriate men's footballers in Germany Expatriate men's footballers in England Hungarian expatriate sportspeople in Germany Hungarian expatriate sportspeople in England