Budapest Honvéd Football Club (), commonly known as Budapest Honvéd or simply Honvéd, is a Hungarian

sports club A sports club or sporting club, sometimes an athletics club or sports society or sports association, is a group of people formed for the purpose of playing sports. Sports clubs range from organisations whose members play together, unpaid, and ...

based in Kispest,

Budapest Budapest is the Capital city, capital and List of cities and towns of Hungary, most populous city of Hungary. It is the List of cities in the European Union by population within city limits, tenth-largest city in the European Union by popul ...

, with the colours of red and black. The club is best known for its

football Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kick (football), kicking a football (ball), ball to score a goal (sports), goal. Unqualified, football (word), the word ''football'' generally means the form of football t ...

team. ''Honvéd'' means the Homeland Defence. Originally formed as ''Kispest AC'', they became ''Kispest FC'' in 1926 before reverting to their original name in 1944. The team enjoyed a golden age during the 1950s when it was renamed ''Budapesti Honvéd SE'' and became the Hungarian Army team. The club's top players from this era, Ferenc Puskás, Sándor Kocsis, József Bozsik, Zoltán Czibor, and Gyula Grosics helped the club win the Hungarian League four times during the 1950s and also formed the nucleus of the legendary Hungary national team popularly known as the '' Mighty Magyars.'' During the 1980s and early 1990s, the club enjoyed another successful period, winning a further eight Hungarian League titles. They also won league and cup doubles in 1985 and 1989. In 1991, the club was renamed ''Kispest Honvéd FC'' and adopted its current name in 2003. When the club was originally formed in 1909, it also organised teams that competed in fencing, cycling, gymnastics,

wrestling Wrestling is a martial art, combat sport, and form of entertainment that involves grappling with an opponent and striving to obtain a position of advantage through different throws or techniques, within a given ruleset. Wrestling involves di ...

, athletics,

boxing Boxing is a combat sport and martial art. Taking place in a boxing ring, it involves two people – usually wearing protective equipment, such as boxing glove, protective gloves, hand wraps, and mouthguards – throwing Punch (combat), punch ...

, and tennis. Later, the Honvéd family was extended to include a

water polo Water polo is a competitive sport, competitive team sport played in water between two teams of seven players each. The game consists of four quarters in which the teams attempt to score goals by throwing the water polo ball, ball into the oppo ...

team, now known as '' Groupama Honvéd'', a 33-times basketball-champion

team A team is a group of individuals (human or non-human) working together to achieve their goal. As defined by Professor Leigh Thompson of the Kellogg School of Management, " team is a group of people who are interdependent with respect to in ...

and a

handball Handball (also known as team handball, European handball, Olympic handball or indoor handball) is a team sport in which two teams of seven players each (six outcourt players and a goalkeeper) pass a ball using their hands with the aim of thr ...

team that were European Champions in 1982.

History

Budapest Honvéd FC were founded in 1909 as Kispesti AC. At domestic level they first entered the

Nemzeti Bajnokság I The Nemzeti Bajnokság (, ), also known as NB I or Fizz Liga after its title sponsor, OTP Bank's webshop subsidiary, is a professional association football league in Hungary and the highest level of the Hungarian football league system. Twelve ...

in the 1916–17 season. Their first success came in the 1926 Magyar Kupa season when they beat Budapesti EAC in the final. The club had played in the first division since 1916, until the club got relegated to the second division in 2003.

Stadium

Budapest Honvéd's first stadium was opened in 1913. On 5 August 2018, the last match was played at the stadium. The match was won by Honvéd against Paksi FC on the 3rd match day of the 2018–19 Nemzeti Bajnokság I. The only goal was scored by Danilo in the 48th minute. The referee was Viktor Kassai. The stadium was demolished in 2019. The new stadium of the club was opened in 2021. The first match was played between Budapest Honvéd FC II and Szekszárdi UFC in the 2020–21 Nemzeti Bajnokság III season. The stadium was selected to host the

2021 UEFA European Under-21 Championship The 2021 UEFA European Under-21 Championship (also known as UEFA Under-21 Euro 2021) was the 23rd edition of the UEFA European Under-21 Championship (26th edition if the Under-23 era is also included), the biennial international youth Association ...

Crest and colours

Manufacturers and shirt sponsors

The following table shows in detail Budapest Honvéd FC kit manufacturers and shirt sponsors by year:

Honours

** Winners (14): 1949–50,

1950 Events January * January 1 – The International Police Association (IPA) – the largest police organization in the world – is formed. * January 5 – 1950 Sverdlovsk plane crash, Sverdlovsk plane crash: ''Aeroflot'' Lisunov Li-2 ...

, 1952, 1954, 1955, 1979–80, 1983–84, 1984–85, 1985–86, 1987–88, 1988–89, 1990–91, 1992–93, 2016–17 * Nemzeti Bajnokság II **Winners (1): 2003–04 * Magyar Kupa ** Winners (8): 1925–26, 1964, 1984–85, 1988–89, 1995–96, 2006–07, 2008–09, 2019–20 *

UEFA Cup The asterisk ( ), from Late Latin , from Ancient Greek , , "little star", is a Typography, typographical symbol. It is so called because it resembles a conventional image of a star (heraldry), heraldic star. Computer scientists and Mathematici ...

** Quarter final (1): 1978/79 * Mitropa Cup ** Winners (1): 1959

Friendly

*Tournoi de Pâques du Red Star ** Winners (1): 1932 * Trofeo Ciudad de Vigo ** Winners (1): 1974

Youth teams

* Puskás Cup: ** Winners (5):

2010 The year saw a multitude of natural and environmental disasters such as the 2010 Haiti earthquake, the Deepwater Horizon oil spill, and the 2010 Chile earthquake. The 2009 swine flu pandemic, swine flu pandemic which began the previous year ...

2011 The year marked the start of a Arab Spring, series of protests and revolutions throughout the Arab world advocating for democracy, reform, and economic recovery, later leading to the depositions of world leaders in Tunisia, Egypt, and Yemen ...

2012 2012 was designated as: *International Year of Cooperatives *International Year of Sustainable Energy for All Events January *January 4 – The Cicada 3301 internet hunt begins. * January 12 – Peaceful protests begin in the R ...

2015 2015 was designated by the United Nations as: * International Year of Light * International Year of Soil __TOC__ Events January * January 1 – Lithuania officially adopts the euro as its currency, replacing the litas, and becomes ...

, 2016

Players

Current squad

Out on loan

Retired numbers

10 – Ferenc Puskás, Forward (1949–56). Number retired in July 2000.

Notable former players

Had senior international cap(s) for their respective countries. Players whose name is listed in bold represented their countries while playing for Budapest Honvéd FC. *

Abraham Abraham (originally Abram) is the common Hebrews, Hebrew Patriarchs (Bible), patriarch of the Abrahamic religions, including Judaism, Christianity, and Islam. In Judaism, he is the founding father who began the Covenant (biblical), covenanta ...

* József Andrusch * Benjamin Angoua * Zsolt Bárányos * Balázs Bérczy * Bertalan Bicskei * János Biri * Igor Bogdanović * József Bozsik * Kris Bright * István Brockhauser * László Budai * Gábor Bukrán * Alfi Conteh-Lacalle * Aurél Csertői * Zoltán Czibor * László Dajka * András Debreceni * Lajos Détári * Mamadou Diakité * László Disztl * Péter Disztl * Cristian Dulca * József Duró * József Eisenhoffer * Gábor Egressy * Márton Esterházy * Emeka Ezeugo * László Farkasházy * Pál Fischer * Imre Garaba * Genito * Ivo Georgiev * Gyula Grosics * Sándor Gujdár * Emir Hadžić * Gábor Halmai * István Hamar * Zoltán Hercegfalvi * Ádám Hrepka * János Hrutka * Harmony Ikande * Béla Illés * Péter Kabát *

Mihály Kincses Mihály Kincses (born 8 April 1918, in Budapest) was a Hungary, Hungarian professional Association football, football player. Honours

* Nemzeti Bajnokság I, Hungarian champion: 1942/43, 1943/44. * Serie A champion: 1947/48. 1918 births Ye ...

* István Kocsis * Lajos Kocsis * Sándor Kocsis * Imre Komora * Antal Kotász * Béla Kovács * Ervin Kovács * Kálmán Kovács *

Mihály Kozma Mihály Kozma (born 1 November 1949) is a former Hungarian football midfielder, who played for Budapest Honvéd FC and Belgium's Thor Waterschei He won a silver medal in football at the 1972 Summer Olympics, and also participated in ...

* László Kuti * Davide Lanzafame * Almiro Lobo * Gyula Lóránt * Misheck Lungu * Ferenc Machos * János Marozsán * Gábor Márton * János Mátyus * József Mészáros * Vasile Miriuță * Hélder Muianga * Antal Nagy (1944) * Antal Nagy (1956) * Norbert Németh * István Nyers * Sándor Pintér * István Pisont * Attila Plókai * Ferenc Puskás *

László Pusztai László Pusztai (1 March 1946 – 6 July 1987) was a Hungarian football player who participated in the 1978 World Cup where Hungary Hungary is a landlocked country in Central Europe. Spanning much of the Pannonian Basin, Carpathian Bas ...

* István Sallói * Ferenc Sipos * Lajos Szűcs * Ákos Takács * Zoltán Takács *

Lajos Tichy Lajos Tichy (21 March 1935 – 6 January 1999), nicknamed "The Nation's Bomber", was a Hungarian footballer who played as a forward. He is the most prolific goalscorer in total matches in recorded history according to RSSSF with over 1917 ...

* Sándor Torghelle * Mihály Tóth * József Varga * Gábor Vincze * István Vincze * Paulo Albarracín * Bruno Enríquez * César Mayuri * Dragan Vukmir * Lukáš Zelenka * Zalán Zombori * Philip Tarlue

Non-playing staff

Management

''As of 15 September 2024''

First team staff

''As of 6 June 2025''

Ownership

In 2022, Chris Docherty was appointed as the new sport director of the club. Chris Docherty said in an interview that the club cannot sign any new players for financial problems in the middle of the 2022-23 Nemzeti Bajnokság I season. On 22 May 2023, Chris Docherty resigned as sports director. In an article published by Nemzeti Sport, George F. Hemingway, former owner of the club, heavily criticized the management of the club for their relegation to the Nemzeti Bajnokság II after finishing 11th in the 2022–23 Nemzeti Bajnokság I season. Hemingway said that the solid financial background is not enough if there is no expertise. On 27 April 2024, it was revealed that a Tamás Lisztinger-led business showed interest in purchasing the club.

Owners

* 2006–2019: Quinex America LLC (George F. Hemingway) * 2019–2024: Reditus Equity (Zoltán Bozó) * 2024-present: ARAGO-SPORT Kft. (Tamás Leisztinger)

Sources

* ''Behind The Curtain – Travels in Eastern European Football'': Jonathan Wilson (2006) * ''50 Years of the European Cup and Champions League'': Keir Radnedge (2005)

References

External links

* *
Official website
(archived)
''Puskás on Puskás'' Rogan Taylor and Klara Jamrich (1998)

{{DEFAULTSORT:Honved Budapest Association football clubs established in 1909 Military association football clubs in Hungary Football clubs in Budapest Football clubs in Hungary 1909 establishments in Hungary