Domestic success at the Hungarian–Serbian Generals’ Football Cup

In the afternoon of Friday, 21 November, generals and senior officers put on football boots in the Handball Hall of Budapest Honvéd SC to test their strength against each other at the generals’ football match, already on the sixteenth occasion. The participants of the events were also welcomed by István Gergely, Managing President of Budapest Honvéd SC, two-time Olympic Champion, former water polo player.

“This tradition started ten years ago with a Santa Claus Cup” – told us Colonel Attila Nagy, Head of MoD Department for Immovable Property Management and Housing Support, one of the engines and hosts of the event, captain of the Hungarian team. “Back in 2015, Lieutenant General Dr. Zoltán Orosz, the then Deputy Chief of the HDF General Staff came up with the idea of testing the Hungarian and Serbian generals’ strength on the football pitch.”

It was Colonel (Ret.) László Farkas, President, National Alliance of Honvéd Sport Associations who embraced the idea. Since then, there has not been a single year without the commanders of the two nations’ military leadership meeting each other.

On the pitch, there are no ranks, only rock-hard game – seasoned with cheerfulness, falls and fair play. This time, the Hungarians won 3:0. The Serbians keep their training to themselves like a military secret, but Colonel Attila Nagy, who was awarded at the end of the event for his regular participation, shared the formula of the Hungarian success with us: “We train together every week, here in the handball hall or at the Miklós Zrínyi barracks, so we are a close-knit team”.

At the end of the friendly match, the prizes were presented by the guest of honor of the event, footballer Lajos Détári, a former 61-time member of the Hungarian national team and seven-time member of FIFA World XI who had won three cups in the uniform of Budapest Honvéd.