As part of the event opened by former President of Hungary and member of the International Olympic Committee, Pál Schmitt, Orbán unveiled a statue of Ferenc Puskás.

Captains of the six teams of the Puskás Suzuki Cup for under-17 footballers, Spain’s Real Madrid, Greece’s Panathinaikos, Croatia’s Dinamo Zagreb, Australia’s Melbourne Football Club, Hungary’s Budapest Honvéd and the Ferenc Puskás Football Academy, laid wreaths at the statue.

Orbán, the founder of the academy, said that said young people could to “gain strength from [Puskás] and see how it was possible for a country boy to turn into a celebrated star”.

Leftist opposition Democratic Coalition and E-PM activists held a protest at the stadium, insisting that the money spent on the stadium could have been turned towards other, more pressing needs.

Source www.hungarymatters.hu

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