The congress’ opening dinner was held yesterday evening in the Várkert Bazaar near the banks of the Danube river, at the start of which UEFA Communications and Media Director Pedro Pinto thanked the delegations for coming and the hosts for their hospitality before handing over the microphone to Dr Sándor Csányi, the president of the Hungarian Football Federation (MLSZ).

Sándor Csányi, who is also a member of UEFA’s Executive Committee, firstly thanked UEFA for returning ten years after their last congress in Budapest before emphasising that much had changed in Hungarian football in the intervening period, particularly in terms of infrastructure and youth development, but also of course with Hungary’s qualification for the European Championships after 44 years. He then thanked Hungarian Prime Minister and football-lover Viktor Orbán for his great contribution to this success.

Csányi’s speech was followed by one from UEFA first vice-president Ángel Maria Villar in which he thanked those gathered for there attendance and talked of his nice memories of visits to Budapest as an Athletic Bilbao player when his club played Ferencváros and Újpest Dózsa. He emphasised that Hungary is a true football country where the Prime Minister is also a fan of the sport and so it is no accident that in recent years it has hosted two UEFA and one FIFA congress in Budapest and that leaders in sport can feel they are in one of football’s hotbeds.

Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán closed the series of speeches with more thanks before stressing that although Hungarians only make up a small percentage of the world’s population, with talent and perseverance victory is still possible. We suffered as Hungarian football slumped from its golden period but now an unprecedented collaboration infuses domestic sporting life, something which is proven by the newly-built stadia, the doubling of participation figures in certain sports and subsequent achievements such the national team qualifying for EURO 2016.

The official programme ended with the presentation of the UEFA Order of Merit awards, amongst which former Hungarian star player and FIFA referee Károly Palotai was awarded the UEFA Order of Merit in Diamond for exceptional performance and dedication for the good of the game.

Palotai said this shortly after receiving his award: “The award is a big surprise for me but one which again proves to me that there is no more beautiful thing in the world than football. I’ve received so much from football and it’s a particularly good feeling that although I was just a footsoldier in football, I can still be presented with such a great honour as this. Therefore, I am very grateful”.

Tuesday saw the advent of the congress itself at which several important issues were dealt with, not least the election of Florence Hardouin of France as the female member on the UEFA Executive Committee and the admittance of the Football Federation of Kosovo (FFK) as the 55th member association of UEFA.

From Hungary, MLSZ President Sándor Csányi was present along with Minister of State for Sport Dr Tünde Szabó to mark another prestigious landmark in Hungarian football, this congress coming ahead of the country’s return to major tournament football at EURO 2016 after 30 years in the international wilderness, their last being the 1986 FIFA World Cup in Mexico.

Source: mlsz.hu

MTI photo: Illyés Tibor