Marco Rossi came to Hungary in 2012, when he was appointed head coach of the Budapest Honvéd football club. Cosimo Inguscio, who was already part of the Honvéd team, joined his staff in the Kispest club.

The two also took over the men’s national team in 2018, leading it to success in the 2020 European Championship qualifiers and the last edition of the most recent Nations League, and are now set for their next European Championship participation. The national team coach has spoken on numerous occasions about his special relationship with Hungary and his love for the country and its people.

After spending about eleven years in Hungary, Marco Rossi and Cosimo Inguscio became Hungarian citizens on October 3.

After taking the citizenship oath in Hungarian, they received the certificates from the President of Hungary, Katalin Novák, at the head of state’s residence in the presence of the Minister of Defense responsible for sport, Kristóf Szalay-Bobrovniczky, and the President of the Hungarian Football Association (MLSZ) Sándor Csányi.

“Hungarians have long taken you to their hearts,” Novák said in her speech welcoming the two coaches, adding, “today, Hungarians and you have officially said yes to each other.”

The fact that the Hungarian national team is led by Hungarian citizens means a lot to all of us,” she emphasized. 

“I have experienced many moments when Hungary and Hungarians have touched me emotionally, although I am not a very sentimental person,” Rossi told mlsz.hu.

“But today was another one of those days when the country I consider my second home officially welcomed me. I want to thank the Hungarians for the love they have shown me, the President of the Republic for allowing me to become a Hungarian citizen in such special circumstances, and of course President Sándor Csányi, without whose trust in me I would not have been able to spend so much time in Hungary and become a Hungarian citizen,” he added.

The two coaches will, of course, keep their Italian citizenship alongside their Hungarian one, but, as Cosimo Inguscio told the site, neither will be put before the other.

“It is an incredible thing for us to sit on the bench of the Hungarian national team as Hungarians. I do not need to tell you how much we both love Hungarians and Hungary, so we really hope that we can bring more joy to the Hungarian people! Like Marco, I would also like to thank everyone who has contributed in the smallest way to the fact that tonight we can lay our heads down to sleep as Hungarian citizens,” the assistant coach said.

The next time Rossi and Inguscio will sit on the national team bench will be on October 14 against Serbia at Puskás Arena.

MTI Photo: Tibor Illyés