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"The goal - to grow players from academia": Hungary's success story | Israel today

2022-06-16T05:21:40.273Z


A first and exclusive visit to the Puskas complex shows that the big 0: 4 over England came thanks to the road • "A full stadium and success in Europe will make us very happy, but they are secondary"


A few days before Hungary's biggest win in the last 60 years in a competitive, 0: 4 match in England in the League of Nations, we visited an academy that has grown the stars of the game at Wolves Stadium.

This is the first time that the Israeli media has visited here, and the Hungarians, who are thirsty for cooperation, can rightly be proud of what is revealed before our eyes.

The Puskas Academy, named after the great Hungarian footballer of modern times, is located a 35-minute drive from Budapest city center, in a rural area centered by the magnificent facility - with 11 football pitches, including one official that can host Champions League, Europa League and Conference League games.

It also contains a huge area, including: accommodation, dining room, conference room, gyms, rest rooms, bus parking, cinema room and recently - a new hotel, so that the complex can host foreign teams that arrive, teams in Europe that come to training camps and football coaches To come to advanced training.

First and exclusive visit to the Puskas complex in Hungary // Credit: Adi Rubinstein

We arrived in these green areas, just on the last day of school.

Hundreds of footballers (in Hungary every Premier League football team is obliged to have a women's team as well) in their teens from all over Hungary were gathered to their homes.

As part of the academy's agreement with the Mongolian government, boys from the East are also coming to seek their future.

As soon as they enter the compound they are greeted with a statue of Franz Puskas surrounded by bouquets, reminiscent of a tournament up to the age of 17 held here featuring all the teams where the local idol played: Real Madrid and Panathinaikos, for example.

The tournament is annual, and players from all over Europe also get to visit the museum in the complex, which displays the star's original shirt from his time in Real.

The sculpture at the entrance to the academy, Photo: Adi Rubinstein

Waiting for groups from Israel

The one hosting us is Giorgi Sloshi, the man whose second home is the academy, who is happy to find that Israelis are amazed by what the Hungarian Empire has to offer.

We enter the lobby, and there are posters of Pushkash hanging on the walls, but mostly the noise is heard, of many children who have just finished another year, and go out for a break of only a month.

"One of the big problems we faced was the studies. It did not make sense for the children to travel long distances to and from the school. So we came to cooperate with the school that centers the whole countryside, and the children joined the school program. Football, "Sloshi describes.

In the center of the academy is located the Pushkash Academic Stadium which contains 4,000 seats.

The team was formed in 2005, and is devoid of tradition or many fans, but that was not its goal in advance.

"The idea was to promote the academy, to grow players. Of course if the stadium is full it will make us happy, and of course even if the team succeeds in Europe we will be happy - but these are secondary goals."

The newly built Panzo Hotel, run by the former Four Seasons Hotel in central Budapest, was designed to give the facility everything it needed to raise the bar, and to target Europe's elite teams: "We could host teams in the last Euro "But we did not have a hotel. In the end, the goal is to be a home and address that competes with all the other facilities in Europe," says Salushi, adding: "I would love to see Israeli teams come to training camps here."

Pushkash Academy Stadium, Photo: Adi Rubinstein

The president lives in front of the stadium

The academy has trained a number of faculty members for the national team, but it is clear to everyone that this is only the beginning of a longer process.

European football has changed, from a team point of view, the Hungarian teams know just as well as the Israelis that their natural place is the Conference League, including the eternal champion Frantzvaros, who dreamed of signing Israeli players but found that their prices were quite high.

But at the national team level the story is different.

Hungary participated in the last Euro, hosted games and recorded a respectable performance.

Now the goal is to qualify for the Euros in Germany, and the double victories over England and the draw against the host, when in the squad and on the bench were the academy players, confirm to them that they are on the right track.

But maybe it's like that when your president is a former footballer who played for the local village team, who travels with the team to every game he can get to (home and away), and whom he sees investing in sports and football as necessary and initial - which infuriates opposition parties. Except in sports.

Before we say goodbye, our host points us to a typical Hungarian holiday home - in front of the bleachers.

"This is our president's cottage, Urban - if you've asked yourself how important this project is to him."

Pushkash Academy - Inside View, Photo: Adi Rubinstein

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Source: israelhayom

All sports articles on 2022-06-16

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