THE BEGINNING
As a teacher and football coach I was waiting for the opportunity to be able to work with young football players. I had my first chance with Kispest and BVSC where I worked with youth teams while also teaching PE class in an elementary school in Zugló. Those were long days and I had a lot of work: tighing shoes, blowing noses, comforting people but also many games, goals and laughter. It was tiring but I loved every minute of it because I was doing what I always wanted to do. My career has started...
GOLDBALL '94 FC
This was the first club in Hungary that started working with children from pre-school. This time period was characterized by passionate leaders, even more passionate parents and motivated children. When I joined we prepared a professional training program; which introduced a new point of view and a new training curriculum to the Hungarian football. We were the first ones to implement the Coerver method; which aimed at developing full ball-sension and the ability to use both legs in football. We also implemented the core exercises and game forms of that Dutch training program into our daily routines. These were very successful and efficient years. Under my leadership we started the careers of many players, especially amongst the 1988-1995 generations, who later became professional players. I hope that their basic training with us contributed to their successes...
MTK
This was the first real step for me towards professional football. It was a traditional and successful club with a long history and with a strong belief in youth development. The owner wanted to implement his business successes in the field of football also and he loved this sport and his players so much that he participated in almost every game. His attitude and his professional viewpoint were exceptional. These years were very successfull and gave me a lot of experience in many ways. We won championships, had many successes and the players were really great, too. It was a pleasure to work with them and it is still a pleasure to meet them sometimes. We also faced some difficulties that we had to overcome. It was a real deep water where I not only had to stay up but I also had to prove that in swimming I am the best and the fastest. I will always think of this club with gratitude thanks to all these experiences learned.
ÚJPEST FC
It was a short but a successful sidetrack of my career. Due to personal reasons and the invitation of the company, Eurolízing, I decided to continue my career with Újpest. The only thing missing in the club was the team, thanks to the previous practices of the leadership. I spent the major part of the summer building up a new U19 team from the start; which was not an easy task. It was an exciting job to form a unified and efficient team with these boys. These circumstances created a wonderful team with brave, sincere and diligent players. The cherry on the cake was that they won the U19 championship. It was a great pleasure for me also to work with these people and to fight for their success. This one year with them is a beautiful memory. Unfortunately it ended abruptly due to the changes of the funding policy of Eurolízing. So, at the invitation of the owner, Mr. Várszegi, I returned to MTK and started working in the Sándor Károly Academy in Agárd.
BUDAPEST HONVÉD FC
At the end of 2006 I returned from the United States where I participated in a study tour. The new owner of Honvéd got in touch with me and told me that he wanted to build a new football academy with my help. I jumped into the opportunity with great enthusiasm and with a thorough plan. I had many responsibilities from setting up the facilities, organizing the trainings in schools, arranging accomodation and accessories to signing up players and creating the teams. I worked with a small but enthusiastic group of assistants from dawn till dusk. We could count on each other and we trusted each other. I do not think that I will have such a team again. And the successes started coming.
The first year we won the U16 championship and the next year both the U16 and the U17 teams had victories. During the years we gathered more and more championship pictures on the wall and we had more and more great players in the club. We had huge wins at the Puskás-Suzuki Cups where we had such opponents as the Real Madrid. We had successes everywhere. Everyone was wondering what professional program the Hungarian Football Academy had implemented that kept on bringing such results. In the meantime we expanded in number of players, establishments and supporting personnel. It was great to go to work every day even though we also faced some difficulties. The owner of the club was very critical, although he wanted the best for us and I admired him for that. It was also difficult to change the beliefs of the adult team and to convince them to trust our young players whom we developed ourselves. The headcoaches of the first team were not always supportive to say the least.
At last we succeeded and the club won the senior Hungarian 1. division championship in 2017 mostly with home-grown players developed by us in the youth teams. This moment as well as the grateful smiles of the parents made all difficulties disappear and reinforced what I always knew: we made history in the life of the club with the creation of the academy and with the development of our young players.
PUSKÁS FERENC FOOTBALL ACADEMY
Fulfilling the invitation of the founder, I joined the Academy after spending three years in coach education. I knew the past of the Academy and as an opponent I saw their activity from the beginning. And while I never understood why they weren't more successful with such an infrastructural and economic background, I didn't think I would be here one day... Then, in the summer of 2016 I started the work that was appointed to me: to restructure the youth development plan and the football philosophy and to build more successful youth teams "after 10 years of finding the right way". Although the atmosphere and the attitude of the colleagues were a bit strange, I succeeded in building successful youth teams within two years. I built a new system and created a workable model that they had never seen before. Unfortunately they didn't let me finish the process due to personal reasons. I was sorry because within two years I delivered what I promised despite all "headwinds". At the same time I am thankful because I had some very important realizations that I will always keep in mind going forward:
