Exclusive interview with our managing director, Attila Balogh

Our team kicked off the 2025/2026 season in the Merkantil Bank Liga NB II on Monday evening with a match against Bp. Honvéd.

In recent weeks, several questions about the team have been raised on online fan forums and social media platforms. Attila Balogh, our managing director, answered these questions in an interview conducted for this purpose.

- Although the transfer window is open until the 3rd September, most of the squad was already in place by the start of the league season. How would you describe the past month and a half, and what were the most important tasks?

As mentioned in the recent meet the fans evening, we basically had to build the team from scratch. The local government took over the club late on Friday evening, 13th June, and until then we couldn't make any commitments and my own role wasn't clear either. So, we were able to start working in earnest at that point, and we had about ten days to put together the core of the team. Of course, we talked to Krisztián Tímár, who was an obvious candidate for the role of manager, and another head coach with ties to Székesfehérvár, but in the end, Gábor Boér was the most convincing candidate for me and the local government, both professionally and personally. The selection of a head coach is the same as for any job, for any position. Of course, there is always the possibility of making a mistake, but you try to make the best decision based on first impressions and the head coach's professional background.

- The club does not have a sporting director, which is why one of the most frequently asked questions from fans was who signed the players and on what basis?

The owner—that is, the local government—provided the financial framework, and in consultation with Gábor Boér, we selected the players who fit our professional vision. After that, I negotiated with the players' agents. There were some former Vidi players we wanted to bring back. It is no secret that we were able to reach a financial agreement with some of them, but in the end, at the request of his family, one of our targets signed with a team in the capital for reasons of convenience, while with others we were unable to reach a financial agreement.

- Obviously, it is an advantage in negotiations that you have been working in football for 13 years and know the agents well, and they know you too.

Yes, that was one of the arguments in favor of me remaining the club's managing director after the change of ownership. I played a role in the results of the past decade, winning two league titles, and I was also involved in the development of the Sóstói Stadium. Technically, I can manage the signing of players, but I need the professional support of someone who has in-depth knowledge of the NB II league during the selection process. That is why we had to choose a head coach who also has a history in NB II and rely on his experience, as he sees the players differently than I do, for example, from a head coach's perspective.

- Let's stay with player agents for a moment. A recurring criticism on fan forums is that a certain agency—which also represents our head coach—has an advantage in bringing players here.

I can categorically reject this criticism. Seventeen new players joined the team this summer, and only two of them are represented by the management agency with which the head coach has a contract. We are very careful to avoid player agent domination at the club, as it would not be healthy if the vast majority of players had the same agent.

- We suffered a 3-0 defeat to Honvéd at home in the opening round. How do you assess what you saw?

There is no question that Honvéd is currently ahead of us. Incidentally, the visiting team's head coach, Tamás Feczkó, acknowledged this fairly after the match. They have been working with the squad for months, which has given them time to gel. In contrast, Gábor Boér had less than a month to build a team from scratch. The team didn't have enough time to gel, and the match against Honvéd was our first competitive game. The fact that we lost in the end is not a huge surprise. We wanted to perform a miracle and win, but in addition to Honvéd playing better and deservedly taking the three points, we were also hit by refereeing errors. The first goal was preceded by an offside, a red card for Kispest was not given in the first half, and the validity of the free kick that led to the third goal is also highly debatable.

(The referee made three important mistakes in our team's match against Honvéd. Watch the video to see what happened!)

But I would like to emphasize once again that Honvéd deserved to win against us. As I said, we had to build a completely new team in just a few weeks, and the average age of the team is extremely low. We would like to ask the fans for their patience, as we had little time to build team spirit. Honvéd is also one of the strongest teams in the league and is a contender for promotion. The first few rounds will definitely be a serious test for us, and the team still needs a little more time. I hope that when we review this issue in six months' time, the correctness of our decisions will be confirmed.

Many fans have also asked why we terminated Simeon Petrov's contract at the end of July, when we had only signed the Bulgarian international defender, who had been playing for us on loan, on a permanent basis two months earlier.

According to the MLSZ's so-called "Hungarian rule," Petrov is not allowed to play in NB II. That is, he can play, but then the club would lose significant support, which we cannot afford in our situation. In addition, we believe that Hungarian players should play in NB II. The fact that we had to exercise the option at the end of May and buy him was our obligation under his contract. It is important to note here that thanks to this contract, the national team defender joined us in the winter for almost nothing, in exchange for a symbolic amount, as we were already thinking in terms of cost-effective solutions at that time. The option to buy fee itself was not a large amount. It is also natural that during the winter transfer window, we signed players with the intention of playing in NB I, and no one imagined that we would start this season in NB II. I can also say that in recent weeks we were very close to selling Petrov's playing rights for a transfer fee. There was a foreign club with which we managed to agree on everything, and an agreement was also reached between the club and the player. However, at the last minute, this club was excluded from its country's top division for legal reasons, so the deal fell through. Since information spreads very quickly in today's world, everyone is now aware that a foreign footballer with a valid contract is a heavy burden for an NB II team. This is because we have to pay the salary specified in the contract even in the second division. We terminated Petrov's contract because we saw too much risk in not being able to sell him and having to pay his salary for another year. However, by terminating his contract, we managed to save tens of millions of forints overall.

- We have another foreign footballer with a valid contract in our squad, Nikola Serafimov. Rumor has it that we could have sold him earlier, but in the end, that didn't happen. What was the reason for that?

The rumors are true, we received a serious offer for him in the winter, but the prevous owner decided not to sell him at that time. His situation is now very similar to Petrové's, but we are still talking about a national team regular whom we are trying to sell for a transfer fee. However, if this does not happen within a certain time frame, we will be forced to find a solution for him as well.

- This week, we loaned one of our young players, Bence Babos, to Diósgyőr, which plays in NB I. This transfer also raised the question among many fans as to why we would loan out a player who is wanted by an NB I club.

In my opinion, Bence's case is a positive story. Those who want to twist this can, of course, portray it as negative, but if we look at the whole issue in its complexity, I think it's a good thing. We currently have four or five players in Bence's position, and he would most likely not have gotten enough playing time with us because there are players in his position who are ahead of him. At the same time, the offer came from NB I, which is definitely a step forward professionally. We consider Bence to be one of the club's good assets, someone we are counting on in the long term, which is why we extended his contract before loaning him to Diósgyőr.

- Simut Mario was not in the squad for the match against Bp. Honvéd, and during the transfer window, his agent made an interesting statement saying that he did not want to play in NB II. What can you tell us about him?

That's right, the player's agent stated that Mario would like to play in NB I. We don't think it's very fortunate that the player is sending messages through the press via his agent, but we have no control over that. We consider Mario to be a very valuable and useful player, but so far we have not received any offers for him that would make us willing to let him go. The club's interests come first, which means that if a player wants to leave us while he is still under contract, we want to receive a transfer fee that is beneficial to the club. I am confident that Mario will make the right decision and get down to work and be willing to play, because if he draws attention to himself with good play, then I am sure that suitable offers will come in for the club. In any case, we are counting on him.

Finally, this weekend we are visiting Ajka, where only 250 Vidi fans will be able to accompany the team, as this is the number of guest tickets that the Ajka team can provide. Many fans have asked if there will be a live stream of the match and what we can expect from our away matches this season.

We are also aware of the problem, and although all NB II stadiums are certified, there are significant differences between the facilities in terms of capacity and quality. We have contacted all NB II clubs. We know which teams stream their home matches, and we will share these broadcasts on our platforms. For those stadiums where the home team does not provide live coverage, our crew will travel there and stream the matches so that no Vidi fan misses out on our away games. For our home matches, we encourage our fans to visit the Sóstói Stadium and cheer on the team from the stands!