Video: Sándor Petőfi, Hungarian poet and revolutionary, joined the forces where MLSZ was born later

It's worth taking a closer look at the history of the classicist building, designed by Mátyás Zitterbarth Jr., completed in 1835, where the Hungarian Football Federation started its journey in the same place Sándor Petőfi began his military career before. The spiritual continuity is, of course, just an anachronistic game, yet the poet who died in the Revolution of 1848 poeticized the enthusiasm of future footballers when he wrote: “and you, nice places where we every so often had fun / either by sitting in a circle or striking the ball.” Just as the people of the grandstands could feel the following Petőfi poem: “To me, this game is a beauty to see...”

On behalf of the preparatory committee, President Károly Iszer and Secretary Ferenc Horváth convened the inaugural meeting of MLSZ on January 8, 1901.

“In 1897 there were only two, but in 1900 more than ninety public football matches were played in the capital. These were friendly matches, but there was a demand for clubs to play these matches or cups in a more organized way so that teams could measure their performance not just on an ad hoc basis. This demand paved the way for the formation of the Federation, which was formulated at the end of 1900 when the Federation convened a meeting in the Ferencváros Civic Circle on December 22 where delegates from active football clubs agreed on how to move forward,” said sports historian Gábor Laszip.

English subtitles available!

Previous episodes of the series
• Episode 13 – It was possible to learn journalism at Népsport - time traveling in the history of Népsport
• Episode 12 – The capital's first football leader ended his own life
• Episode 11 – The Buda apartment to where half of NB I from Albert to Mészöly went out for spritzer
• Episode 10 – Could've the father of Gusztáv Sebes be Csoszogi, the old shoemaker's inspirer?
• Episode 9 - In the wake of an astonishing plan, a national stadium carved into Arany-hegy
• Episode 8 – The gym's lightbulbs regretted the first Hungarian football practice
• Episode 7 - The drunken day on joy when tens of thousands forgot to go to work and school
• Episode 6 – Adam and Eve's paradise match on top of Gellért Jill
• Episode 5 – District IX, Springer dynasty – green-white blood in veins
• Episode 4 – We've discovered the place where Hungarian football was born
• Episode 3 – Glasses and a watch found in pocket helped to identify the coach martyrs
• Episode 2 – London's smog was magically simulated in front of Puskás team on Nagyrét by a film industry fog machine
• Episode 1 – Where Gyula Krúdi wrote a match report after the world war

Translated by Vanda Orosz