László Diószegi: The hatred will end one day...

– How is the stadium project going?
– We have less than three weeks until the opening. Luckily, everything is going according to plan, although there may be some delay with the facade work – Sepsi OSK (plays in the Romanian League) owner László Diószegi told Nemzeti Sport in one of the function rooms of the new facility. – We're in the final phase. The main entrance area is a lot of work, so there's a bit of a backlog, but I believe it will be ready for the official handover, which is October 8.

– Whose idea was it to have the facility in this style?
– We made a joint decision, and we wanted it to be special, unique, and to make it even more attractive to the fans by displaying local characteristics. The elements of the facade evoke the style of Károly Kós and Imre Makovecz, both of whom are connected to Sfântu Gheorghe (the former more so), and we are proud of them. We call the stadium ‘The Fort' also with the aim of making this stadium really a fort: the rivals who come here will look at the arena, and when their bus approaches it, they will be moved.

– The stadium can accommodate 8,400 spectators, so the European federation has given a grade four classification.
– This stadium could even host Europa League matches, Champions League qualifiers, and group matches. But don't get me wrong, we don't think about the Champions League as we can face up to reality, so it's not even worth wasting words on it. The stadium will be modern and nice and, most importantly, it has a canopy.

– Let's talk a little bit about the team's performance so far, which isn't very bright. One win, six draws, and three losses...
– We started badly, we've become the ‘drawmaker' team in recent years. I feel a little bit that the players are in a mental pitfall. We're going to get through the ups and downs, but we need to get psychologically stronger.

– Has changing the coach been discussed? The Romanian press wrote about such a thing.
– We have to do something, there's no question about it. We'll have to make the boys better and faster, and we're going to sit down with the leaders in the next few days and talk about what steps to take next.

– Has the cup risen in value like that?
– Here, we think every match is important; for me, even the preparation matches are that too. We are not only a simple football club but also a cohesive element of an entire community, especially, of Transylvanian Hungarians. For us to be satisfied, the players have to perform well. There's no problem with the will, the boys just need to find their ‘goalscoring shoes.'

– In connection with the stadium opening on October 8, at which DAC will be the opponent, the question arises: according to the current trend, did you not want to welcome a star club?
– Last year, I wanted us to hand over the stadium with an eight-team tournament. We would have invited Ferencváros, Bačka Topola, DAC, Fehérvár, Miercurea Ciuc and Panathinaikos, where László Bölöni was the coach at the time. But the coronavirus came, so for understandable reasons we thought that if we organize a tournament of this magnitude, but the pandemic isn't over yet, it will be a problem. So came the idea of having only one match, and since we were the guests at Dunajská Streda's stadium opening, it was fair to invite them back to ours. We have a great relationship with the club, we are friends with owner Oszkár Világi, the supporters also look at each other as brothers, so it will be a nice celebration. And the message is that no matter where Hungarians live in the world, they should stick together. The distance between Dunajská Streda and Sfântu Gheorghe is about 950 kilometers, but after leaving Dunajská Streda, they will feel at home in Sfântu Gheorghe as well, even though they have to cross two borders. It'll make their hearts flutter when they're here, I'm sure.

– Do you expect an increase in spectators due to the new stadium?
– Of course. The attendance is always higher at the beginning of opening a new facility. The comfort level is different, and we calculated with about a thirty percent plus in the number of spectators. However, we will only get accurate data when the pandemic is over because there are still supporters who are afraid to socialize or apply for vaccination.

– In recent weeks, in addition to the decrease in the number of spectators, anti-Hungarian manifestations have intensified within the opposing fandom. What can you do about it?
– We've already taken some steps. For example, we put out a banner on which we asked the fans to hold twenty-one seconds of silence for the twenty-first century, and then it had an effect: there was no reprimand or anti-Hungarian sentiment in the next match. I look forward to the league match that we will fight against our rivals with its notoriously xenophobic supporters... I hope that one day this will end...

Translated by Vanda Orosz