One of the most important matches of the season awaits our team on Tuesday as we host fourth-placed NB I side Zalaegerszeg in the MOL Hungarian Cup semi-final, with nothing less than a place in the 9 May final at Puskás Arena at stake. We have already upset the odds twice: in October we progressed with a 2–1 away win over another leading NB I side, DVSC (interestingly, that upset also came after beating Mezőkövesd following two winless league matches), while most recently we knocked out DVTK, who were relegated from NB I on Saturday.
The winner will face the victor of Wednesday’s Ferencváros–ETO FC Győr match at Puskás Arena. Interestingly, both our women’s and U19 teams have already reached their cup finals this season, and both will face Ferencváros for the trophy.
Supporter information:
- The match kicks off at 20:00 on Tuesday, 21 April at Bozsik Arena.
- Tickets can be purchased online here: https://jegy.honvedfc.hu/
- On matchdays the Honvéd Shop opens three and a half hours before kick-off, but match tickets will only be sold at the Bozsik Arena ticket offices. Our ticket offices open three hours before the start of the match.
- The match will be broadcast live by M4 Sport.
Following the change of ownership in the summer, the blue-and-whites also underwent a major squad overhaul. The team struggled for rhythm early in the season, but from mid-autumn the Zala side developed into one of the leading teams. Portuguese coach Nuno Campos replaced István Mihalecz in the summer, and since then both the first and second-team squads have been reinforced with many South American players, mostly Brazilian and Argentine imports, alongside Hungarian players such as Alen Skribek, Norbert Szendrei and Bence Gundel-Takács. In addition to Brazilian, Colombian and Paraguayan players, the squad also includes Portuguese, French, Mexican, Costa Rican, Nigerian, Dutch, Spanish, Slovenian and Moldovan footballers. Based on the last ten league matches, ZTE FC are among the top three teams in the Hungarian top flight, while their leading scorer is Alen Skribek with ten goals.
Road to the last four: Zalaegerszeg can hardly complain about their draw in the MOL Hungarian Cup. After beating county first-division side Vásárosnamény 13–0, they faced only second-tier Budapest teams, each time at home. They defeated Budafok 3–1, Vasas 2–1 and most recently Soroksár 1–0 through Alfonso’s goal.
Both teams have already played a cup final at Puskás Arena, which opened in 2019: we lifted the trophy in 2020, while ZTE won it in 2023.
What you need to know about ZTE FC
Founded: 1910
Club colours: red and white
Division: NB I
League position: 4.
Away league record: 5 wins, 5 draws, 4 defeats (6th)
Form: W-L-W-W-D
Top scorer in the cup: Daniel Lima (3 goals)
Head coach: Nuno Campos
Previous cup match: Zalaegerszeg–Soroksár 1–0
Hungarian Cup winner: 2023
Hungarian champions: 2001–02
We began this season’s competition away to county first-division side Mór, where goals from Baki, Sigér, Kántor and Erik Kovács took us through the first hurdle with a 4–1 win. In one of the most memorable matches of the season we then came from behind to win away to DVSC thanks to goals from Pauljevic and Zuigeber. In the previous round we hosted ESMTK, with Baki and Medgyes both scoring against the Pesterzsébet side in the second half. The draw then paired us with another NB I team, and Ádám Gyurcsó’s goal knocked DVTK out of the competition. We are therefore the only NB II side in the last four. Interestingly, three of the top four teams in NB I are still in the semi-finals; we eliminated the only one missing from that group, DVSC, in October.
Players in common:
The Zalaegerszeg squad includes two former Honvéd players: Norbert Szendrei is a Honvéd academy graduate who celebrated winning the cup in Kispest in 2020, while Viktor Petrók made his first-team debut for us last year before signing for Zalaegerszeg in the winter.
No player in our current squad has appeared in a competitive match for Zalaegerszeg. Ákos Baki played for ZTE’s U15 side early in his career, while Dominik Csontos spent half a year as a ZTE player in autumn 2024 but did not appear in a competitive match.
Head-to-head matches:
The history between the two clubs stretches back a long way: we have met in almost ninety top-flight matches, while Tuesday’s game will be our ninth Hungarian Cup encounter with Zalaegerszeg.
Taking all matches into account, our most recent meeting with ZTE came in the very first match of last season, a friendly in Andráshida that we won 2–1. Our last competitive meeting was in autumn 2023, when we hosted the blue-and-whites at Bozsik Arena and a goal from Dominik Kocsis decided the match in Honvéd’s favour. The two teams have met three times at the new Bozsik, with an overall record of one win, one draw and one defeat.
Since the competition has been called the MOL Hungarian Cup we have faced Zalaegerszeg twice, both times away from home and both times requiring two 15-minute periods of extra time: once Zalaegerszeg progressed and once Honvéd did. In the most recent cup meeting between the sides, Nono’s goal allowed us to celebrate progression at ZTE Arena.
We also met Zalaegerszeg in a cup semi-final in 1989. The first leg in Kispest ended 1–1, but we turned the tie in our favour in Zalaegerszeg with a 2–1 win thanks to József Gregor and Kálmán Kovács.
In 2004 we again faced ZTE in the semi-final. In Kispest, only Koplárovics could reply to Drobnjak’s brace, so once again we emerged victorious from the tie.
Interestingly, after both semi-finals against ZTE, Honvéd advanced and went on to face Ferencváros in the cup final.
Our record against ZTE FC:
NB I: 85 matches, 42 wins, 18 draws, 25 defeats
Hungarian Cup: 8 matches, 5 wins, 1 draw, 2 defeats
Friendlies: 6 matches, 4 wins, 1 draw, 1 defeat
Our last five matches against Zalaegerszeg:
2024–25, friendly: Zalaegerszeg–Honvéd 1–2 (Scorers: Klassz; Keresztes, Krajcsovics)
2022–23, NB I: Honvéd–Zalaegerszeg 1–0 (Scorer: Kocsis D.)
2022–23, NB I: Zalaegerszeg–Honvéd 0–2 (Scorer: Samperio 2x)
2022-23, NB I: Honvéd–Zalaegerszeg 0–1
2021–22, NB I: Zalaegerszeg–Honvéd 3–1 (Scorer: Lukic)
Budapest Honvéd FC’s last five cup semi-finals:
2019-20: Honvéd–MTK 0–0, 0–0, büntetőkkel: 5–4
2018-19: Honvéd–Soroksár 2–1, 3–0
2009-10: Honvéd–Debrecen 1–1, 1–2
2008-09: Honvéd–Siófok 2–1, 2–2
2007-08: Honvéd–Kaposvár 4–0, 2–1
Referee:
MOL HUNGARIAN CUP, ROUND 7
21 April (Tuesday), 20:00
BUDAPEST HONVÉD FC–ZALAEGERSZEGI TE
Bozsik Aréna
TV: M4 Sport
EVERYONE TO BOZSIK!
