Szegedi AK

This little joke appeared in an issue of Nemzeti Sport a hundred years ago, and it perfectly illustrated the state of soccer in Szeged, as the city’s soccer program had risen to the highest level thanks to the professional expertise and immense financial support of club president Tivadar Holzer. In 1911, the merchant family was granted a noble title by Franz Joseph for their work in boosting the Hungarian economy and adopted the prefix “Bástyai.” Holzer founded the Szeged Athletic Club in 1899, and fourteen years later, thanks to his significant financial contribution, the grandstand at the Újszeged sports complex—which he donated to the club—was inaugurated. After World War I, the Szeged team, like the one in Szombathely, became the best in the region; in the first half of the 1920s, it won the Southern District Championship four times and became the provincial champion in 1922. As our photo shows, in keeping with the mood of the times, a map of historic Hungary and an inscription were placed on the wooden grandstand of the Újszeged sports complex: “A truncated Hungary is not a country; a whole Hungary is heaven.” SzAK also made a name for Hungarian soccer abroad, defeating the Rome national team 5–2 in the Italian capital in early 1923. Newspaper correspondent Dezső Gyovai wrote of the match in Rome: “The boys threw themselves into the match with a vehemence never before seen at home, and we secured a three-goal victory with a performance that would have earned the…

Nemzeti Bajnokság II: Winners (3): 1943–44, 1945, 1949–50 Nemzeti Bajnokság III: Winners (1): 1960–61 Hungarian Cup: Runners-up (1): 1929–30