Full name | Budapest Honvéd Futball Club |
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Founded | 3 August 1909 |
Ground | Bozsik Stadion, Budapest |
Capacity | 10,000 |
Chairman | George Hemingway |
Manager | Marco Rossi |
League | OTP Bank Liga |
2015–16 | OTP Bank Liga, 8th |
Website | Club home page |
Budapest Honvéd FC (Hungarian pronunciation: [ˈbudɒpɛʃt ˈhonveːd ˈɛft͡seː] is a Hungarian sports club from Budapest best known for its football team. Honved means the Homeland Defence. Originally formed as Kispest AC, they became Kispest FC in 1926 before reverting to their original name in 1944. The team enjoyed a golden age during the 1950s when it was renamed Budapest Honvéd SE and became the Hungarian Army team. The club's top players from this era, Ferenc Puskás, Sándor Kocsis, József Bozsik, Zoltán Czibor, and Gyula Grosics formed the nucleus of the legendary Hungarian team known as the Mighty Magyars and helped the club win the Hungarian League four times during the 1950s. During the 1980s and early 1990s the club enjoyed another successful period, winning a further eight Hungarian League titles. They also won league and cup doubles in 1985 and 1989. In 1991 the club was renamed Kispest Honvéd FC and adopted its current name in 2003.
When the club was originally formed in 1909 it also organised teams that competed in fencing, cycling, gymnastics, wrestling, athletics, boxing and tennis. Later the Honvéd family was extended to include a water polo team, now known as Groupama Honvéd, a 33-times basketball-champion team and a handball team that were European Champions in 1982.