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The transformation of sport in post-communist Hungary

Chapter · May 2020

DOI: 10.4324/9780429325847-2

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Győző Molnár Tamas Doczi

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G. Molnar and T. Dóczi

Part 1 Neoliberal sport in the post-socialist countries of

Eastern Europe
2 The transformation of sport in post-communist Hungary
A transitology-informed approach

Gyozo Molnar 0000-0003-1732-5672 and Tamás Dóczi 0000-0003-1573-0949

The purpose of this chapter is to analyse Hungary’s post-communist sporting transitions and how these have been
influenced by larger global transformative processes including, politics and the economy. The chapter first
outlines the communist sports system before explaining the concept of cultural transition via the framework of
transitology. The concept of transitology is subsequently employed to provide a theoretical backdrop to the
cultural changes that have been brought on by the collapse of the Iron Curtain, leading to the multifaceted
processes of globalisation and European re-integration. The chapter then introduces and briefly discusses some of
the possible consequences of globalisation in Hungary and outlines the ways in which specific sporting cultures
have responded to the opening up of global-scapes. It includes examples of general sporting transitions, but
focuses more specifically on how the Hungarian football system attempted to re-invent itself in the era of post-
communist transition. It also examines some of the key challenges that Hungarian society, sport and, more
specifically, football have faced in the post-communist and pre-EU era.

Introduction

This chapter offers analysis of Hungary’s post-Soviet sporting transitions and how those have
been influenced by larger transformative processes including politics and the economy. The
chapter begins with an outline of the historical foundations of Hungary’s post-communist
transition in relation to the collapse of the Soviet Union, after which we explore the concept
and the relevance of transitology as a framework of analysis for post-Soviet countries in
transition. The chapter continues by focusing on Hungary’s post-communist sport system in
light of key political and economic changes, leading to some of the consequences of transitions
in Hungarian sports in light of post-2010 politics, and outlines the ways in which specific
sporting structures have reacted to particular global processes. While we include examples
from general sporting transitions, the main focus is on how Hungarian football has been
influenced by the interplay that has developed over time between forces of Westernisation and
the Hungarian government’s efforts to reinvent a strong nation and national identity through
sport and related political agendas.
Driven by political, ideological, economic and cultural fissures between the Eastern and
Western Blocs, most of the Sovietised countries in Central and Eastern Europe (CEE) remained
largely isolated from Western ideas and influences until the collapse of the Iron Curtain
(Molnar, 2006). The foundation of this Manichean divide was rooted in the distinction between
Soviet (Leninist–Stalinist) communism and American capitalist hegemony (Wagg & Andrews,
 The transformation of sport in post-communist Hungary

2007) and the infinite desire for global control and domination (Lukacs, 1966). In his New
History of the Cold War Lukacs notes the following of pre-World War II Soviet efforts to
expand westwards: ‘Officially, a Treaty of Non-Aggression, it contained a Secret Protocol
providing for the Partition of Eastern Europe – North of Hungary and of the Balkans – among
themselves [Germany and the Soviet Union]’ (1966: 33).
This deal with Germany and following intra-war attempts by Stalin to make separate peace
agreement with Hitler (Levering, 2005) are indicative of Soviet territorial expansion efforts
and Stalinist foreign diplomacy (Gaddis, 1998). Soviet expansion ambitions, manifested during
post-Wold War II peace negotiations (Levering, 2005) did not only create cautiousness in
Western societies towards such ambitions, but led to an emerging ‘Soviet phobia’. Cohen
(1985: 19) notes with regard to the United States (US) that Soviet phobia’s symptoms include
militarised thinking about American-Soviet relations, alarmist assertion about Soviet intentions
and capabilities and baseless claims that the Unites States might be imperilled by a strategic
‘gap’ as well as a ‘muscle gap’ (De Oca, 2007). Soviet phobia in tandem with US global
expansion initiatives manifested through the 1948 Marshall Plan, which was implemented to
‘counter the expanding power and influence of the Soviet Union’ (Gaddis, 1998: 37). These
and other, similar political and ideological manoeuvres cemented the foundation of the Cold
War, which in turn divided Europe and transformed everyday life in Sovietised countries.
Hungary was one such country that landed in the grind of Soviet ideology and politics mostly
due to its geographic location and agricultural significance. The post-Wold War II Soviet rule
meant an approximately forty-year political, cultural, social and economic transformation
across the country, which was only briefly interrupted by the 1956 uprising (Lendvai, 2003;
Molnar, 2007) and an attempt at economic reform in the 1960s (Zwass, 1984). While the latter
was reverted in the mid-1970s, in part due to the Oil Crisis sending the country into a downward
spiral of foreign debt, the 1956 uprising had had an impact on how the relationship between
the political regime and Hungarian society evolved. The post-1956 period, often labelled as
“goulash communism”, can be characterised by a so-called silent social contract. That is, the
Hungarian public did not openly challenge the legitimacy of the regime and, in turn, the regime
overlooked people’s efforts to improve their living standards. This ‘negative legitimacy’
(Palonen, 2012), a shift from a political legitimation to a material one (Körösényi, 1998), also
meant that from the 1970s, a second, informal economy emerged, one based on the principles
of a market economy (Kornai, 2008). This informal economy drove a considerable number of
Hungarians to become involved in small-scale private enterprises, often alongside their job in
the redistributive sector. Consequently, the double workload people began to experience
G. Molnar and T. Dóczi

resulted in limited leisure time, but generated higher household income. Moreover, the gradual
growth of the informal economy triggered the inception of consumerism especially in cities,
before the actual regime change at the end of 1980s. Despite the growing informal economy,
perceived public welfare and security, and the appeal of goulash communism, the public’s
tolerance was wearing thin even amongst the regime’s own elite by the mid-1980s (Palonen,
2012).
Simultaneously, Soviet influence over Hungary, and other Sovietised countries, began to
subside in the latter half of the 1980s, leading to the commencement of the collapse of the Iron
Curtain in 1989. Whilst there have been a range of explanations as to why Soviet communism
failed, Åslund (1999) notes that it is generally accepted that one of the key influencing factors
was the dated and rigid economic system that was incapable and/or slow to embrace new
technologies and the changing market needs. The failing of the Soviet system left its satellite
and annexed countries to experience a range of uncertainties, which each country largely began
to remedy in their own way (Åslund, 1999). However, the demise of the Soviet Union also
provided opportunities for the countries of the swiftly disappearing Eastern Communist Bloc
to become integrated in wider global (mostly Western-centred) networks (Földes & Inotai,
2001; Mátyás, 2002; Molnar, 2006). Joining those networks and ‘the political transitions of
1989–1990 established new frameworks and substantial initial reforms’ (Molnar et al.,
2011: 258). As a result, Hungary experienced extensive society-wide changes.
As the country began to eliminate Soviet influence, transferring from its one-party system to
political pluralism (Molnar, 2011), the modification did not simply involve embracing a new
direction, but also a transition out of a state socialist way of life. Kovács (2002) offers a case
study to illustrate how the small Hungarian town of Taszár experienced a conversion from
Soviet-directed to American military “occupation”. Taszár became an important military
location when an airport was built in 1952 and the Hungarian 50th Fighter Regiment moved in
the surrounding barracks. The small town then came under a form of military “occupation”,
which created multi-faceted established-outsider relations, as outlined by Elias & Scotson
(1994). The cultural, social, logistic and economic divide between the locals and military
personnel was also exacerbated by what the military presence represented to the town and
Hungarians in general at that time. Given that the high-ranking officers, although
predominantly Hungarians, were hardened in the military furnace of the Soviet Union (Kovács,
2002), it is reasonable to argue that their presence constantly reminded the locals of the Soviet
occupying forces stationing in Hungary. Thus, as long as the Red Army remained in Hungary,
the people of Taszár had to continuously negotiate their daily life in relation to the presence of
 The transformation of sport in post-communist Hungary

the army base, military personnel and Soviet occupation. The power dynamics between the
army and the locals began to change only as the Soviet grip on Hungary eased and eventually
vanished (Kovács, 2002).
Hungary was in its fifth year of post-Soviet transition when various media sound bites appeared
across the country concerning the possible presence of NATO forces in Taszár. Official
information in relation to this appeared in newspapers only at the end of November 1995, with
the first troops arriving shortly after, on 9 December (Kovács, 2002). This sudden military
takeover of Taszár’s army barracks and the town itself further exposed Hungary to the West.
What is significant in the case of Taszár is the cultural transformation of the space: what used
to be associated with Soviet-led military oppression rapidly became a site for excitement,
anticipation, opportunity and cultural exchange. Nevertheless, a sense of expectation and
prospect soon turned into disagreement and conflict. Cultural dissimilarities, language barriers
and imperialistic attitudes rapidly created a chasm between locals and outsiders. Road accidents
caused by military vehicles, workers’ rights and pay disputes and sexual harassment allegations
began to test the power dynamics between the post-Soviet local and the Western “global”.
Emerging conflicts between the people of Taszár and NATO military personnel led to multiple
political and social situations that had been unprecedented and for which the Hungarian legal
and cultural infrastructure was grossly underprepared. Nonetheless, conflicts had to be
managed and differences negotiated, and in doing so this triggered an ever-evolving power
play between the transitioning local and the dominant, invading global.
This example of Taszár’s military take-over by NATO troops and consequent socio-cultural
conflicts and their mismanagement, provide an indication regarding some of the challenges
countries in transition often face. It is not simply a new national identity and sense of self that
Hungarians were to establish as part of their (re-)Europeanisation, but to build as well as
restructure the local political, cultural and economic infrastructure to be suitably equipped to
embrace and manage the numerous challenges triggered by Hungary’s opening up to the West.
To help explore and conceptualise these and similar transformative challenges Hungary and
other countries under similar conditions in CEE faced when transitioning out of a Sovietised
era to a westernised eco-political environment, we turn our attention to some of the key aspects
of transitology as a way of understanding post-Soviet countries in transitions.

Transitology

There has been extensive research relating to post-communist transitions (Bunce, 1995;
Saxonberg & Linde, 2003). Kokushkin (2011) explains that studies focusing on post-
G. Molnar and T. Dóczi

communist consolidations have typically involved comparative case studies or holistic case
studies employing various research strategies and data sources. However, the majority of these
studies undertaken during the 1990s saw parallels drawn between Latin American, southern
European and CEE post-Soviet regime changes and, in turn, the applicability of transitology,
as outlined by Williamson (1990) in his definition of the Washington Consensus, in the form
of comparative studies. Williamson (1990) explains the Washington Consensus as the shared
consent of developed countries in relation to the nature of reforms to be introduced to the
countries of the former communist bloc. This consisted of three general areas typically
followed by post-communist countries in their efforts to join western-type state arrangements:
a liberalisation of the economy, privatisation of state-owned property and services and
institutional restructuring. Consequently, transitologists, adopting a comparative studies
paradigm as outlined by Marsh (1967), agreed on a unified approach predominately
underpinned by the areas present in the Washington Consensus, which they perceived as a way
of setting up ‘a theoretical path for post-communist countries that those countries had to follow’
(Kokushkin, 2011: 1047).
This dominant, comparative analysis-based approach to understanding CEE post-communist
transitions was challenged by scholars who either preferred an area studies perspective or
argued for the organic growth of connections between comparative and area studies. Saxonberg
& Linde (2003) explain that supporters of comparative transitology apply theoretical
conclusions drawn from southern European and Latin American examples to CEE countries
and, thus, they aim to explain post-Soviet transitions regardless of geographic variations. For
instance, Schmitter & Karl (1994) vehemently argue for the pre-eminence of comparative
analysis (and against area studies approaches) to exploring post-Soviet transitions, noting the
multiple limitations of area studies in the process. Schmitter & Karl (1994) point to the
empiricist nature of area studies as one of its major shortcomings, which depreciates its
theoretical transferability by virtue of not seeking and recognising the global and/or regional
patterns of transitions. On the other hand, Saxonberg & Linde (2003) observe that area studies
specialists argue that post-Soviet CEE transformations are unique as those countries face
transitions that are political, economic, social and in some instances geographic. For instance,
Melville (2004: 6) notes that the ‘differences [in post-communist transitions] are so great and
without precedent that the political science community faces the task of a substantial
conceptual renovation of established ideas about political changes and political development’.
In line with this observation, Bunce (1995) methodically refuted Schmitter & Karl’s (1994)
and similar comparativist accounts and the artificial divide they sought to maintain and recreate
 The transformation of sport in post-communist Hungary

between different disciplinary approaches. Instead, she argues that we must exercise caution
when considering transplanting arguments and interpretations that were developed for Latin
America as those could ignore local idiosyncrasies. In other words, we need to go beyond the
dichotomic thinking such as area studies being localised, rich in detail but atheoretical, and
comparative studies being transferable, rich in theory but limited in detail.
In light of this longitudinal debate between comparativist and areas studies scholars, it is
pertinent to briefly outline this chapter’s positionality in regard to said debate. Similar to
Melville (2004), we argue for the need to question a linear, vector-concept informed
understanding of post-Soviet transitology. This academic standpoint refers to a movement from
communist to capitalist society along a seamless line of transformation discounting the fact
that post-Soviet transitions feature multifaceted dilemmas (with the aforementioned Taszár
example and Enyedi (2003) a case in point), that are ‘grounded in local cultural and historical
processes’ (Kokushkin, 2011: 1046). To be able to unpack those key local processes, we
propose the need to further question whether transitology, in its comparativist form, or a
dominantly empirical area studies approach in separation is effective as a means through which
we may seek to explore the post-communist era of CEE countries. While this question possibly
remains a moot point for many academics, here we suggest that employing comparative
transitology or area studies in separation to explore post-communist states’ transitions is
limiting the reality-congruence of research focusing on post-Soviet transitions in CEE.
Nevertheless, we do not wish to disregard research that is either predominantly comparative or
empirical. That is, we propose to go beyond the dichotomy of this debate by proposing a
synthesis along the lines of the work of Saxonberg & Linde (2003). We argue that a synthesis-
driven approach is of importance as it is borne out of the recognition that post-Soviet CEE
countries are unique as is the nature of their transition. Despite the fact that all CEE countries
underwent what Outwaite & Ray (2005) refer to as a forced convergence, which essentially
includes eradication of central planning, privatisation and price liberalisation, such countries
exhibited idiosyncratic features. In this sense, ‘historical and cultural contexts shape each
country’s convergence in a way that is unique’ (Kokushkin, 2011: 1053). To fully appreciate
historical and cultural uniqueness and to be able to develop a reality-congruent account we
need to employ a more realistic approach for dealing with problems previously presented
(Dunning, 2005. In essence, we reject ‘rough dichotomies’ (Elias & Scotson, 1994: 241) that
work to sustain a divide between theory (transitology) and evidence (area studies) and adopt
the idea advocated by Elias in regard to scientific knowledge: to ‘develop a steadily expanding
body of theories or models and an equally expanding body of observations about specific
G. Molnar and T. Dóczi

events by means of a continuous, critical confrontation to greater and greater congruity with
each other’ (Elias & Scotson, 1994: 242). It is in this sense that we embrace Braun’s note
regarding the ‘dilemmas of transition that have not been adequately understood and that,
consequently, more scholarship can and should be done to better understand these dilemmas’
(1999: 2).
Ágh notes that ‘democratic consolidation takes place unevenly in various social subsystems…
[and] for a detailed analysis one has to identify those subsystems where consolidation begins
and to describe the sequence of subsystems driven into consolidation’ (2001: 90). We propose
that one such area or sub-system where research around post-communist dilemmas of
transitions require further scholarship is sport. Sport is an area of social life which is frequently
marginalised in mainstream social research. To address this issue, we provide a both
empirically solid as well as theoretically informed contribution to existing knowledge.
Therefore, in this chapter, one of our main aims is to build on previous academic work that has
attempted to explore and understand Hungary’s post-Soviet transition, and to add a sport-
specific dimension to that area. In the sections below, we provide a case study of the Hungarian
sporting system – a subsystem of Hungarian society – to explore its process of post-communist
transformation through asking probative questions (Braun, 1999). These focus on what the
main contemporary features of Hungarian sporting and football-related post-communist
transitions are, and what connections exist between post-communist transitions, sport
(specifically football) and politics in Hungary.

Post-Communist Hungary: same system but new regime

Although after some initial turmoil the post-communist political system slowly began to
consolidate, Hungary’s economy did not develop with the desired velocity. Financial instability
was present across many areas of the country during the 1990s (Meusburger, 2001) as the
communist regime left Hungary with obsolete economic and social conditions. According to a
survey carried out in 2000 focusing on democratic transitions, 82 per cent of the respondents
had experienced higher living standards during state-socialism than in the new democracy
(FRIDE, 2002; Molnar, 2011). Hungary did not fare much better in the decade that followed,
as that period saw the country embroiled in a governmental crisis, exacerbated by the economic
crisis commencing in 2008. The distrust in the ruling left-wing government was so
overwhelming that the 2010 general elections brought a landslide victory for FIDESZ, which
the party named as a ‘revolution at the polls’ (Palonen, 2012: 931). FIDESZ (Fiatal
Demokraták Szövetsége [Alliance of Young Democrats]) originally served as an energetic
 The transformation of sport in post-communist Hungary

liberal party that played a significant part in Hungary’s early post-soviet political transition,
but turned conservative in the mid-1990s, and recently shifted its political views towards right-
wing populism. This victory gave a mandate for large-scale transformations with a two-thirds
majority for coalition parties, sufficiently significant for constitutional changes. The new
constitution changed the official name of the country from Hungarian Republic to Hungary,
revealing an inclination to create a borderless nation of Hungarians, aiming for the inclusion
of Hungarian minorities living in neighbouring countries (Palonen, 2012). In sporting contexts
some of these minorities have been marginalised in relation to involvement in international
competition. As a consequence, ConIFA (the Confederation of Independent Football
Associations) organise events for such entities, with members from Karpatalya and Délvidék
representing Hungarian minorities living in Ukraine and Serbia respectively (Rookwood,
2019). Joel Rookwood’s chapter on Georgia and his case study on ConIFA later in this book
further illuminates this context.
Similar radical reforms were initiated in some other areas, showing an intention to centralise
and thereby control certain strategic sectors, such as the energy industry, education and the
media. The new regime called itself the System of National Cooperation, referring to a strategy
to work together against the challenges posed by globalisation, westernisation and the ongoing
economic crisis. To ensure increasing economic independence for the country, the so-called
national bourgeoisie, that is the thin elite composed of major entrepreneurs, was seen as a key
demographic. Due to its legitimising function and the reality that success in elite sport have
been a key contributor to Hungary’s national pride (Dóczi, 2012), sport was specifically
identified as a key strategic sector within the new nation-building endeavour of the ruling
parties. This meant that sport became a unique area of cultural politics in Hungary, identified
as the hub where all Magyars living in and outside of Hungary could unite. A recent example
of reinforcing state-sport connections concerns the state funded television company launching
a channel in 2015 exclusively dedicated to broadcasting sports, covering the Olympic Games,
national championship matches across various sports and major international tournaments
involving the participation of Hungarian athletes.
In addition, with an aim to create new venues for the postmodern, middle-class sport consumer
and to increase game attendances, a number of football grounds have been reconstructed using
public funds, in some cases leading to accusations of biased funding allocations (Ligeti &
Mucsi, 2016; Goldblatt & Nolan, 2018). Other sport facilities have also been constructed and
renovated, which coincides with the country’s recently developed intention to host
international sports mega events, such as World Aquatics Championships, World
G. Molnar and T. Dóczi

Championships in Athletics, and a Summer Olympic Games. Budapest bid for the 2024
Olympics, but subsequently withdrew. In football Hungary made three consecutive
unsuccessful bids to host UEFA’s European Championships (in 2004, 2008 and 2012), before
being awarded the opportunity to host four matches in the cross-country 2020 edition. Such
engagements reflect a policy of increasing state influence on and interference with sport,
especially football, the extent of which has captured international attention (Goldblatt & Nolan,
2018).

The transitioning Hungarian sport system

It has been a particular challenge for sociologists of sport in CEE to identify and critically
analyse the intended and unintended consequences of the political and economic transitions of
sport (Földesi, 2015). Hungarian sporting life and Hungary itself had to be recreated to survive
post-communist conditions and to preserve long established national traditions (Crampton,
2004). This constant struggle of residual and emerging socio-political practices and conditions
created new and unpredicted social and footballing circumstances. According to Földesi
(2009), the transformation of sport lagged behind other social subsystems. Due to the
institutional legacy of the Soviet era, and the narrowing of financial resources, civil sport
organisations could not become truly autonomous in the post-transformational years in
Hungary. They could be identified as semiautonomous, with varying degrees of state
intervention.
Due to (re)emerging state involvement, the dimension of institutional restructuring in sport
took an interesting path. In the first six years following state-socialism, there were a few
changes in the supervisory authority and in the upper management of elite sport, but the
organisational structure and the middle management remained the same. The emphasis on
continuity might have saved sport from deeper crises in the short term, but the lack of more
radical reforms in both managerial behaviour and structures certainly hindered sport from
significant transformation in the long term. The period following this initial six “silent” years
can be characterised by continuous structural and legal alterations, which did not however
imply a shift in the attitudes of successive governments and sport leaders regarding their view
that sport should be supported by the state (Földesi, 2009).
Given the general reliance on public resources, the distribution of such funds between various
fields of sport became a central issue, especially because those resources became increasingly
scarce. Competition for public capital intensified and resulted in a sense of diminishing
solidarity within the field, producing fissures between various sports (football being a special
 The transformation of sport in post-communist Hungary

case) and between elite and all other levels of sport, determined by the unequal distribution of
lobbying power and social capital (Dóczi, 2012; Földesi, 2009). Similarly, owing to their social
capital many politicians became presidents of sport clubs or national federations, and spent
public money on those areas as a private investor would (Bakonyi, 2004).
Tendencies around the unequal distribution of public funds became more evident after the 2010
shift in power, along with the identification of sport as a strategic sector. This brought about a
considerable growth and restructuring of financial support for sport, especially for sports with
the most national relevance and history (namely the so-called spectator team sports: football,
handball, basketball, ice hockey, water polo and volleyball) and the 16 most prolific Olympic
sports: swimming, wrestling, kayak-canoe, athletics, modern pentathlon, fencing, artistic
gymnastics, boxing, judo, skating, tennis, cycling, rowing, shooting, table tennis and karate.
This was to help maximise the opportunities for national sporting success in Hungary. Owing
to the influx of money in elite sport since 2010, sports migration patterns show that Hungary
has become a host country in a number of sports within the region, including: handball, water
polo, volleyball and football, with relatively high salaries perhaps serving as one of the main
pull factors.
Nevertheless, the scarcity of resources in all other sports and levels of sport has remained an
issue. Today several examples indicate that in the distribution of public funds, political
connections hold priority over what might be termed “professional criteria”. Some sports
federations with presidents from the ruling party, such as wrestling, skating and handball, have
all been strongly supported, receiving public funds in the past few years that are incomparable
with previous eras.

Re-centralised football in Hungary

In the first two decades of the communist era, as sport was serving an important source of
legitimacy for the regime, football acquired special political status connected to its vast
popularity (Molnar et al., 2011). The social meanings and identities of various clubs were
Sovietised and became associated with certain ministries or industries (Hadas & Karády, 1995).
Each football team went through fundamental alterations in its management and became
subordinated to various, high-ranking communist leaders. The success of the national team was
high priority as the communist regime used football and key football teams to promote what
was perceived as the appropriate ideological functioning of sport across the country (Molnar
et al., 2011). From the 1970s onwards however, the strong connection between football and
G. Molnar and T. Dóczi

politics started to deteriorate in Hungary, which was also manifested by a decline in

international footballing success.
The distance between football and politics remained during the initial years of the post-
communist era and the sport therefore remained largely untroubled (yet also unfinanced) by
the political elite. The legal foundations of a market-based, Europeanised football were laid in
Hungary, but the full integration of these new conditions remained incomplete and football
clubs were without sustainable financing. Although the private sector began to slowly gain
momentum in the late 1990s and so did their willingness to sponsor sport, private investments
achieved only sporadic and limited success and club finances remained weak (Molnar et al.,
2011). However, with the shift of political power in 2010, and the consequent identification of
sport as a key strategic sector, sport, and especially football, was granted a privileged status
and unprecedented state support. This is not independent of the fact that the current Prime
Minister of Hungary, Viktor Orbán, is an ardent football fan whose desire to restore the glory
days of the 1950s has been publicised (Goldblatt & Nolan, 2018). He appraises football
conditions and results on a regular basis in the mass media and perceives Hungarians to be a
“football-smart” nation. The 2016 qualification for the European Championship meant an end
to a 30-year drought of major international football success, which was extensively celebrated
by Hungarian football fans, echoed by supportive voices from the government. However, due
to the extensive political presence of the government in football, opposing feelings have also
surfaced.
The influx of money into grassroots football due to the aforementioned corporate tax incentive
scheme (https://tao-tamogatas.hu) resulted in the steady growth of registered players, and better
conditions for young players in terms of equipment and training (Magyar Labdarúgó
Szövetség, 2018). However, the unequal distribution of these funds meant that some privileged
clubs could spend more and even transfer funds to cover their professional football related
expenditures, leading to increasing salaries and the recruitment of a high number of expensive
foreign players. The principal winner of this scheme is Puskás Akadémia, a football academy
founded by the Prime Minister in his home village and named after the renowned Ferenc Puskás
– the famed footballer who encapsulated the talented Hungarian national team of the 1950s, a
three-time European champion with Real Madrid who won ten domestic league titles as a
player between 1950 and 1965. This team has grown into a first division team and has received
more support from the redistributed income tax allowances than all the other first division clubs
combined (Ligeti & Mucsi, 2016; Goldblatt & Nolan, 2018). Harris (2017) observes that Viktor
Orbán’s politics and his close connections to football have also been noted abroad.
 The transformation of sport in post-communist Hungary

Another interesting trend in the post-2010 era is the substantial state support of football
academies, not only in the country, but also across the border where Hungarian minorities live
in neighbouring countries including Slovakia, Ukraine, Romania, Serbia, Croatia and Slovenia
(Nemzeti Sport, 2018). Modern-day Hungary shares borders with seven European countries,
with patterns of migration influencing national narratives and sporting identities, creating a
complex web of relationships. Such sporting engagements demonstrate a clear intention to
increase the pool of national talent and symbolically unite Hungarians across national borders
through football. This reinforces our previous observation about the current government’s
change to the official name of the country and football’s role in their nation-building efforts,
which we identified as the platform through which all Magyars living in and outside of Hungary
can unite. It should be noted however, that it is not guaranteed that the players developed in
those academies would eventually choose to represent the Hungarian national team if given the
opportunity. It has already been observed that some of the talent developed in state funded
football academies outside of Hungary have joined the youth teams of the country in which the
academy operates. In this sense, the nation-unifying effectiveness of such academies remains
to be seen.
Some experts and club leaders claim that a downside of indirect state support from income tax
allowances is that regular, market-based sponsorship has withered (Váczi et al., 2017), and
even if present, much of it comes from state-owned companies. In addition, it also has to be
mentioned that the national television company purchased the broadcasting rights for the entire
first division football for a sum that could not have been afforded by any of the commercial
sports TV channels previously covering the league’s games. This is in opposition to the system
seen in many countries, such as the Premier League in England, where private broadcasting
companies outbid nationalised entities, with elite clubs eventually becoming extremely wealthy
as a result of a succession of lucrative broadcasting contracts (Rookwood & Hughson, 2017).
In Hungary, the relatively high income from broadcasting means that ticket revenues are
negligible and the financial stability of clubs does not depend on them either. Therefore, in
addition to the direct state support and the indirect forms through the corporate tax incentive
scheme, it is the money paid by the national television broadcasters which supports the first
division financially.
The majority of Hungarian football clubs operate as limited or, in some cases, public limited
companies. Most clubs are the private property of wealthy Hungarian entrepreneurs (or of a
small group of shareholders), and in a number of cases the presidents come directly from the
ruling party (FIDESZ). In some instances, in addition to private ownership, local governments
G. Molnar and T. Dóczi

also assume shareholder responsibilities, and in general allow for the use of the local football
ground free of charge, or in the case of newly built stadia, contribute to maintenance costs
(qubit.hu, 2017). In essence, the presence of governmental support and influence, in some
shape or form, can be found in every aspect of Hungarian football.
At the beginning of the 2010s, we argued that the active participation of the public sector
seemed to be necessary to keep football clubs afloat financially (Molnar et al., 2011), but the
aforementioned post-2010 development of Hungary’s market conditions was unforeseen at that
time. We could not predict the extent to which the post-2010 Hungarian government would re-
insert their presence within sport, especially in football, and re-evaluate their significance in
relation to nation-building. Nevertheless, the current system is not a carbon copy of the type of
nationalisation of football as it had been executed in the 1950s, but rather a hybrid version of
it, showing marks of oligarchisation, similar to post-1990 Russia or segments of the Latin
American region, and taking place in a Westernised global setting. In this sense, we can
interpret the efforts of the government as a reaction to some of the forces of globalisation by
attempting to (re)create a post-communist Hungarian national identity that is pieced together
from Western, Hungarian and Sovietised cultural practices. The interaction between the
Western global and the local often lead to the pluralisation of societies and to the emergence
of mixed/hybrid cultural practices (Maguire & Tuck, 1998). Pieterse defines hybridisation as
‘the way in which forms become separated from existing practices and recombine with new
forms on new practices’ (1995: 49). Hybrid formations constituted by the interpretations of
diverse practices manifest themselves in hybrid sites and spaces. Hybridisation and the mélange
of diverse modes of organisation give rise to pluralisation of forms of co-operation and
competition as well as to novel mixed forms (Pieterse, 1995). In the case of Hungary, we can
observe the emergence of a novel, mixed form of managing sports, which incorporates a range
of different cultural practices to reinvent a post-communist Western Hungary. This involves an
intent to portray itself as a “football-smart” nation with a reach beyond its geographic borders,
in order to unite all Hungarians via a sporting vehicle. In doing so, there have been political
attempts to recreate and reinforce a national identity that has been continuously oppressed and
challenged in the twentieth century (Várdy & Várdy, 1989; Csepeli, 1997) and beyond.

Conclusion

In this chapter we examined the significance of engaging with research around post-communist
countries and their continuing transitions. We also explored ideas around transitology, and
discussed the extent to which it might still prove useful to adopt this approach in relation to
 The transformation of sport in post-communist Hungary

CEE countries. Specifically, we provided a brief overview of the longitudinal debate between
comparativist and areas studies scholars with the conclusion that a synthesised approach might
be the most beneficial in that it would provide a solid empirical base, on which an appropriate
theoretical framework could be built. We proposed to adopt such an approach here to examine
the complex contemporary relationships between post-communist transitions, sport
(specifically football) and politics in Hungary. We argue that a synthesised, transitology-
informed approach is particularly useful given that amidst the re-building and restructuring of
local political, cultural and economic infrastructure to address the challenges posed by the
transition from Sovietisation to Westernisation and Europeanisation, a new identity and self-
image were also emerging. To explore some of these challenges we looked at the football’s
transformative journey in Hungary.
Throughout the twentieth century, sport has been a consistent source of national pride amongst
Hungarians. As a result, across the different political eras elite sport has been able to retain its
privileged status, although in different ways (Dóczi, 2012). The most recent shift in power in
2010 and the establishment of the System of National Cooperation by the ruling political party
(FIDESZ) has brought about a very unique constellation of conditions in Hungarian sport,
identified as a strategic sector both in terms of economic and nation-building endeavours. In
regard to the three main dimensions of CEE transition as identified in the Washington
Consensus, the processes could be considered contradictory. Institutional restructuring did
occur, but initial market liberalisation turned back and privatisation bears some of the features
of oligarchisation. Therefore, the sport sphere in Hungary now shows the characteristics of a
unique sub-system with special mechanisms and values. Current sport leaders, having been
socialised in a privileged elite sports system of state socialism, continue to expect state support
and maintain a discourse of success in exchange (Dóczi & Gál, 2016). However, the lack of
transparency when it comes to the support of various sports and clubs remains a cause for
concern, which also influences the social perception of sport, and football in particular, and
their relation to politics and key politicians. The extensive central, governmental presence in
football and its financing is a feature of Hungary’s communist past, but it is mixed with, and
often conflicted by, Western ideas, values and processes. In this melange of cultural practices,
we can identify Hungary as a post-communist CEE country that makes significant efforts to
reinvent its national identity and to perpetuate its self-generated global image of an outstanding
sport and “football-smart” nation.
G. Molnar and T. Dóczi

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