You Must Play for a Lifetime
Haszkovó: The Daily Life of a Small-League Soccer Team
Haskovo is the seventh-largest city in Bulgaria, the regional center of Northern Thrace, with a population of over 63,000. It is the sister city of Dunavarsány. The Haszkovó housing estate in Veszprém also bears this name. And there is also a youth soccer team made up of boys who grew up in the housing estate, who are now adults, have followed different paths in life, but are united by sports, soccer, and Haszkovó.
Szabolcs Szalai, one of the “frontmen” of the Haszkovó team. In his view, Haszkovó is a way of life. The squad includes former NB I and NB II soccer players, but the majority are from Haszkovó.
“Before the grass field, there used to be an asphalt field here. We grew up on this track,” he says, gesturing around. Back then, the swimming pool was still in operation, and we used to climb over the fence here. That’s why we had to fight for this field every day. We had to claim it. Needless to say, we played soccer here every single day, so one way or another, we snatched it up,”
– he says.
Meanwhile, soccer forged lifelong friendships that remain active today. Together, they celebrate each other’s successes, the birth of a child, the founding of a business, landing a new job—anything. And if there’s trouble, they rush to help each other immediately. If a fundraiser is needed, they leave no one behind.
They couldn’t leave their childhood love of soccer behind, so in 1999 they decided to found the Haszkovó small-field soccer team, which remains one of the leading teams in the Veszprém small-field league today. The core team remains the same today, supplemented by a friend or two. Another point is that among them are former NB I and NB II players—for example, József Gersics, András Foki, and Gábor Boromisza. One such example is former youth national team player Bence Iszlai, who was a member of the Hungarian national team that won the bronze medal at the 2008 U19 European Championship. Bence, who has played in more than 200 top-flight matches, also says that this is a true group of friends.
“I can confidently say that everyone here can count on each other to the very end—both on the track and in their personal lives.”
Several members of the club are so dedicated that they’ve even had the word “Haszkovó” embroidered on their shirts. Szabolcs Szalai, for example, uses a short “o” so that his name stands out a little from the others.
A few years ago, they also established contact with the Bulgarian city of Haskovo. They invited their soccer team here, and the team accepted the invitation. We showed them the city, Haszkovó in Veszprém, and of course, a soccer match was a must. The Bulgarians reciprocated the invitation, so our team also paid a visit to the settlement located on the Greek-Turkish border. We do not yet know whether this relationship will continue.
I learn from Károly Szalai, the team’s founder, that at one time nearly 140 teams competed in the Veszprém small-field soccer league, but today there are significantly fewer. Back then, they joined this league too, but now they play among the 35+ age group. They won the championship last year, so now everyone wants to beat them. So far, without much success, as they have suffered only a single loss in an exceptionally tight race for points.
They have had some notable successes in previous years as well. In the Champions Tournament, the teams that won their divisions are eligible to participate every year. Haszkovó has won this trophy once and has made it to the podium on several other occasions. They consider this their greatest success, even though they have competed in several regional tournaments and performed well in those as well.
One of the goals of the Region of Sport Veszprém is to motivate people and encourage them to engage in daily physical activity. However, is there a need for better motivation than what the members of this group—who have been playing soccer together since childhood—are saying?
“Sports have an incredible power to bring people together. You can go far through sports alone. But the friendships and human connections we owe to sports will stay with us for the rest of our lives,”
– emphasizes Bence Iszlai.
“As long as we can, we’ll keep playing sports. That’s never going to be an issue,”
— adds Szabolcs Szalai.
Author: Rita Bényi-Virág
The team members TikTok video as well.