Soccer fan Orbán’s election loss could prompt rethink of Hungary’s sports ambitions

BUDAPEST: One of the biggest soccer fans in global politics, Viktor Orbán, has been sidelined from his big game.
The right-wing populist leader and Trump ally’s heavy defeat in the Hungarian elections means incoming Prime Minister Péter Magyar will be the one in charge when the Champions League final comes to Budapest next month.
That’s a political shift in Europe and raises questions about Orbán’s ambitions for Hungary to stage world sports’ biggest events like top soccer finals, major track championships and a potential Olympic bid.
Under Orbán, a former soccer player and regular in the VIP boxes at World Cup and Champions League finals, Hungary boasts costly new stadiums including Budapest’s Puskás Aréna, which will host the biggest game in European club soccer on May 30.
“That was supposed to be the icing on the cake for Orbán and his regime. He’s been working very hard to get that final to Budapest and to Hungary,” said Győző Molnár, professor of sociology of sport and exercise at the University of Worcester.
If Magyar attends the Champions League final, that will “signal a firm regime change,” Molnár said.
Now there will likely be changes, and sports organizations will need to forge ties with a new government.
Magyar has denied opponents’ claims he’ll cut funding for sports.

Still, his Tisza party’s election platform signaled a shift in emphasis. It criticized the use of public money to build “overpriced” stadiums and run prestige projects while “school and local sports activities have withered away.”
European soccer body UEFA didn’t comment when asked if it would invite both Orban and Magyar to the game.