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🇭🇺 Hungary /Sports

Ballon d’Or winner once drove AEK’s Hungarian player to training, now fans chant Varga’s name like Esterházy’s

From Magyar Nemzet · () Hungarian

Translated from Hungarian and summarized by DistantNews. Read the original for the full story.

At a glance

In-depth Named sources Context piece
  • A Magyar Nemzet feature revisits the Hungarian players who represented AEK Athens during its rise, collapse and revival.
  • Krisztián Németh described the club’s financial decline, while Dániel Tőzsér recalled being driven to training by Rivaldo.
  • AEK supporters bought 12,855 season tickets after the club dropped to Greece’s third tier, helping establish the foundation for its recovery.

Rivaldo once drove Dániel Tőzsér to AEK Athens training. Today, the club’s supporters chant Barnabás Varga’s name, continuing a Hungarian connection that stretches from the club’s stronger years through its collapse and revival.

Tőzsér played 57 matches for AEK during one of its successful periods. He recalled that he and Rivaldo lived almost next door to each other. They did not speak the same language, but got along well, and the Brazilian often gave him a lift to training. Rivaldo also cared deeply about AEK’s fate, having arrived from Olympiakos after an unhappy departure.

Although we did not speak the same language, we got along well, and he often drove me to training.

· Dániel TőzsérHe recalled his relationship with Rivaldo during their time at AEK Athens.

Krisztián Németh joined AEK on loan from Liverpool in 2009. He began brightly, providing an assist on his debut and scoring twice in his first four league matches. He then went to the Under-20 World Cup in Egypt, where he led Hungary’s bronze-medal team, before an injury kept him out for three months.

Despite the injury, it was one of the beautiful periods of my career.

· Krisztián NémethHe described his 2009 loan spell at AEK despite missing three months through injury.

“Despite the injury, it was one of the beautiful periods of my career,” Németh told Magyar Nemzet. He said he wanted to stay and that AEK also wanted to keep him, but the club could not afford to buy him from Liverpool. The decline had begun, and players’ wages started arriving late.

Three years later, AEK’s fall could no longer be stopped. The club restarted in the third division, where it sold 12,855 season tickets in autumn 2013, more than any Greek top-flight club, including then-champion and Champions League participant Olympiakos. Supporters rallied around the club, laying the foundation on which new leader Dimitris Melissanidis could build. AEK went through the third division with 23 victories and returned to the top flight two years later. Its current Hungarian representatives are Varga and Milán Vitális, who joined a club now back in the Champions League.

I wanted to stay, I felt good at AEK, and the club also wanted to keep me.

· Krisztián NémethHe explained why he hoped to remain in Athens before AEK’s financial problems prevented a transfer.
About this summary

Originally published by Magyar Nemzet in Hungarian. Translated, summarized, and contextualized automatically by DistantNews, with a note on how the source frames the story. Not individually reviewed before publishing. How this works.

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