BOTH A LIGA & B LIGA TITLE RACES HOT UP AS THE XMAS BREAK APPROACHES

As the colder weather and darker nights hit Budapest, the Autumn season comes to a close and leaves the bookmakers scratching their heads knowing who will be the 2009/2010 Champions in either league. The A Liga is as close as can be with 3 teams seperated by only 2 points. At the start of the season, many people were putting the smart money on a straight forward fight between Budapest Vikings and Budapest Celtic, but the sheer consistency of recently promoted Szigeti Source has given the title race another dimension. The fluid passing game of Budapest Celtic and the strength and speed of Budapest Vikings has been joined by a further style in the top flight this Autumn. Szigeti Source have added sheer grit and determination, but this isn't to say they can't mix it up with some lovely flowing football as well when needed.

All three teams have had one defeat this season and none have benefited from gaining a full 6 points from their title rivals, Celtic losing out to Vikings, Szigeti recently losing to Celtic, whilst Szigeti and Vikings fought out a hard earned point when facing each other. This shows how important the games against each other will be come the Spring. The A Liga is not only about three teams. Newly named NYP Shamrocks have been a thorn in the side of two of the title rivals and will have a major say in which direction the title will head come June. They could well be holding the trophy aloft themselves if they can pick up victories against the top 3. This season they have held both the Vikings and Szigeti whilst narrowly being edged out by Celtic 1-2 two weeks ago.

Dinamo Torpedo are also a team to watch out for. No-one needs reminding of the strong finish they had last season which saw them grab fourth spot. This season they have already gained the scalp of Budapest Vikings and held current champions Budapest Celtic to a 2-2 draw in the opening match of the season.

Last year's third placed Ratio Homini have been very unfortunate this year after losing players to both injuries and leaving the country, and will be hoping that the Spring season brings them better fortune. Hellas Cyprus have not hit the heights that everyone knows they can this year. They did exceptionally well to win the B Liga last season and were expected to do well in the top flight, but for one reason or another things just haven't quite clicked, but expect things to change in two months time. As for Manager Utd, they really need to find a little more consistency. The small squad they have is a very good set up when everyone is available, but when they miss a couple of key players it is noticeable. Like all the teams in Football Budapest though, when on their day, they are a match for anyone.

The only A Liga game played this weekend was played at Vasas on Saturday where Budapest Vikings enjoyed a 6-2 victory over Manager Utd. There was a brace each for Runar Aune and Lars Erik Heggen whilst Dan Robin Wilsgård and Tore Kolbeinsen scored one each.

Unfortunately not even Football Budapest could avoid the impact of the current global financial crisis, but it's the B Liga which has suffered. Drop-outs at the start of the season from AGS Paprikas and Vezer F.C. looked as though they would have been nulled by the new entrants, Budapest Celtic II and Budapest Celtic III who were also joined by the African Stars, but after only 3 weeks, the African based team also dropped out and left the B Liga with only 5 teams.

Thankfully though the 5 teams that remain have provided some great quality football and hard fought matches leaving the league nicely balanced at the halfway stage of the season, albeit some teams playing a few games less. BIS Old Boys have been a team rejuvenated this season. After only one defeat, which was against their main rivals Budapest Celtic II, they lead the table by 7 points, although it could have been less after Celtic II's victory over African Stars was scrubbed out. Old Boys are worthy leaders though after scoring the most and conceding the least (only 5 in 6 games) and winning 5 of their 6 matches played. Celtic II need to gain the championship style form of their title rivals if they want to win the league at the first time of asking. Despite being the only unbeaten team in either league, Celtic II have dropped points against teams below them, a recent example of this was in the 3-3 draw with Zöld Borzak, where the latter valiantly fought from 0-3 down to snatch their first point of the season.

Akadémia Orczy have also had a strong start to the Autumn season which sees them lie in joint second place with 8 points. A very hard working team, Orczy have started to gel very well as a unit and cause every team they play a lot of problems as proved in a 1-1 draw with Budapest Celtic II.

Budapest Celtic III are a team that seems to not have bonded together as yet, but there are certainly traces that they will be a force once they do. They have one of the most cosmopolitan teams in either league and have a lot of talent to pick from, yet they are a new side and will look forward to the second half of the season in the Spring with relish.

As for Zöld Borzak, they have been very unfortunate in not having as many points on the board as their team's play has deserved. This is partly down to the fact that by the time they played their first match, most of their rivals had played two or three. This was due to teams dropping out and unplayable pitches.

Signs of a recovery are there for Borzak as they showed in the comeback of the season so far against Celtic II and in a spirited display in the Duncan Shiels Vándorkupa Quarter-Finals against the holders Budapest Celtic on Saturday at the Vasas Sports Centre. Despite eventually losing by six goals to two, Borzak were level at 1-1 and trailing only 3-2 before eventually succumbing to the top flight side. Various players in the Celtic ranks were very surprised that Borzak had only picked up a solitary point this season, so more is expected from them in the Spring.

Jaspar Zebner bagged a hat-trick for Celtic and further goals came from Neil Evans and Chris Dobson and an own goal. 

LEAGUE RETAINS TWO DIVISION FORMAT FOLLOWING REVOTE, FURTHER MEETING TO BE HELD

The 2009/2010 FootballBudapest league meeting was held in the Caledonia on Mozsár utca last Tuesday, 22nd September. During the meeting, a revote on the league structure was held due to a number of teams rethinking their position. As such, FootballBudapest will continue with an A Liga of 8 teams and a B Liga of 6 teams for the upcoming season. A Liga teams will play each other twice, whilst B Liga teams will play each other three times each over the course of the season, which will run to June 2010. The bottom two teams will be relegated from A Liga, with the top two teams in B Liga being promoted for the 2010/2011 season.

NEW TEAMS IN B LIGA FOR 2009/2010

The league sees old-time campaigners Atletico Match (formerly called ABC Ricard- and AGS Paprikás) withdraw from the fray, along with Vezér; injuries and players leaving the Vezér squad decimated. Last season's double winners Budapest Celtic are taking the unprecedented step in Football Budapest history of entering three teams this season (Celtic, Celtic II, and Celtic III), whilst former two-times champions (in Spring 2002 and Autumn 2002) African Stars (possibly to be renamed) rejoin the league after a 6 year hiatus. There is also another new name appearing in the league, NYP Shamrocks, whom you will all be familiar with under their old name of Celtic Kaledonians.

The historic 2008/09 season finally came to a double celebratory close on Saturday for Budapest Celtic, after they clinched the Duncan Shiels Vandorkupa against a determined and very good Kaledonians side by 3 goals to 2.

After the League Champions epic victory over Vikings the week before and topping the lague table, Celtic earned themselves the favourite tag, but looking at the two sides over a period of 90 minutes it was hard to distinguish which team was which. The Kaledonians who had also been on a fine end of season run themselves to cement their A Liga status, started the game with a very high tempo, in which Celtic had to respond to make sure they never fell a goal behind. The first goal was very fortuitous for the green and white hoops, but also embedded the nature of the game that every tackle was worth chasing down for both sides. Paul Bartlett went in for a challenge with Eamon O' Flynn where the resulting ball flew into the air and bounced wildly over the head of the onrushing keeper, Paul Ensor and into the back of the net. Further chances came and went for both teams in the first half but the score was to remain 1-0.

The second half produced even more goal scoring opportunities thanks to some encouraging and lively moves combined with tired legs as the heat got the better of some players. Celtic doubled their lead after a quick throw from Chris Dobson sent Neil Evans down the laft flank and whip in a low cross for Vlad Panov to bury at the near post. If Celtic thought that they had at last got one hand on the cup they were badly mistaken as their sister club replied in quite a fashion. Fergal Strumble gave the ball away in the centre of the park and Kally broke away with pace eventually sending a through ball to Antonio Domingues who slotted cooly past Janos Barits to put the Kaledonians back in contention. It was so nearly 2-2 when a delicate lob from Domingues just narrowly missed the outside of the Celtic left post. Ensor was then thrown into action down the other end of the pitch as a long range effort from Panov was tipped onto the post and bounced on the goal line before being cleared away. Celtic did restore their two goal lead in some fashion after a quick free kick from Evans to Szilard Kardhordo, saw the latter fire a shot into the top corner from 25 metres out. Moments later with Celtic still celebrating, Julian Helble caught Domingues late in the box to allow Kally playmaker Turlough Adley make it 3-2 with 18 minutes still to play. With more injuries to both teams and players running out of steam, the game had relatively few further chances and Celtic managed to be the first team in Football Budapest to win the league and cup double.

Thanks to a great effort from both teams it was a fitting end to a season which has seen some of the highest quality football on a consistent basis in the A and B Liga's since the league formed back in 2001.

There was also action in B Liga at the weekend as Akadémia Orczy took on BIS Old Boys in an attempt to lift themselves above Zöld Borzak in the bottom half of the table. BIS, however wanted to finish their season off with a solid third place and regroup for next season.

Orczy had the better of the first half, with neither side showing much ability to convert the chances that came their way. The second half started reasonably even, but as the half tailored on Orczy began to play the better football, having several chances to take the lead. BIS started to create a number of chances of their own and it was late in the second half with 10 minutes to go that  BIS strike Viktor Kar broke through the defence scoring a simple goal. Within 5 minutes, Viktor Kar found himself in a position free in front of goal to shoot low into the corner for his second goal, killing any chance of a comeback for Orczy and sealing 3 points for BIS.