eSports: What do Ferenc Puskás, István Hajdú B. and FTC have in common?

The first game, named FIFA International Soccer immediately gave the Hungarian national team a place in 1993 – at least at first sight... Victor Slasic, Ben Poloshov, Mohamed Vrasich – if the names do not seem familiar, the error is not in our readers, because instead of Zoltán Végh, Lajos Détári, or Péter Lipcsei, the creators put players with fictitious names in each team. In the third edition of FIFA 96, players with their real names appeared, including the first Hungarians – Béla Illés and Tibor Simon. Then, in FIFA 99, the developers also made the lovers of Hungarian club football happy: the formerly known Professional Hungarian League top flight's defending champion Újpest and the previous year's cup-winning MTK were also added to the game.

HUNGARY-POLAND MATCH IN THE FIRST EDITION OF FIFA

The Hungarian teams did not remain as part of the series for long. In FIFA 2000, the blue and whites were no longer included, and although many fans were temporarily compensated by the fact that the legendary Golden Team was added in the release, a year later, it was not possible to find Ferenc Puskás and the purple and whites in the team selection either.

“Make the first shot, score to the goal's top!” – the next new Hungarian feature came in FIFA 07: versions of the game made for the most popular devices at the time were also released in Hungarian. From then on, the matches were accompanied by commentators István Hajdú B. and Richard Faragó, whose prerecorded phrases became legendary among video game players. Starting with FIFA 09, the manufacturer made an important gesture to the Hungarian FIFA players: on the DVD cover of the games available in Hungarian stores, beside Ronaldinho, Wayne Rooney, Kaká, and then Lionel Messi, Balázs Dzsudzsák also got a place.

HUNGARY-GERMANY MATCH IN FIFA 07 WITH HUNGARIAN COMMENTARY

The Hungarian edition stopped from FIFA 15, and EA, which owns the game, outsourced production from Canada to Romania in 2016. After a few years, the developers there were able to create their homeland's championship in the ‘20 edition, so the Hungarian-related team Sepsi OSK was added to the game again. With FIFA 21, the creators have once again warmed Hungarian hearts, as the legend of the Golden Team, Ferenc Puskás, has been added to the game's icons. He is among legendary footballers such as Eusébio, Johan Cruyff, and Pelé.

In the recently released version, FIFA 22, in addition to being possible to play with Puskás again, there are other new Hungarian features. The players of the national team have worn really similar but fictitious jerseys; however, fans can now score goals withDominik Szoboszlaiand others in their real uniform. The other big step forward is that a Hungarian club team has been brought back into the game: Ferencváros, which is in the group stage of the international cup series for the third time in a row during the current season, can also be controlled.

For now, FTC's players can only clash with club teams from other countries, but hopefully one day the creators will see the entire Hungarian League (NB I) suitable for the game. Although there are stronger leagues than the Hungarian one, and it is not ours to play with the best players, raising our topflight to the game would draw attention to the Hungarian footballers – both internationally and among the video game players of Hungary.