Ferencvárosi Torna Club (FTC), perhaps better known as Ferencváros, nicknamed as Fradi, is one of the most popular Hungarian sports clubs, founded in 1899. Their stadium is situated in Ferencváros (hence the name), District IX of Budapest. Their colours are green and white.
The biggest part of the club is the football team, the fans call them Zöld Sasok (Green Eagles).
This team is well-known, by Hungarians. Their arch rival is Újpest, although they have lots of other rivals: Debrecen, MTK, Kispest Honvéd, Ajax Amsterdam (Holland), Vasas SC and they're not in friendship with Millwall either.
The Team has a magazine named 100% Fradi, which is populary read by the fans of the Green Eagles.
FTC also has a women's handball club, a men's ice hockey club, a men`s water polo club, and a men's cycling club. In all, FTC football team is the top club.
Football
The FTC is the only Hungarian football team that has participated in all the first division championships since the start of Hungarian Football Championships in 1901.
Ferencváros was the first - and till this day the only - Hungarian team to qualify for the UEFA Champions League group phase in 1995 by beating Anderlecht in the qualifying matches.
Around the 1990s, the club had problems with its unruly fans expressing nationalistic and anti-Semitic sentiments.
In July of 2006, the clubs was removed from the Borsodi Liga as punishment for its continued financial troubles. [1] It marks the first time the club has ever been relegated from the top division.
Ferencváros Scandals
At present Ferencváros is going through a moral crisis, which has brought on a financial crisis as well. The team has lost its marketing value due to the continuous scandals surrounding it.
* On 25 July 2001, before the Ferencváros versus Hajduk Split Champions League qualifier, a group of Ferencváros fans attacked a group of Hajduk supporters drinking peacefully in a pub. One Hajduk fan was stabbed.
* On 30 May 2003 Ferencváros played its last match of the season. Their opponents were Debreceni VSC. The Ferencváros supporters took the champions title for granted, but after a very poor performance, their hopes were shattered. When the match was over, the fans ran onto the pitch and beat up the Debrecen players. One of the fans "jump-kicked" the coach of Debrecen in the kidneys. Some of the Ferencváros players were also injured in the incident.
* On 30 September 2004 before the UEFA Cup match against Millwall, Ferencváros supporters attacked the Millwall fans. The two groups fought in downtown Budapest on the Vörösmarty tér. During the brutal fight, one Ferencváros fan used a knife to stab two Millwall fans. Large hunting knives were on open sale outside of the ground, in full view of the police, who took no action to prevent their sale to Ferencvaros fans. The police afforded the Millwall fans no protection whatsoever. They were left to protect themselves, which they did, although heavily outnumbered. Inside the ground, Millwall's black players were subjected to racist abuse and "monkey chanting" for the duration of the entire match. The then, Millwall chairman, Theo Paphitis was at the match and was himself spat on and threatened. A furious Paphitis flew the injured Millwall fans home to London at his own expense. UEFA threatened to ban Ferencváros from ever playing in the competition again, but backed down and only imposed a fine. Millwall were completely exonerated.[2][3]
* On 11 May 2005 in the final of the Hungarian Cup against Sopron, the Ferencváros players became so aggressive that three of the players received red cards. If a fourth red card had been issued the match would have been over. The Ferencváros captain Péter Lipcsei began to run amok with the consent of the coach Csaba László, who was shouting; "Break his leg!" from the bench. After losing the match the Ferencváros players and their coach showed their contempt by ignoring the medal ceremony.
Honours
*
Hungarian League
o Winners (28)¹: 1903, 1905, 1907, 1909, 1910, 1911, 1912, 1913, 1926, 1927, 1928, 1932, 1934, 1938, 1940, 1941, 1949, 1963, 1964, 1967, 1968, 1976, 1981, 1992, 1995, 1996, 2001, 2004
*
Hungarian Cup
o Winners (28)¹: 1913, 1922, 1927, 1928, 1933, 1935, 1942, 1943, 1944, 1958, 1972, 1974, 1976, 1978, 1991, 1993, 1994, 1995, 2003, 2004.
*
Mitropa Cup
o 1928, 1937
*
Inter-Cities Fairs Cup
o 1965 1-0 vs. Juventus F.C.