His football project added a new historical layer to Hungary, where communist-era tower blocks, grand Austro-Hungarian buildings and Ottoman baths betray a turbulent past.
If the Pancho Arena is closest to his heart, the National Stadium in Budapest is the biggest example of his and the government’s embrace of football.
Similar in size and design to Bayern Munich’s Allianz Arena, but built at three times the cost, it stands on the former site of the historic Napstadion.
In an otherwise unremarkable 1-0 friendly win over Estonia there in March 2023, the most dramatic moment came as a single, repetitive phrase over the public address system.
The stadium announcer chanted: “Down with Trianon, down with Trianon.”
The Treaty of Trianon was a treaty which reduced Hungary by two-thirds in size in 1920.
Millions of ethnic Hungarians still live within pre-Trianon Greater Hungary – the old imperial territory that existed before the defeat of Austria-Hungary in World War I.
The stadium announcer was just following Orbán’s lead. Four months ago, the Prime Minister posted a video congratulating winger Balazs Dzisudzsak on his retirement from international duty.
Around Orbán’s neck was a scarf with a picture of Greater Hungary.
Ukraine, invaded by Russia earlier that year, summoned Hungary’s ambassador to explain another apparent claim to its territory. Romania, which annexed Transylvania in 1920 and is still home to 1.2 million ethnic Hungarians, expressed “strong disapproval” of Orbán’s gesture.
For many Hungary fans, though, it tapped into a deep sense of historical injustice.
As the public address system decried the loss of former Hungarian territories, bordering Ukraine where some 200,000 ethnic Hungarians live due to war, there was no apparent surprise in the crowd, so the lines between football and provocative nationalist politics became blurred. Orban’s Hungary.
“The essence of football is like the essence of politics,” said Orban, who has been the European Union’s most prominent pro-Russian voice.
“Because the question is not where the ball is now – everyone can see where the ball is now – but the question is where the ball will be…
“If you understand what’s going to happen before others, you can react first and you can win.”
