Ninth placed Újpest FC will be our guests on Saturday afternoon

On Saturday at 17:00 Újpest FC, one place above us in the table, will visit the MOL Arena Sóstó. This will be the 120th match between the two clubs in the top division. Of the 119 meetings so far, we have won 50, lost 44 and drawn 25. The goal difference is 184-170 in our favour, which is a remarkable average of three goals per game.

The current badge of our opponent on Saturday bears the year 1885, since that was the year when the Újpest Gymnastics Club was founded - where the activities of UTE were initially gymnastics, then fencing and athletics - and football was established 14 years later, in 1899. 

In 1901, the National Championship was launched in Hungary, where Újpest was placed in the second division. The club's football team was promoted to the first division in 1905, from where it was relegated at the end of the 1910/1911 championship, but they were back in the top flight a year later. Since the 1912 championship, Újpest have been in the top division continuously, becoming the Hungarian record holders.

111 years later, however, Újpest's exit from the National League is now within touching distance, as the purple and whites suffered a 5-1 defeat at Felcsút in the 24th round, which cost them the management of Milos Kruscic. The Serbian coach has been replaced by his compatriot Nebojša Vignjević, who previously coached in the Budapest 4th district for seven years and won the Hungarian Cup twice with Újpest (2014, 2018).

Vignjević's return was a good one, after the national team break, Újpest beat ZTE FC 3-2 in the last round, thanks to a hatrick from Kevin Csoboth, who also played for Vidi, and who has 5 goals in the NB I this season - the young winger has also scored against Vasas and us, and he also made his debut for the Hungarian national team in March this year. 

We have failed to win against Újpest in our last five consecutive NB I league games, losing four times and drawing one. The last time we beat the purple and whites of Budapest was in the 2020/2021 season, although we beat them three times in that season (5-1, 0-5, 4-0).

This season, Újpest have conceded the most goals so far (45) and have scored as many as us (32). The most successful player from Újpest is the aforementioned five-goal scorer Kevin Csoboth.