# Szombathelyi Haladás

Szombathelyi Haladás (Hungarian:), is a Hungarian football club based in Szombathely. Haladás is the Hungarian word for progress. The club, which was founded in 1919, plays its home games at the Haladás Sportkomplexum which has a capacity of 8,903. The club colours are green and white.
Haladás reached the Hungarian Cup final in the years 1975, 1993 and 2002. Since its first promotion in 1936 the club has spent 51 seasons in the first division of the Hungarian league, the Nemzeti Bajnokság I (NB I).

## History
### The yoyo years

Since 1919 the club have been famous for their yoyo between the Hungarian First Division and the Hungarian Second Division. The club were unable to strengthen their stay in the first league which resulted a continuous yoyo effect.

### The 2000s

In the 2001–02 season of the Hungarian Cup Haladás played in the final against Újpest. The club lost 2–1 after extra time. In January 2002 Haladás appointed Lázár Szentes as the new coach of the club. In the 2001–02 season Haladás was facing relegation problems. In August 2003 Lajos Détári resigned as coach of the club. In October 2003 former Zalaegerszeg championship-winner coach Péter Bozsik was appointed as the coach of the club. In the 2006–07 season of the Hungarian Second Division the club missed out on promotion to the first division because of an 11 points deduction for the use of ineligible players. BFC Siófok was promoted in the place of Haladás.
In the 2008 Haladás won the Hungarian Second Division which resulted the promotion of the club to the first division. In 2008 Haladás played with Arsenal a pre-season friendly match in Szombathely. The match finished 1–1.
In the 2008–09 season Haladás reached the best rank ever in the history of the team. The club won the bronze medal and got the right to start the qualification rounds in the Europa League.
In the Europa League 2009–10 season Haladás played against Irtysh Pavlodar in the first round. The first leg finished 1–0 thanks to Krisztián Kenesei's goal in the 79th minute. In the second leg the result was 2–1 to Irtysh, which meant that Haladás could play in the second round. In the second round Haladás played the Swedish club Elfsborg. In the first leg Haladás lost 3–0, while at home. During the second leg, Haladás drew with Elfsborg which caused them to be knocked out of the tournament.

### 2010s

Szombathely were eliminated from the round of 16 of the 2018–19 Magyar Kupa by Mezőkövesd SE on 0–1 aggregate.
In the 2018–19 Nemzeti Bajnokság I season Haladás finished 12th and they were relegated to the Nemzeti Bajnokság II to compete in the 2019–20 Nemzeti Bajnokság II season.

### 2020s

The 2019–20 Nemzeti Bajnokság II was abandoned due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Haladás finished the season on the 17th place thus avoiding relegation to the Nemzeti Bajnokság III.
In the 2023–24 Nemzeti Bajnokság II season, Haladás finished in the 14th position and were not relegated to the third division. However, the Hungarian Football Federation did not give a license to play in the second division.
On 16 July 2024, the Hungarian Football Federation excluded Haladás from the Nemzeti Bajnokság III and Magyar Kupa. Tibor Homlok, the representative of Haladás Marketing Kft., and Richárd Unger, the delegate of the local government, resigned. The Szombathelyi Haladás Kft did not have any football players; therefore, did not intend to apply for a license to play in the Nemzeti Bajnoksás and Magyar Kupa. The license can be transferred to Illés Akadémia or Haladás VSE.
On 19 July 2024, the Hungarian Football Federation accepted the license of Haladás. The club changed its name to Szombathelyi MÁV Haladás VSE. By the end of 2024, the club had a lot of debts and it was close to bankruptcy. Former player of Haladás, András Schäfer, donated 15 million Hungarian Forints to the club to avoid bankruptcy. Later, it was announced that Schäfer purchased shares of the club, thus becoming one of the owners of his former club.
On 4 January 2025, former Haladás player and legend, Zoltán Halmosi, (father of Péter Halmosi) passed away. He played 306 Nemzeti Bajnokság I matches and scored 19 goals for Haladás.

## Colours, badge, and nicknames

The colours of the club are green and white. This combination is very common in Hungarian League since Ferencváros, Győr, Kaposvár, Paks have the same colour combination.

### Manufacturers and shirt sponsors

The following table shows in detail Szombathelyi Haladás kit manufacturers and shirt sponsors by year:
| Period | Kit manufacturer | Shirt sponsor |
| −2008 | Legea | Strabag |
| 2008–11 | Legea | Contact Zrt. |
| 2011–12 | Legea | Contact Marketing Zrt. / Sopron Bank |
| 2012–13 | Legea | Contact Marketing Zrt. |
| 2013–14 | Legea | — |
| 2014–15 | Legea | AGS sport 23 |
| 2015–18 | Adidas | Swietelsky |
| 2018–2021 | 2Rule | — | 2021–present | Adidas | Vasútvill Kft. |

## Stadium

Szombathelyi Haladás play their home matches at the Rohonci úti Stadion situated in Szombathely, Hungary. The capacity of the old stadium was 9,500. It was built in 1923 and it was demolished in 2015. It hosted the hammer throw events for the IAAF World Athletics Final as the Stade Louis II in Monaco is too small. Currently Haladás play their home matches in Sopron.
On 8 November 2017, the Haladás Sportkomplexum was opened. The first official match was played between Haladás and Ferencvárosi TC in the 2017-18 Nemzeti Bajnokság I season.

## Honours

* Nemzeti Bajnokság II
** Winners (10): 1938–39, 1941–42, 1944–45, 1961–62, 1972–73, 1980–81, 1990–91, 1992–93, 1994–95, 2007–08
** Runners-up (1): 2002–03
* Magyar Kupa
** Runners-up (3): 1974–75, 1992–93, 2001–02

## Players

As of 16 February 2024.
Note: Flags indicate national team as defined under FIFA eligibility rules; some limited exceptions apply. Players may hold more than one non-FIFA nationality.
| No. | Pos. | Nation | Player |
| 4 | MF | SRB | Vanja Zvekanov |
| 5 | MF | HUN | György Hursán |
| 6 | MF | HUN | Attila Szakály |
| 7 | MF | HUN | Barnabás Mohos |
| 8 | DF | HUN | Marcell Frák |
| 10 | MF | ROU | Carlo Erdei |
| 15 | DF | HUN | Bonifác Csonka |
| 17 | MF | HUN | Kornél Csernik |
| 19 | FW | HUN | István Katona |
| 21 | FW | HUN | Rajmund Horváth |
| 22 | DF | HUN | Gergő Bolla |
| 26 | DF | HUN | Márk Jagodics |
| No. | Pos. | Nation | Player |
| 27 | DF | HUN | Vince Nyíri |
| 33 | MF | HUN | Arnold Horváth |
| 45 | FW | SVK | Marko Kelemen (on loan from Ružomberok) |
| 70 | MF | HUN | András Jancsó |
| 73 | DF | SRB | Zoran Beronja (on loan from Szeged) |
| 77 | FW | HUN | Dániel Szvoboda |
| 78 | MF | HUN | Barnabás Rácz |
| 86 | GK | HUN | Donát Pálfi |
| 87 | GK | HUN | István Verpecz |
| 88 | FW | HUN | Ármin Szijjártó |
| 95 | FW | HUN | Attila Pintér |
| 99 | DF | HUN | Patrik Tarján |

### Out on loan

Note: Flags indicate national team as defined under FIFA eligibility rules; some limited exceptions apply. Players may hold more than one non-FIFA nationality.
| No. | Pos. | Nation | Player |
| — | FW | HUN | Rajmund Molnár (at MTK Budapest until 30 June 2024) |

## In European football

| Season | Competition | Round | Club | Home | Away | Aggregate |
| 1975–76 | UEFA Cup Winners' Cup | 1. Round | Valletta | 7–0 | 1–1 | 8–1 |
| 1975–76 | UEFA Cup Winners' Cup | 2. Round | Sturm Graz | 1–1 | 0–2 | 1–3 |
| 1981–82 | Mitropa Cup | | Osijek | 4–2 | 0–3 | 4–5 |
| 1981–82 | Mitropa Cup | | AC Milan | 0–1 | 0–2 | 0–3 |
| 1981–82 | Mitropa Cup | | TJ Vítkovice | 2–2 | 1–6 | 3–8 |
| 1988 | UEFA Intertoto Cup | Group 5 | Young Boys | 3–1 | 0–4 | 3–5 |
| 1988 | UEFA Intertoto Cup | Group 5 | DAC Dunajská Streda | 0–0 | 0–3 | 0–3 |
| 1988 | UEFA Intertoto Cup | Group 5 | IFK Norrköping | 0–1 | 0–0 | 0–1 |
| 2009–10 | UEFA Europa League | 1. Round | Irtysh Pavlodar | 1–0 | 1–2 | 2–2(a) |
| 2009–10 | UEFA Europa League | 2. Round | Elfsborg | 0–0 | 0–3 | 0–3 |

## Managers

* István Mészáros (1942–43)
* Károly Soós (1947–48, 1948–50)
* Iuliu Bodola (1951–53)
* Gábor Urbancsik (1954)
* József Albert (1966) and (1969)
* Sándor Tátrai (1967)
* László Sárosi (1974–79)
* Dezső Novák (01/07/1987–30/06/1988)
* László Dajka (1998–99)
* Lázár Szentes (03/01/2002–11/06/2002)
* Róbert Glázer (20/06/2002–24/04/2003)
* Lajos Détári (29/03/2003–26/08/2003)
* Péter Bozsik (2003–04)
* Tamás Artner (08/07/2005–21/06/2007)
* Aurél Csertői (21/06/2007–15/09/2009)
* Antal Róth (16 September 2009–23/07/2010)
* Aurél Csertői (23 July 2010–16/10/2010)
* Zoltán Aczél (16 October 2010–14/12/2011)
* Tamás Artner (19 December 2011–17/10/2014)
* Lázár Szentes (17 October 2014–20/04/2015)
* Attila Kuttor (21 April 2015–05/05/2015)
* Géza Mészöly (05 May 2015–30/08/2017)
* Bálint Pacsi (30 August 2017–12 November 2017)
* Michal Hipp (13 November 2017–15 September 2018)
* Ferenc Horváth (27 September 2018–30 June 2019)
* Attila Supka (11 July 2019–29 October 2019)
* Szilárd Desits (29 October 2019–30 December 2019)
* János Mátyus (30 December 2019–31 May 2021)
* Szabolcs Németh (4 June 2021–)