Hungary-Backed Balkan Football Teams Highlight Orban’s Obsessions

Ivan Martic, a journeyman defender for Universitatea Cluj, wiggles the ball on the spot and steps back, eyes fixed on the task at hand. Martic's chest expands then purposefully he strides forward, opens his body and strikes the ball towards the corner. But Niczuly guesses right, and sprawls to his left to push away the effort with disdain.

The Hungarian flag-bearing Sepsi fans behind the goal go wild. Niczuly points towards his chest and darts towards them, his teammates stampeding behind him.

For Niczuly, this was more than just a cup win, playing for Sepsi means more to him than that. Niczuly grew up in a city where the population is 90 per cent Szekely, a subgroup of Hungarians. He knows how much Sepsi means to the Szekely population in Romania.

In 2019, whilst playing for Sepsi away at Farul Constanta, Niczuly was spat on by the home crowd, "There were xenophobic chants," Niczuly relates. "The fans jumped and spat on me. This game left me with a bitter taste and I can't find the words. We are in this championship and they should respect us."

The cup final celebration on May 24 was clear: he wasn't pointing just at himself, he was pointing at the shirt, the crest, the club, signalling that 'we belong here - whether you like it or not'.

When the new football season recommences in July, for the first time ever there will be three ethnically Hungarian teams from outside Hungary competing in European club competitions.

Sepsi, which gained entry to the UEFA Conference League for their cup victory, will be joined in the competition by FC DAC from Dunajska Streda, which finished runners-up in the Slovakian top flight for the third time in the past five seasons. FK TSC, from Backa Topola in Serbia's ethnic Hungarian region of...