Varga targets semis

By Márton Dinnyés

From 7-17 May the UEFA European Under-17 Championship takes centre stage. One of the eight nations represented at the tournament will be Hungary - who have qualified for their fifth successive tournament at this age level.

Respected figure
The side's coach István Varga is a highly-respected figure. Born on 1 May 1948, Varga was began coaching in the early 1970s with various youth teams. He later became coach of top-flight Újpesti TE, leading them to the championship in 1989/90. Varga also coached Siófok FC and Haladás VFC among others before taking over as coach of Hungary's Under-17, U18 and U20 sides last year. As his side prepares for the U17 finals in Portugal, uefa.com caught up with him. 

uefa.com: What are the strong aspects of the Hungarian side?

István Varga: Although the players are young, they play well-organised and controlled football.

uefa.com: Do they follow your advice? And what were the winning tactics you used in the qualifiers?

Varga: We play attacking football in every game. The most important [thing] is to reach the opposite goal and create a couple of chances in every match.

uefa.com: Which is the strongest part of the team?

Varga: As I said, we all play efficiently and everyone on the pitch knows what to do, but the best players are in the midfield.

uefa.com: How do you rate the side's chances in Portugal?

Varga: My colleague Dr György Mezey, the technical director of the MLSZ (Hungarian Football Federation) and a member of UEFA's technical panel, saw Portugal playing at a UEFA meeting, and he was impressed. I think they are the [tournament] favourites. Apart from them, none of the other teams has more of a chance than the others. The quality of the teams is almost equal if you look at the results in the qualifiers.

uefa.com: What would you call a success for your team?

Varga: I think that we will play very tight matches in May. It will be great to qualify for the semis - I would be very happy with that result.

Hungary begin their U17 campaign on 7 May against Austria. For uefa.com's full UEFA European Under-17 Championship coverage click here