Csaba Somfai has been coming to Gothia Cup for 22years with his team Kölcsey Ferenc Gimnazium from Hungary. Tournament leader Lena Rönnefors was then working as a school host and they have been friends ever since.
In the beginning of February the whole Gothia Cup organisation travelled to Budapest in Hungary to visit this classical Gothia Cup team. We wished to learn more about the team, the country and the possibilities for Hungarian teams to come to Gothia Cup. We were also interested in how they work with football.Csaba has been working as a physical education teacher in Kölcsey Ferenc Gimnazium, the school that the team is connected to, for as long as 41 years. The school is named after Kölcsey Ferenc the poet and author of the Hungarian national anthem and the school building now turns 100 years old. Traditions and history is very important for the Hungarians. You can tell by the photo collages with old students covering the walls of the gymnasium.
Kölcsey F. Gimnazium has been doing well in Gothia Cup and 1994 they won the final in Ullevi stadium. You can see the spark in Csabas eyes when he talks about the final in 1994 and the cup shines beautifully in the display case outside the teachers’ room. Principal Katalin Makk spoke warmly about Gothia Cup and the teams’ participation. Kölcsey Ferenc Gimnazium is a languish school and English, French, German and four more languages is an obvious part of the students education. Therefore an international tournament as Gothia Cup is a great forum for the students to develop their languages skills and learn more about other cultures.

Gothia Cup also had the honour to pay a visit to Vasa SC Football Academy in Budapest. Péter Horváta the head of coaching staff and previous professional football player in USA talked about the importance of international resistance.
- At school students learn to follow the teacher instructions and to be quiet during the lessons, it is important there, but then we expect the total opposite on the playing field. Here we want them to talk to each other, express their opinions and follow their instincts. Therefore Hungarian players can learn a lot from international teams. In many other cultures they are better in raising their voices, expressing their feelings and do whatever suites theme on the playing field.
The football academy is located in Budapest but includes players from the whole country. They are all living at the campus and the age classes are B11-B18. The academy has 15 full time workers that put all their focus on the players’ development and wellbeing.
- To create great players you have to get to know the individuals. It is very important to understand the person behind the player says Péter Horváta.

Apart from everything we learned about Hungary’s way of working with football and their expectations on Gothia Cup it was also a lovely reunion with Csaba and his classical Gothia Cup team. We also had the possibility to experience a beautiful city, Hungarian hospitality and plenty of tasty Hungarian food.
We want to thank Csaba, his family and friends for a fantastic trip and we welcome Kölcsey F.Gimnazium warmly welcome back to Gothia Cup 2009!