Zeidler Miklós: Sporting Spaces - Our Budapest (Budapest, 2000)
1956. From 1952, no international games were played here, and from 1963 Ferencváros itself played its home games elsewhere, mostly in the People’s Stadium. In the early seventies the construction of a new stadium was finally begun. The new club house was completed in 1972 and by the spring of 1974 the new grandstand had been erected to plans by József Schall and Miklós Kapsza, who managed to combine practical and aesthetic considerations. The terraces, which had a capacity of 28,000 at the time, have since been converted and can now seat 18,000. The complex includes handball fields and further football pitches, and a ceremonial promenade opened a few years ago to honour the memory of the club’s Olympic champions. The People’s Park Similarly to the City Park, right from the beginning this location was often sought out by athletes and those wishing to take exercise. There is a major difference, though, in that unlike the City Park, the People’s Park is literally packed with the regular venues of races and competitions. (The park itself was turned into one large racing course when the car Grand Prix were held here in the 1960s.) Opened in 1937, the largest sports building here is the Students’ Stadium (KISOK-stadium) with its capacity of 15,000, and its track and field facilities. Today the complex belongs to the Budapest Builders’ association. Besides the numerous training fields and tennis courts spotting the park, there is a large sports complex owned by the firm Ganz-MAVAG and another belonging to Ferencváros. The most recent instalment is FTC’s swimming-pool-cum-sports-hall, where the association’s women’s basketball and handball teams play their games. MTK-The Circle of Hungarian Devotees of Physical Exercise (No. 6 Hungária körút, district XIV) At the dawn of modern sport, even such a long-standing sports club as MTK had to count every penny. Such chronic lack of funds had to be counterbalanced 37
