The Hungarian Football Federation (MLSZ) finalized the draw of the OTP Bank Liga 2023/24 season. On the last weekend of July, DVSC will start against Mezőkövesd at Nagyerdei Stadium, after which the team will travel to Paks and then play against ZTE at home.
– Before the draw, I wasn’t longing for anyone in particular but regardless of our opponent, we have to do our best if we want to be competitive in Europe. We had been fighting for this all last year and now that we are here, we want to show that we have a place on the international stage. At the moment, we don’t know much about our potential opponent and it would be frivolous to comment on whether we were lucky or not… We will refrain from such comments and we will concentrate on our work as always. We respect both teams but we particularly respect ourselves and believe in our strength and work.
UEFA finalized the draw for the second qualifying round of the Europa Conference League on Wednesday. DVSC, as championship bronze medalist, will play against the winner of the first-round clash between Armenia’s Alashkert and Montenegro’s FK Arsenal Tivat. The first match will be away on July 27, while the return match will be in Debrecen on August 3.
DVSC signed Diósgyőr raised, 19-year-old Botond Vajda. The young midfielder has made 15 appearances in the NB II, spending the spring season with Tiszakécske. Welcome to the team!
DVSC extended Dusan Lagator’s contract. The 29-year-old Montenegrin player came to Loki last summer, played in 24 league matches and scored 2 goals. The footballer, who can be deployed both as a midfielder and defender, scored a memorable goal during the bronze medal-winning 2-0 domestic match against Újpest.
Okan Aydin is leaving DVSC. The 29-year-old Turkish-German midfielder arrived at Loki in the winter and played in one NB I championship match. We wish Okan success in his future career!
DVSC extended the contract of Marko Milosevic for one more year. The goalkeeper arrived to Loki in spring, he defended the goal during 5 championship games and delivered an excellent performance.
DVSC is deeply saddened by the news that Sándor Csendes, who had been loyally supporting Loki since he was 5, passed away at the age of 102. Not long ago, on May 1, he was the one who started the game against Fehérvár with a kick-off, after which we even a made an interview with him.
The son of Sándor Csendes expressed his appreciation to the club for making his father happy with the kick-off as well as the way his beloved team greeted him. The captain of our team, Balázs Dzsudzsák was grateful for having the opportunity to meet the loyal fan and for the energy that he gave the team. The funeral of Sándor Csendes will be at 12:30, on June 23 in the first mortuary of the Public Cemetery in Debrecen. We will never forget Sándor and we remember him through his last interview.
The football team of DVSC had a great season as it finished third on the table by defeating Újpest and earned international cup participation. Despite his smaller injury, our 23-year-old defender, Erik Kusnyír showed a great and balanced performance during the championship. In the rankings of Nemzeti Sport, Erik Kusnyír was nominated as the best right-back and got into the team of the season, while in the overall list, he occupied the 10th place. Firstly, we asked Erik about the final game of the season.
Of course, we knew how much was at stake and unwittingly there was a pressure on the team but we also felt that we had to keep the three points at home in order to reach our goals. The atmosphere at Nagyerdei Stadium was fantastic, it felt great to step onto the pitch in front of 14 thousand fans at such an important fixture. Before the first whistle, I didn’t know that it’s going to be my 100th game in the ranks of DVSC but the management greeted me during the dinner after the match, which cranked up my mood even further. I’m proud that I could reach this number in the colors of Loki and I’m really grateful to the club as well as my coaches.
If we consider the whole season, it was quite uneven. Sometimes the team was fighting to avoid relegation but at the end of the championship, the goals were totally different…
Indeed, last year was like a rollercoaster but I need to highlight the arrival of Srdjan Blagojevic, who had a really positive effect on the team. We immediately had to get into the rhythm, we stepped onto the pitch with a new tactic and principles. Our head coach has great merit in the fact that ever since he arrived, we have been at the top of the table.
Even though you had to skip several fixtures because of two serious ankle injuries, you were still a regular player. How do you evaluate your own performance?
Unfortunately, I’m not lucky regarding these injuries, each season I have some problems, which make me fall out for shorter or longer periods of time. After my recovery, I was able to get back in form quickly, and I would like to thank the Master for giving me opportunity to play after my injury. Both me and the whole team were playing great, we finished on the podium, so this championship was a positive experience from all aspects.
Finally, Erik Kusnyír told us about his excitement regarding the team’s opponent in the UEFA Conference League. – No matter of the opponent, I’m sure that there will be a full house at Nagyerdei Stadium and we definitely have to do everything in order to proceed to the next round.
DVSC and Sylvain Deslandes part ways. The French defender’s contract expires on 30 June and he will continue his career at another club. The 26-year-old player joined Loki 2 years ago, he played 43 league matches and scored 2 goals. We wish Sylvain all the best in his future career!
Since the opening of Nagyerdei Stadium in 2014, the average number of spectators hasn’t been as high as it was during the latest championship. Compared to the previous season, the number of spectators has increased with more than 40% (on average, 3775 people were supporting Loki a year ago and now this number was about 5493). From this regard, DVSC is the second most popular team in Hungary after FTC. It is worth mentioning that Diósgyőr, as the champion of the second division, had 3833 viewers on average.
It is important to note that this number is outstanding not only compared to the previous season but the whole decade. The Nagyerdei Stadium opened its gates in the second half of the 2013/14 season and since then, the average number of spectators hasn’t reached even 4000. The apparent interest is not surprising as Loki is the most successful team in Hungary since the arrival of Srdjan Blagojevic, and this is also true if we consider the last 5, 10, 15 or 20 rounds. The rising viewership is really important and joyful, and the aim of the club is to further increase this number.
The average number of spectators in the last seasons of DVSC.
2014/15: 3803
2015/16: 3010
2016/17: 3407
2017/18: 3916
2018/19: 3543
2019/20: 3962
2021/22: 3775
2022/23: 5493
The 2020/21 season was not taken into consideration because of the pandemic. Source: magyarfutball.hu
