A few years ago, Louis De Vries’ autobiographical book titled My Life was published in Belgium. One long chapter of the book is devoted to Hungarian football, the chaotic period following the fall of communism, and Budapest Honvéd FC, which won the Hungarian championship in 1993 “with Belgian money. ”Bittersweet memories may have come flooding back to Louis De Vries during the few days he spent in Budapest. In the early 1990s, the 79-year-old Belgian businessman, sports executive, and manager celebrated a league title as majority owner of Budapest Honvéd FC. He supported the powerful Kispest side with one million dollars, and the success was celebrated at the legendary Rokoko club. Although an ugly scandal later drove him away from Hungarian football, the star manager has now revealed to our newspaper that he is ready to invest in Hungary again.
“Jenő Békeffy, the father of Gábor, helped me establish closer ties with Hungarian football at the time. He was a legendary manager, a highly respected sports figure in Belgium, who introduced me to footballers such as Johan Cruyff and Rob Rensenbrink. When he died in 1987, I essentially took over his role. I was the one traveling to Budapest to negotiate with the powerful sports leaders of the era about transferring László Fazekas and Sándor Müller to Royal Antwerp FC, where I was serving as managing director at the time,” De Vries began.