Hungarian Striker Barnabas Varga Makes a Name for Himself in Hungary

One goal in 16 Bundesliga games, eleven goals in 29 second division games. Barnabas Varga did not achieve much fame in this country.

The Hungarian was active in Austria for a decade, but he didn’t exactly leave a lasting impression.

Since his return home in January 2020, things have been looking up for the striker. The 28-year-old is now a big name in Hungary and the hype is growing.

Big transfer fee, goals on the assembly line

Ferencvaros paid the attacker 800,000 euros in the summer. After Peter Barath, whom Ferencvaros also freed from Debrecen for 1.2 million euros in the past transfer window, Varga is the second most expensive transfer of all time within Hungary.

The reason for the relatively large transfer fee: Varga literally destroyed the Hungarian league in the 2022/23 season. With 26 goals, the goalgetter was crowned top scorer in the Paksi FC jersey. His lead over second-placed Stefan Drazic was an incredible twelve goals.

After moving from Lafnitz to second division club Gyirmot Györ, Varga initially helped the club to promotion with a dozen goals in his first full season.

As a newcomer to the league, the club was promptly relegated in 2021/22, but Varga, with 13 goals, recommended a move to Paksi, where he was top scorer in his only season.

Strong start in the national team

But that’s not all, in March 2023 team boss Marco Rossi nominated the striker to the Hungarian team squad for the first time, and he celebrated his debut in the 3-0 win against Bulgaria. He used the third international match, his first from the start, to score his first goal in the national team jersey. Varga scored his second goal in the 2-1 win against Serbia in the most recent European Championship qualifying game.

He also delivers in the jersey of his new club. Varga shot Ferencvaros into the group stage of the Conference League with seven qualifying goals, where Fiorentina, Genk and Cukaricki now wait in Group F.

There are also seven goals in four championship games, most recently two treble packs in a row. And he also added six assists across all competitions. This results in an average of one goal participation every 43 minutes of play.

Eberau, Mattersburg, Lafnitz

Photo: © GEPA

It’s not like this goal nose is completely new. In the summer of 2010, the Szombathely-born kicker moved across the border to Burgenland club Eberau. A stone’s throw, the two places are only 20 kilometers apart.

The talent had fun in the reserve league and scored like it was on an assembly line. No different in the combat team. 31 goals in the 2nd League South 2013/14 gave an idea that Varga was destined for higher things. After Eberau’s promotion to the Burgenland League, things were no different.

Almost to the Admira

Admira vied for his services in the winter of 2015/16, a move fell through at the last minute, and SV Mattersburg then took action in the summer of 2016.

But there he was mostly only used by the amateurs and was unable to establish himself sustainably in the Bundesliga team. At the age of 21, Ivica Vastic helped him make his professional debut in September 2016, and two months later the Hungarian scored for the first and only time in Austria’s top division.

After moving to SV Lafnitz in January 2019, things went better. In the 2019 calendar year he played a dozen times in 30 games for the Styrians.

And now he is being fed assists by Liverpool professional Dominik Szoboszlai. Not bad…

2023-09-09 17:28:51
#Big #hype #exMattersburg #striker #Hungary