Politics
Soccer nut Viktor Orbán has World Cup thoughts
Viktor Orbán — Hungary’s former prime minister, a Donald Trump acolyte and an avid soccer fan — is set to attend both semifinals and the final of the World Cup.
Despite an endorsement from the U.S. president, Orbán lost Hungary’s election in a landslidein April, and has made few public appearances since. Hungarian outlet Index reported that the former prime minister, who remains leader of his Fidesz party, traveled to the U.S. on Monday to attend the World Cup.
Speaking to Index, Orbán said that he could not predict the result of tonight’s Spain-France matchup but that France was the better team.
Orbán went on to compare the match to the 1954 World Cup final, in which West Germany upset the overwhelming favorite Hungary 3-2. “We were the best team, but we still couldn’t win,” Orbán said.
Meanwhile, Orbán’s party has never looked weaker at home. On Monday, Fidesz’s parliamentary leader Gergely Gulyás resigned from his leadership post, and the Hungarian parliament passed a sweeping constitutional amendment ousting a number of top officials whom Orbán appointed, including the country’s president.
“Orban is abandoning his dwindling followers to attend the World Cup (with no Hungarian team still playing),” said former U.S. State Department official Daniel Fried on X. “Not a great look.”
Orbán was a semiprofessional soccer player while earning his law degree in the 1980s, and his government invested heavily in soccer during his 16-year rule. He founded his own soccer club, Puskás Akadémia, in 2007.