Kecskeméti TE

A local newspaper of Kecskemét wrote on 6 May 1871, "an elderly citizen wants to establish a company of men to play soccer in our city, doing exercises twice a week, practicing throws and running." In 1904, the first football match was played in Kecskemét, when the Budapest III. District High School defeated the team of local Piarist High School. In May 1910, the first football game between proper clubs was held in the town.

Kecskeméti TE was founded on 11 June 1911, and attracted primarily local workers as players in the early years. The first managing director was Ferenc Kéry. The first colours of the club were red and green. The current purple and white colours have been in use since 1913. The first match was played on 15 August 1911, in which Kecskeméti TE lost to KSC by 1–0. The second match was won 5–1 against Szolnoki MÁV.

On 29 July 1913, Kecskeméti TE merged with the other team from Kecskemét, KSC. On 11 April 1926, the team's stadium was inaugurated, and the first match was played against the rival Ceglédi RC. During World War I, the mainly consisted of under-18 players. From 1945 the team played its matches near the local railway station.

In the 1946–47 season the team was promoted to the Nemzeti Bajnokság II (the second division) for the first time in the history of the club. On 28 June 1949, the two teams of Kecskemét, KTE and KAC were merged. The new name of the team became KszTE, playing in red and blue. Máté Fenyvesi, later a key player of Ferencváros, started his career in KTE. On 11 January 1954, the team changed its name to Kecskeméti Kinizsi, and got its original colours back on 2 December 1956.

In 1961, a torchlight parade was presented to celebrate that the club's 50-year anniversary. In 1964, the team fell back to the county-level championship, but in 1966, it was back in the third tier. KSC, the other club in town, was founded in 1972. The two teams became archrivals in the second and third league, their "derby" was always a big event for the town.

In 1990, Antal Tóth coached the team to win their group in NB III, but the club was not able to stay in the Second Division.

In 1995, for the third time KTE got promoted to the second league, once again winning the NB III. This was trainer József Linka's era, the newly promoted team even reached first-place in the autumn. The club moved its home grounds to Széktói Stadion.

In 1999, after the merger between KTE and KSC, the new club by the name of KFC was created, thanks to a known entrepreneur and main sponsor, János Jámbor. Under head coach László Nagy, the team came close to getting promoted to NB I in the 2000–01 season, but the hopes were futile. Jámbor lest Kecskemét football, and transferred the right to play to a revived Vasas.

In 1998, under the club president, István Pinczés, the KTE name was given back to the team, starting in the third tier again.

The first years of the third millennium brought confusion and many troubles to the football team in Kecskemét. However, this ended in 2006 when Pál Rózsa and János Versegi became the chairmen of KTE. They started to build a strong and successful club, with great support from Dr. Gábor Zombor, then-mayor of Kecskemét. The promotion to NB I was finally achieved in 2008, and KTE became the first football club from the city of Kecskemét to play in the Hungarian first league.

The first season in the top Hungarian league was considered successful for the team, finishing fifth in the Nemzeti Bajnokság I 2008–09.

Kecskemét entered the 2010–11 Magyar Kupa season against Békéscsaba on 22 September 2010. The match ended with 2–1 victory for Kecskemét at the Kórház utcai Stadion.^[1] On 27 October 2010, Kecskemét beat Tiszakanyár 3–0 in the round of 32 of the 2010–11 Magyar Kupa season.^[2] On 10 November 2010, Kecskemét beat Debrecen 3-0 at the Oláh Gábor utcai Stadion in the first leg of the round of 16 of the 2010–11 Magyar Kupa season.^[3] On 1 March 2011, Kecskemét beat Debrecen 3–1 at home.^[4] On 9 March 2011, Kecskemét beat Siófok 5–1 in the first leg of the quarter finals of the 2010–11 Magyar Kupa.^[5] The second leg ended with a 1–1 draw against Siófok on 15 March 2011.^[6] On 19 April 2011, Kecskemét beat Zalaegerszeg 5–1 at the Széktói Stadion in first leg of the semi-final of the Magyar Kupa.^[7] On 3 May 2011, Zalaegerszeg drew with Kecskemét at the ZTE Aréna.^[8] Kecskemét qualified for the final on 5–1 aggregate. The centenary year of 2011 saw an unprecedented success in the 100-year history of the club. KTE reached new heights by winning the 2011 Magyar Kupa on 17 May 2011, beating Videoton 3–2 in the final held in the Puskás Ferenc Stadium in Budapest.^[9][10][11] The victory meant that the club was able to play their first international matches, namely qualification games of the Europa League. The first international match was played at home in front of 3,400 spectators at the Széktói Stadion in Kecskemét against the Kazakh Aktobe, resulting in 1–1. The second game ended as a 0–0 draw, meaning that KTE fell out of the competition due to the away goals rule.

After the 2014–15 Nemzeti Bajnokság I season, the Hungarian Football Federation relegated Kecskemét to the Bács-Kiskun county first division due to financial reasons. In the 2017–18 season, Kecskemét got promoted to the third division, NB III.

KTE spent four seasons in the third tier, and was promoted to Nemzeti Bajnokság II, the second-level championship in 2021.

Surprisingly, Kecskemét finished in second place, earning another promotion right away, and reaching the top tier again after a seven-year hiatus. Despite being the ultimate underdogs, with the smallest budget in the league,^[12] KTE earned a podium finish in the 2022–23 Nemzeti Bajnokság I. In the more than 120-year long history of Hungarian football championships, this was only the fifth time that a club reached the podium in the first tier immediately after being promoted.^[13][14]

The 2023–24 Nemzeti Bajnokság I did not start well for the club. However, they beat Ferencvárosi TC 2–1 at home on 5 November 2023.^[15][16][17]

On 7 January 2024, the club sold one of their key players, Gábor Szalai, to Swiss Super League club FC Lausanne-Sport.^[18][19]

The 2024–25 Nemzeti Bajnokság I season did not start well for the club. On 28 July 2024, Kecskemét drew with Fehérvár at home,^[20] and lost 1-0 to Ferencváros at the Groupama Aréna.^[21] On 9 August 2024, Kecskemét drew with Debrecen at home (1-1).^[22] The first victory of the season was against newly promoted Gyór (2–1) on 16 August 2024.^[23] After the victory, Kecskemét suffered five consecutive defeats against Diósgyőr (0–1) at the Diósgyőri Stadion,^[24] Újpest (1–3),^[25] Zalaegerszeg (1–2) at the ZTE Arena,^[26] Nyíregyháza (0–2),^[27] and MTK Budapest (1–3) at the Hidegkuti Nándor Stadion.^[28] On 15 October 2024, István Szabó was sacked due to the performance of the club.^[29] On 16 October 2024, Zoltán Gera was appointed as the new manager of the club.^[30] Gera's debut ended with a 3-0 defeat against Puskás Akadémia FC at home on 20 October 2024.^[31]

As of 6 August 2024^[32]

Note: Flags indicate national team as defined under FIFA eligibility rules. Players may hold more than one non-FIFA nationality.

No. Pos. Nation Player 1 GK   HUN Kristóf Pálfi 6 DF   HUN Levente Katona 7 FW   HUN Gergő Pálinkás 8 MF   HUN Bence Banó-Szabó 9 FW   HUN Milán Májer 10 MF   HUN Krisztián Nagy 11 MF   HUN Barnabás Kovács 14 MF   HUN Kolos Kovács 15 DF   HUN Alex Szabó 16 MF   HUN Levente Vágó 17 FW   HUN Marcell Berki 18 DF   HUN Csaba Belényesi 20 GK   HUN Bence Varga

No. Pos. Nation Player 21 DF   UKR Mykhaylo Ryashko 23 MF   UKR Mykhaylo Meskhi 24 DF   HUN Milán Papp 27 MF   HUN Donát Zsótér 29 FW   ESP Tofol Montiel 44 MF   HUN Tamás Nikitscher 46 GK   HUN Roland Kersák 55 FW   HUN Dániel Lukács 70 MF   HUN Dávid Artner 72 DF   HUN Máté Kotula 74 DF   HUN Imre Polyák 77 DF   HUN Márió Zeke 88 MF   HUN Bálint Katona 90 MF   HUN Márton Vattay

Note: Flags indicate national team as defined under FIFA eligibility rules. Players may hold more than one non-FIFA nationality.

 

Kecskeméti TE plays its home games at Széktói Stadion, built in 1962. With 4,300 seats, and standing room for 2,000 in the standing-only sections, it is the largest football stadium in Kecskemét. In 2002, it was completely renovated. The lighting installation consists of 128 floodlights mounted on four masts 38m in height, and the average vertical illuminance is 1200 lx.

• Nemzeti Bajnokság I
  • Runners-up (1): 2022–23
• Magyar Kupa
  • Winners (1): 2010–11
• Ligakupa
  • Runners-up (1): 2011-12
• Nemzeti Bajnokság II
  • Winners (1): 2007–08
  • Runners-up (2): 2000–01, 2021-22
• Nemzeti Bajnokság III
  • Winners (4): 1945–46, 1957–58, 1989–90, 1994–95
  • Runners-up (3): 1958–59, 1991–92, 2020-21
• Megyei Bajnokság I
  • Winners (1): 2017–18

• Official website (in Hungarian)