Populist Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban has long used soccer to advance his right-wing politics, and now widespread international criticism of a new law seen as targeting the LGBT community has turned this month's European Championship into a major stage for his challenge to Europe's liberal values.
Last week, as more than 60,000 soccer fans poured into Budapest's Puskas Arena, an emblem of Orban's famous devotion to soccer, the Hungarian Parliament approved a controversial bill that bans sharing with minors any content portraying homosexuality or sex reassignment.
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Populist Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban has long used soccer to advance his right-wing politics, and now widespread international criticism of a new law seen as targeting the LGBT community has turned this month's European Championship into a major stage for his challenge to Europe's liberal values.
In a direct rebuke to the law, Munich’s mayor and city council called for its stadium to be lit up with rainbow colors in a show of support for tolerance and gay rights when Germany plays Hungary on Wednesday at Euro 2020.
Orban has been challenging that consensus ever since he returned to power in 2010: frequently criticizing multiculturalism, curtailing media freedoms, and relentlessly campaigning against the EU itself, portraying Brussels as a modern heir to Soviet Moscow, which dominated Hungary for decades.
Fiercely opposed to immigration, he has blasted European leaders, including German Chancellor Angela Merkel, for plans in 2015 to distribute the burden of that year’s wave of refugees from the Middle East and Africa and refused to accept asylum seekers. His crackdowns on the media have led to “a degree of (state) media control unprecedented in an EU member state,” according to Reporters Without Borders.
Since the days of Hungary great Ferenc Puskas — widely regarded as one of the best players of all time who led “the Mighty Magyars” to the 1954 World Cup final and an Olympic gold medal at the 1952 Helsinki Games — the country has never again achieved world-class status in soccer. But Orban has attempted to rekindle some of the old magic.
This major injection of capital into soccer has made games a popular meeting place for politicians and the politically connected. Orban is often photographed at games with some of Hungary's most successful businessmen, including billionaire Sandor Csanyi, Hungary's second wealthiest person who is also the president of the Hungarian soccer federation and a UEFA vice president.
Earlier in the tournament, during a friendly match in Budapest between Ireland and Hungary, Hungarian fans booed Irish players as they knelt on the field as a sign of solidarity against racism.
Levente Toth, 45, a Hungarian fan who traveled to Munich to view Wednesday’s game, said that he thought the push to illuminate Germany’s stadium in rainbow colors “has no place in sports,” adding that he thought opposition to the new law was “overblown” and echoing the typical message that the legislation protects children.
FILE - In this June 14, 2021 file photo a drag queen waves a rainbow flag during an LGBT rights demonstration in front of the Hungarian Parliament building in Budapest, Hungary. Populist Prime Minister Viktor Orban has long used soccer to advance his right-wing politics, and now widespread international criticism of a new Hungarian law that is seen as targeting the LGBT community has turned this month's Euro 2020 tournament into a major stage for his challenge to Europe's liberal values. (AP PhotoBela Szandelszky, File)
Human rights groups and liberal politicians in Hungary and from around Europe denounced the law as conflating homosexuality with pedophilia and as a draconian effort to push any representation of LGBT people into the shadows. Nearly half of the European Union’s 27 member countries issued a statement calling it a “clear breach of (LGBT people’s) fundamental right to dignity,” and officials are examining whether the legislation contravenes EU law.
FILE - In this Tuesday, June 15, 2021 file photo Hungarian fan stand next to a flare during the Euro 2020 soccer championship group F match between Hungary and Portugal at the Ferenc Puskas stadium in Budapest, Hungary, Tuesday, June 15, 2021. Populist Prime Minister Viktor Orban has long used soccer to advance his right-wing politics, and now widespread international criticism of a new Hungarian law that is seen as targeting the LGBT community has turned this month's Euro 2020 tournament into a major stage for his challenge to Europe's liberal values. (AP PhotoLaszlo Balogh, Pool)
In a direct rebuke to the law, Munich’s mayor and city council called for its stadium to be lit up with rainbow colors in a show of support for tolerance and gay rights when Germany plays Hungary on Wednesday at Euro 2020.
But UEFA, European soccer's governing body, denied the request because it considered it a political move, though other stadiums in Germany unaffiliated with the tournament will be allowed such displays and the team captain will wear a rainbow armband.
The controversy has turned the game into a symbolic showdown between competing visions for the future of Europe, pitting Orban's promotion of what he calls “illiberal democracy” against Western Europe's “liberal consensus.”
FILE - In this Tuesday, June 15, 2021 file photo a view of the Ferenc Puskas stadium before the Euro 2020 soccer championship group F match between Hungary and Portugal in Budapest, Hungary, Tuesday, June 15, 2021. Populist Prime Minister Viktor Orban has long used soccer to advance his right-wing politics, and now widespread international criticism of a new Hungarian law that is seen as targeting the LGBT community has turned this month's Euro 2020 tournament into a major stage for his challenge to Europe's liberal values. (AP PhotoLaszlo Balogh, Pool, File)
Orban has been challenging that consensus ever since he returned to power in 2010: frequently criticizing multiculturalism, curtailing media freedoms, and relentlessly campaigning against the EU itself, portraying Brussels as a modern heir to Soviet Moscow, which dominated Hungary for decades.
His message resonates with many Hungarians who resent interference and perceived condescension from the EU — and he has frequently shown himself adept at maneuvering around its policies, such as when he went out on his own to make Hungary the first EU country to procure Russian and Chinese COVID-19 vaccines not approved by European regulators.
The move — which has led Hungary to have the second-highest rate of vaccination in the EU — offered validation for his strategy of bucking the bloc's dictates, both increasing his power at home and challenging the EU's credibility and liberal values.
FILE - In this Saturday, June 19, 2021 file photo Hungarian fans, carrying a banner opposed to players taking the knee, march towards the Puskas Arena in Budapest, Hungary just hours before Hungary will face France in their Euro 2020 group F preliminary round soccer match. Populist Prime Minister Viktor Orban has long used soccer to advance his right-wing politics, and now widespread international criticism of a new Hungarian law that is seen as targeting the LGBT community has turned this month's Euro 2020 tournament into a major stage for his challenge to Europe's liberal values. (Zoltan MatheMTI via AP, File)
Fiercely opposed to immigration, he has blasted European leaders, including German Chancellor Angela Merkel, for plans in 2015 to distribute the burden of that year’s wave of refugees from the Middle East and Africa and refused to accept asylum seekers. His crackdowns on the media have led to “a degree of (state) media control unprecedented in an EU member state,” according to Reporters Without Borders.
More recently, after his ruling Fidesz party broke with its center-right political group in the European Parliament, Orban has embarked on a mission to unite Europe's right-wing forces into a new political formation.
By all accounts a soccer fanatic and a former player himself, Orban has often used the sport as his preferred venue for pushing his political vision and amplifying his image as a man of the people.
FILE - In this Tuesday, June 15, 2021 file photo supporters of Hungary before the Euro 2020 soccer championship group F soccer match between Hungary and Portugal at the Puskas Arena in Budapest, Hungary. (Tibor IllyesPool via AP, File)
Since the days of Hungary great Ferenc Puskas — widely regarded as one of the best players of all time who led “the Mighty Magyars” to the 1954 World Cup final and an Olympic gold medal at the 1952 Helsinki Games — the country has never again achieved world-class status in soccer. But Orban has attempted to rekindle some of the old magic.
In 2007, he founded the Puskas Soccer Academy in his home village of Felcsut, where he had played semi-professionally in the 1990s. His government also introduced a scheme where companies may donate money to sports clubs in lieu of paying corporate tax, an arrangement that since 2010 has netted clubs as much as $2.7 billion — money that critics say would have been better spent on Hungary's ailing health care sector.
The government also directly funds the sport, paying for several of the 32 stadiums that have been built or renovated in Hungary since Orban assumed power, making the structures something of a symbol of state largesse.
FILE - In this Saturday, July 9, 2016 file photo Munich's stadium is illuminated in rainbow colors on the occasion of Christopher Street Day in Munich, Germany. UEFA has declined the Munich city council's application to have its stadium illuminated in rainbow colors for Germany's final Euro 2020 group game against Hungary June 23. Populist Prime Minister Viktor Orban has long used soccer to advance his right-wing politics, and now widespread international criticism of a new Hungarian law that is seen as targeting the LGBT community has turned this month's Euro 2020 tournament into a major stage for his challenge to Europe's liberal values. (Tobias Hasedpa via AP, File)
This major injection of capital into soccer has made games a popular meeting place for politicians and the politically connected. Orban is often photographed at games with some of Hungary's most successful businessmen, including billionaire Sandor Csanyi, Hungary's second wealthiest person who is also the president of the Hungarian soccer federation and a UEFA vice president.
The games themselves have also become battlegrounds for displays of Hungary's values. After a recent game in Budapest between Hungary's national team and Portugal, UEFA received complaints that Hungarian fans were carrying homophobic banners.
Video from the game also showed Hungarian fans chanting “Cristiano homosexual!” at Portugal captain Cristiano Ronaldo during the match. In 2017, FIFA, soccer’s international governing body, fined the Hungarian soccer federation $22,000 after Hungarian fans directed the same chant at Ronaldo at a World Cup qualifier in Budapest.
FILE - In this Tuesday April 24, 2001 file photo Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban, right, and German lawmaker Heinz Schmitt fight for the ball during a friendly international soccer match between Hungarian Parliament and German Bundestag in Budapest. Populist Prime Minister Viktor Orban has long used soccer to advance his right-wing politics, and now widespread international criticism of a new Hungarian law that is seen as targeting the LGBT community has turned this month's Euro 2020 tournament into a major stage for his challenge to Europe's liberal values. (AP PhotoMTI, Szilard Koszticsak, File)
Earlier in the tournament, during a friendly match in Budapest between Ireland and Hungary, Hungarian fans booed Irish players as they knelt on the field as a sign of solidarity against racism.
Orban seized the opportunity to denounce the gesture that has swept Europe and the United States amid calls for action against racial injustice. He defended the fans, asserting that “politics has no place in sports,” and chided the Irish national team, telling them not to “provoke the host if you come as a guest.”
Hungarians only kneel before God, their country, and their lovers, he said.
FILE - In this Monday, Feb. 10, 2020 file photo German Chancellor Angela Merkel, right, and Hungary's Prime Minister Victor Orban, left, arrive for a statement prior to a meeting at the chancellery in Berlin, Germany. (AP PhotoMarkus Schreiber, File)
Levente Toth, 45, a Hungarian fan who traveled to Munich to view Wednesday’s game, said that he thought the push to illuminate Germany’s stadium in rainbow colors “has no place in sports,” adding that he thought opposition to the new law was “overblown” and echoing the typical message that the legislation protects children.
“No one wants to harm gays or people who think differently or people of different sexual orientations,” he said.
But Toth said those displaying homophobic banners or engaging in hateful chants at games “should be lifted out of the crowd.”
FILE - In this Tuesday, June 15, 2021 file photo Portugal's Cristiano Ronaldo celebrates after scoring his second team goal during the Euro 2020 soccer championship group F match between Hungary and Portugal at the Ferenc Puskas stadium in Budapest, Hungary. Video from the game showed Hungarian fans chanting "Cristiano homosexual!" at Portuguese captain Cristiano Ronaldo during the match. In 2017, FIFA, soccer's international governing body, fined the Hungarian Football Federation $22,000 after Hungarian fans directed the same chant at Ronaldo at a World Cup qualifier in Budapest. (Bernadett SzaboPool via AP, File)
FILE - In this June 14, 2021 file photo a drag queen waves a rainbow flag during an LGBT rights demonstration in front of the Hungarian Parliament building in Budapest, Hungary. Populist Prime Minister Viktor Orban has long used soccer to advance his right-wing politics, and now widespread international criticism of a new Hungarian law that is seen as targeting the LGBT community has turned this month's Euro 2020 tournament into a major stage for his challenge to Europe's liberal values. (AP PhotoBela Szandelszky, File)