In April 2022, the General Assembly decided to erect a statue of our legendary head coach, Ferenc Kovács. The work of sculptor Benedek Nagy has been completed, and on Sunday, before the match against Mezőkövesd, everyone will have the opportunity to view it, as the statue will be unveiled in a ceremony in front of the northern facade of the Sóstói Stadium at 18:00.

The ceremony will be open to the public, and both the City of Székesfehérvár and our club welcome all Vidi fans and interested parties to the event.

Ferenc Kovács, born on the 7th January 1934, and would have celebrated his 89th birthday this year.

He made his debut in the top division as a player in 1954, becoming Hungarian champion with MTK, a CWC finalist and two-time KK winner, and winning a bronze medal at the Rome Olympics. Immediately after his retirement, he started coaching, first with MTK's junior and then reserve teams. As a coach, he was promoted to the top division for the first time at the same time as Vidi: in 1968, he was given the first team bench of the blue and whites. After two seasons, he signed a contract with Eger, also in the National League, from where he moved to Fehérvár in 1972. In the following years he managed our club for three seasons and led the team to previously unimaginable success.

In 1973 we reached the European cup stage for the first time, and in 1976 we missed out on a first place league finish to Ferencváros in controversial circumstances, before knocking out Fenerbahce and Innsbruck in the UEFA Cup. In the summer of 1977 - by then he had been Lajos Baróti's assistant at the national team for six months - he left the Vidi bench to join Vasas, where he left after a year to take over Baróti's vacant position.

He was on the bench of the national team for seven games, then after a six-month break he became the head coach of the U21 national team and the head coach of Debrecen's NB I team. He held the latter post until 1983, when he returned to Vidi. In one season, he transformed Vidi from a relegation candidate to bronze medallist, József Szabó to top scorer, and in 1984-85, along with another third place finish, he collected a UEFA Cup silver medal at the end of an ever-memorable run.

A year later he left for Las Palmas in Spain, but returned for a third season in 1987. After a break in 1988, he moved to Szeged, ending his coaching career with a two-year stint at Újpest, where he won the cup with the purple and white.

Our memorable coach returned to our club in 2008, when he was made honorary president. He celebrated our third championship title on the spot, but on the 30th May 2018 he unexpectedly fell ill and passed away tragically. His funeral was attended by hundreds to pay their respects, and a memorial service was held at every ground during the final round of the NB I.