József Varga
Varga in April 2009
Personal information
Date of birth (1988-06-06) 6 June 1988
Place of birth Debrecen, Hungary
Height 1.75 m (5 ft 9 in)
Position(s) Defensive midfielder
Team information
Current team
Debrecen
Number 33
Youth career
2002–2007 Debrecen
2007 → Létavértes (loan)
Senior career*
Years Team Apps (Gls)
2007–2016 Debrecen 154 (5)
2013Greuther Fürth (loan) 6 (0)
2013–2014Middlesbrough (loan) 36 (0)
2016–2018 MOL Vidi 45 (0)
2018–2020 Puskás Akadémia 21 (1)
2019Puskás Akadémia II 2 (0)
2020– Debrecen 78 (4)
International career
2009–2010 Hungary U21 7 (0)
2009–2018 Hungary 34 (0)
Medal record
Debreceni VSC
WinnerHungarian League2009
WinnerHungarian League2010
WinnerHungarian League2012
WinnerHungarian Cup2008
WinnerHungarian Cup2010
WinnerHungarian Cup2012
WinnerHungarian Super Cup2009
WinnerHungarian Super Cup2010
WinnerHungarian League Cup2010
Runner-upHungarian League Cup2011
*Club domestic league appearances and goals, correct as of 20 December 2023

József Varga (Hungarian pronunciation: [ˈjoːʒɛf ˈvɒrɡɒ]; born 6 June 1988) is a Hungarian professional footballer who plays as a defensive midfielder for the Hungarian club Debrecen.

Club career

Early years

Varga was seven years old when he started playing football, influenced by his father. Playing primarily as a striker he made his breakthrough in 2000. In the 2007–08 season he started in the Debrecen B team before moving on to play for their A team.

Debrecen

Varga playing for Debrecen

Varga's first trophy was won against Budapest Honvéd by 4–1 on aggregate. The first leg finished 1–1 in the Bozsik Stadion. In the UEFA Champions League 2007–08 season Debrecen entered in the second qualifying round. Debrecen faced with the Swedish champion IF Elfsborg. Debreceni VSC were eliminated from the Champions League 1–0 on aggregate. In the Hungarian League 2007–08 season, Varga's team finished second while MTK became first. Debrecen won the Hungarian Cup in the 2007–08 season by beating Budapest Honvéd in the final 9–1 on aggregate. Debrecen played in the 2008–09 UEFA Cup. In the first round of the Central-East region they drew in Kazakhstan against Shakhter Karagandy 1–1, while in the second leg they beat the Kazakh team by 1–0. Debrecen qualified for the second round by 2–1 on aggregate. In the second round Debrecen faced with the Swiss BSC Young Boys.[1] Debrecen were eliminated from the UEFA Cup by 3–7 on aggregate. Rudolf won the 2008–09 Nemzeti Bajnokság I season after beating their provincial rivals Diósgyőri VTK 3–2 away. In the 2009–10 season, Debrecen played in the UEFA Champions League. After beating Kalmar FF, Levadia Tallinn, and Levski Sofia Debrecen reached the group stages of the 2009–10 UEFA Champions League season. Varga scored a goal against Levski in the Puskás Ferenc Stadium.

On 1 May 2012, Varga won the Hungarian Cup with Debrecen by beating MTK Budapest on penalty shoot-out in the 2011–12 season. This was the fifth Hungarian Cup trophy for Debrecen.[2] On 12 May 2012, Varga won the Hungarian League title with Debrecen after beating Pécs in the 28th round of the Hungarian League by 4–0 at the Oláh Gábor út Stadium which resulted the sixth Hungarian League title for the Hajdús.[3][4]

Greuther Fürth (loan)

On 30 January 2013, Varga joined Bundesliga club Greuther Fürth on loan from Debrecen until the end of the 2012–13 Bundesliga season. Varga was watched by several Premier League clubs including Swansea but Varga decided to move to Bavaria. On 1 February 2013, Varga played his first Bundesliga match in 2–1 victory over Schalke 04 in Gelsenkirchen at the Veltins-Arena.

Middlesbrough (loan)

On 25 June 2013, Varga signed on a season-long loan with English team, Middlesbrough. He was assigned the number 8 shirt previously worn by Newcastle United loanee Sammy Ameobi last season.[5] He made his debut for the English side in the opening match of the 2013–14 Championship season against Leicester City during an eventual 1-2 home loss. He was deployed by manager Tony Mowbray on the right-wing. He was later played at right back against Millwall and Burnley under the new management of Aitor Karanka, both performances were man of the match performances.

At the end of the season Varga returned to Debrecen after Middlesbrough refused to take up the option to buy Varga for €650,000 Middlesbrough boss Aitor Karanka stated this was because Varga was not a natural right back and to employ him as so would be a detriment to the player himself.[6]

International career

Varga József in a friendly tie against Poland on 15 November 2011

József Varga debuted in the Hungary national team on 10 October 2009 against Portugal. However Hungary lost to 3–0 at the Estádio da Luz in Lisbon Varga's performance was convincing, therefore he became a stable member of the national team during the coaching of the Dutch Erwin Koeman. Since then Varga was called up many times and he even played a defender against Sweden in the Euro 2012 qualifiers at the Puskás Ferenc Stadium because two of the key defenders Roland Juhász and Vilmos Vanczák could not play. Hungary beat 2–1 Sweden so his performance in the defence contributed to the success of the team.

Career statistics

Club

As of matches played 15 May 2022
Appearances and goals by club, season and competition
Club Season League National Cup League Cup Europe Total
AppsGoalsAppsGoalsAppsGoalsAppsGoalsAppsGoals
Debrecen 2007–08 0020600080
2008–09 190004020250
2009–10 191302093334
2010–11 2101031110360
2011–12 2615000311
2012–13 140100051201
2014–15 263101060343
2015–16 2504060350
2016–17 40004080
2020–21 26131292
2021–22 27110281
Total 207721116143428712
Greuther Fürth 2012–13 600060
Middlesbrough 2013–14 3401010360
Videoton 2016–17 1701000180
2017–18 2502050320
2018–19 30004070
Total 4503090570
Puskás Akadémia 2018–19 17110181
2019–20 402060
Total 21130241
Career total 297827117152439313

International

Appearances and goals by national team and year
National teamYearAppsGoals
Hungary 200920
201010
201170
201280
201370
201460
201500
Total310

Honours

Club

Debrecen

Individual

References

  1. "Rudolf flying as Debrecen dream on". UEFA. 14 August 2008. Retrieved 2 February 2013.
  2. "Debrecen lift cup after shoot-out success". UEFA.com. 2 May 2012. Retrieved 2 May 2012.
  3. "Debrecen 4–0 Pécs". UEFA.com. 12 May 2012. Retrieved 13 May 2012.
  4. "Debrecen crowned champions of Hungary". UEFA.com. 12 May 2012. Retrieved 13 May 2012.
  5. "Josef Varga: Middlesbrough agree loan deal for Debrecen midfielder". BBC Sport. Retrieved 26 June 2013.
  6. "DVSC: további 600 ezer euróba került volna Varga - sajtóhír". www.nso.hu. 20 May 2014.
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