Thirty-five-time champions Ferencváros hosted France's OGC Nice at home in the third round of the UEFA Europa League main competition. Our team tuned up for the clash with a win, beating Fehérvár FC 2-0 at home in the OTP Bank Liga on Sunday. Nice finished 1-1 at home to Nantes in the French league.

Head coach Pascal Jansen nominated the starting line-up of Dibusz - Makreckis, Cissé, Gartenmann, Civic - Rommens, Abu Fani - Traoré, Zachariassen, Kady - Varga Barnabás for the UEL match against Nice.

First half

The first chance was created by our team, Traoré moved in from the right, shot with the left, but Bulka saved his attempt. In the sixth minute, Abu Fani broke in front of the opponent's goal, dribbled all the way to the baseline and was cleared by the Nice defenders. In the 8th minute, Traoré again found himself in position, his shot from an acute angle was again saved by Bulka. A minute later, Kady curled a dangerous shot from 18 meters just wide. The visitors first tried a shot in the 12th minute, but Mendy missed the target. In the 14th minute Diop's powerful shot was saved with great skill by Dibusz Dénes. In the 16th minute we took the lead! Rommens curved a free kick inside the box, Cissé's header bounced into the net from Lumpungu's (1-0)! In the 19th minute Barnabás Varga received a yellow card. In the 20th minute, two Nice players collided, Diop had to be nursed. In the 32nd minute, a dangerous cross was saved by Cissé. In the 39th minute, Lumpungu tripped Zachariassen in the penalty area. Kady shot the ball, Bulka saved with great bravery and then Zachariassen's shot from the rebound was saved by the visiting goalkeeper. In the 43rd minute, Clauss' shot from an acute angle was saved by Dibusz. In the third minute of the five-minute extra time, Kady passed to Abu Fani after a powerful solo shot from 18 metres out, but Bulka saved with great bravery yet another time. Then, in the dying minute of the first half, Traoré had another chance to shoot, but his effort missed the target. We went for the break with a deserved lead.

Second half

Our team started the second half better. In the 48th minute, Barnabás Varga headed wide after Zachariassen's cross. Shortly afterwards, Dibusz confidently saved a shot from substitute Boga. In the 60th minute, the spirited and well-playing Kady fired a 30-metre shot but missed the target. Immediately afterwards, Traoré shot from 20 metres out, but Bulka brilliantly pushed the ball to the side. In the 63rd minute, Barnabás Varga headed in a cross from Makreckis, but Abdelmonem saved from the goal. Franck Haise, the visitors' manager, made a substitution at the break and tried to shake up his side with a triple substitution midway through the second half. In the 70th minute, Barnabas Varga again slid towards the goal, but Bulka saved. A minute later, Traoré took a chance but his shot just missed the bottom right corner. At this point, Pascal Jansen made a trio of substitutions, with Ben Romdhane, Maiga and Ramírez coming on, and Civic, Kady and Zachariassan leaving the pitch. In the 79th minute Cho curled a dangerous cross into the middle but Dibusz saved. Later, Saldanha came on for Barnabas Varga in the 80th minute. In the 85th minute, Saldanha, who was about to launch, was stopped by Rosario with a foul, for which the referee sent him off. 

At the end of the second half, the referee called for a five-minute extra time, during which Pascal Jansen, who complained about a controversial incident, was also shown a yellow card. In the last minute of extra time our head coach made one more substitution, with Endre Botka replacing Abu Fani. With that time gone, the referee finally blew his whistle!

This meant that Ferencváros defeated French side OGC Nice 1-0 at the Groupama Aréna to claim our first win in the UEFA Europa League 2024/25 main draw. With the success, Fradi moved up to 21st place in the table ahead of the late evening matches.