SPORTS IN Budapest

Hungary's great footballing days are long past - the golden team of the 1950s that beat England 6-3 with stars such as Ferenc Puskás and József Bozsik is a world away from today's national team that struggles to qualify for any big tournaments. The club scene is also in deep crisis, with teams floundering in a financial desert amid poor infrastructure and bad management. While international matches are held at the Népstadion - generally filling just a third of its 76,000 seats - club football revolves around the turf of three premier league teams . Ferencvárosi Torna Club (aka FTC or Fradi) is the biggest club in the country, based at IX, Ülloi út 129, near the Népliget metro. Fradi is almost a national institution, and its supporters, dressed in the club's colours of green and white, are the loudest presence at international matches too. The club has long had right-wing ties - this was the fascists' team before the war, and in recent years it has attracted a strong skinhead - and anti-Semitic - element. When a businessman of Jewish origin bought the club in 2001, it resulted in an outpouring of violently anti-Semitic comments from the nationalist right wing. Fradi fans try to pick fights with supporters of Újpesti Torna Egylet, whose ground is at IV, Megyeri út 13 (four stops on bus #30 from Újpest Központ metro station). Their main rivals are MTK, whose club is at VIII, Salgótarján utca 12-14 (tram #37 from Blaha Lujza tér).

Horse-racing has flourished for many years in Hungary, but is currently in a state of turmoil. It was introduced from England by Count Széchenyi in 1827 and flourished until 1949, when flat racing ( galopp ) was banned by the Communists. For many years punters could only enjoy trotting races at the Ügetopálya just beyond Keleti Station, but in the mid-1980s flat racing resumed at Kincsem Park, further east of the centre. The sport since then has been dogged by financial problems and mismanagement, and the announcement in 2000 that the trotting track (the Ügetopálya ) was being sold off for redevelopment caused uproar in racing circles.

First held in 1986, the Hungarian Grand Prix takes place every summer at the purpose-built Formula One Racing track at Mogyoród , 20km northeast of Budapest. It is usually scheduled for mid-August, and financial uncertainties surrounding the event spark off rumours every year that this is the last year it will be held. Details are available from Tourinform, any listings magazine or the website www.hungaroring.hu . You can reach the track by special buses from the Árpád Bridge bus station; trains from Keleti Station to Fót, and then a bus from there; or by HÉV train from Örs vezér tere to the Szilasliget stop, which is 1800m northeast of Gate C. Tickets , available from Ostermann Forma 1 Kft., Apáczai Csere János utca 11, 3rd floor (tel 1/317-2844) or from booths in Ferenciek tér, range from £13/$20 for the first day, to between £67/$95 and £180/$265 for the final day, and from £72/$103 to £240/$340 for a three-day pass - the price being partly determined by the location, and whether you book in advance or risk disappointment on the day.