A few years ago, Callum Styles was doing his routine pre-match interview with the in-house media team at Barnsley when he decided he wanted to talk about something.
In the words of football journalists, it was a “come to me” request.
But this time in October 2020 was different. A promising young English midfielder, Styles isn’t blinking at suitors in the transfer market but wants people to know he’s qualified to play international football for Hungary or Ukraine – “Just put it in Put it there,” he recalled. Competitor“And hope to gain something.”
For weeks, nothing happened. “And… you know how everything spreads through social media now?” he said. “That’s basically it. It’s on fire.
The story was picked up by a sports website in Budapest. The Hungarian Football Association contacted Barnsley and contacted Styles’ agent, who confirmed the story and provided more details about the player’s pedigree. Due to Covid-19 travel restrictions, Hungary began monitoring him – remotely at first – and then, after being suitably impressed, began exploring further.
Stiles envisages that the first step will be to call up players from Hungary’s under-21 youth team. But after clearing various administrative hurdles, he was directly selected for the senior team and made his international debut in March 2022 against Serbia in Budapest. 0 beat England.
Callum Styles competes with Conor Gallagher during Hungary’s win at Molineux (Shaun Botterill/Getty Images)
The 24-year-old spent last season on loan at Sunderland and made 22 appearances for the Hungarian national team. He said everything went well. He is firmly expected to start in Cologne’s opening game against Switzerland on Saturday, having overcame an injury scare in the final warm-up game against Israel last Saturday (a 3-0 win).
He loves playing for Hungary. He can’t wait for the European Cup. But he won’t pretend that he grew up eating goulash and listening to the stories of Ferenc Puskas while Franz Liszt’s Rhapsody played in the background.
Instead, he grew up without knowing any connection to the country he now proudly represents.
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Stiles, who grew up in Middleton, Greater Manchester, knew his grandads Jane and Magdonna were originally from somewhere in Eastern Europe. But he didn’t know where.
“When I was a kid, I didn’t really pay attention to any of this,” he said. “I’m just playing and enjoying life. You’re playing with your toys or you’re hanging out with your friends. Those conversations don’t really happen until later.
“I always went to my grandma’s house because she lived around the corner from my parents. I went there twice a week and she always made chicken noodle soup. But she died when I graduated from elementary school.
He became a professional footballer as a teenager, impressing in Barnsley’s first team, and as he began to learn more about how Young and Magdonna played in ” in their early twenties” when they moved to the UK from Ukraine and Hungary respectively. Details about Jane’s past in Ukraine are sketchy — “We couldn’t find his old passport” — but much more is known about Magdonna.
Styles and his girlfriend want to visit Hungary during the March 2020 international break. When he finally arrived in Budapest two years later, for the first time on Hungarian soil, he joined the national team.
This was daunting at first, especially since he didn’t speak a word of Hungarian (something he later started correcting on Duolingo). But his new teammates welcomed him from the start. They didn’t expect him to sing the national anthem — which he can now — but they were impressed when he performed 50 Cent’s “Candy Shop” during the induction ceremony.
He is not the only player on the team to qualify through dual citizenship. Hertha Berlin winger Palko Dardai was born in Germany, the son of former Hungarian international Palko Dardai, who played for Hertha Berlin and served as head coach. RB Leipzig defender Willy Orban was born in Germany, but his father is Hungarian. Le Havre full-back Loic Nego played for his native France at under-16 to under-20 level but became a Hungarian citizen after more than five years at Bournemouth Defender Milos Kolkoz was born in Serbia but, like Styles, has a Hungarian grandmother.
“Our manager (Marco Rossi) is Italian,” Stiles said. “He explained to me the welcome he received, even though he was not Hungarian or of Hungarian descent. And a lot of the meetings were in English, which helped a lot. The lads talked to me and they were really welcoming.
“But going to the country for the first time was a wonderful experience. My debut made my performance even better. Settling in was much easier than I thought. I felt at home immediately.
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For much of recent history, a player who found himself eligible to play for Hungary still had little or no chance of playing in a major tournament.
As one of the giants of world football during the “Magyar” era of the 1950s and 1960s, Hungary’s participation in the 1986 World Cup was their last major tournament appearance in thirty years.
But this will be their third successive European title. The expansion to 24 teams made qualifying easier, but the improvement in Hungary’s performance was undeniable. They finished first in their group without losing a single match in the qualifiers. They remained unbeaten in a total of 14 games until being beaten 2-1 by the Republic of Ireland in their penultimate warm-up match.
When UEFA launched the Nations League in 2018, Hungary was in the third tier alongside the likes of Estonia and Lithuania. In the most recent season, they finished second in the first team, beating Germany (1-0) away and England at home (1-0) and away (4-0). Bulgaria equalized in stoppage time to ensure qualification for the European Cup. They flew back to Budapest, headed to the city center and danced the night away – players and supporters alike. “It was crazy,” Stiles recalled.
“We’ve been performing well as a team, improving game after game and year after year,” he said. “When we beat England it was a bit ‘wow’. The manager (Rossi) has changed a lot. There has been a lot of progress since he started. I feel we are a good team.
The star player of the team is Liverpool midfielder Dominik Szoboszlai. “He’s a world-class player, a leader,” Styles said. “In the camp he was cold. But on the pitch he brings that extra percentage, that X factor you need sometimes when the game is a bit boring and you need someone to create some magic and force the team to win 1-0 or whatever. What.
“But we are a team. We won’t get carried away but we should stay confident because we have shown we can compete with top teams. Obviously anything can change in these games because of the pressure of the Euros but we have a team A very good team and hopefully we can improve.
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Stiles will be in the German shop window as he looks to capitalize on an aggressive loan spell at Sunderland this summer with a permanent move from Barnsley – whom Barnsley lost in the League One play-off semi-finals Bolton Wanderers.
He has enjoyed his time at Sunderland but is unsure of their plans as they have yet to appoint a new manager. If not Sunderland then he hopes to return to the Championship with another club.
Callum Stiles spent last season at Sunderland but his long-term future is uncertain (George Wood/Getty Images)
But the club’s wishes were put on hold. “International football is my focus: the European Cup and doing my best for Hungary,” he said. “The rest will take care of itself.”
His parents, girlfriend and several friends will also travel to Germany. Have they all learned the national anthem? “They already know,” he said. “We sing this song all the time.”
One of his aunts, who lives in Hungary, attended some of the home games, but he wasn’t sure if she would be able to travel to Germany. He hoped so. Either way, Styles is looking forward to the experience — both on a deeper personal and professional level.
Flag of convenience? Maybe initially, but he has embraced his second nationality. When he put on the Hungarian jersey, he thought about his grandmother and wondered what she would think if he wore the Hungarian colors.
“For my mom’s side of the family, it’s special to see me represent our bloodline,” he said. “It’s an honor to play for Hungary. It’s in my DNA.
