Országos Bajnokság I (men's water polo)

Országos Bajnokság I

Founded	1904; 118 years ago (1904)
Country	Hungary
Confederation	LEN (Europe)
Number of teams	16
Level on pyramid	1
Relegation to
Domestic cup(s)	Magyar Kupa
International cup(s)	LEN Champions League LEN Euro Cup
Current champions	Szolnok (10th title) (2020–21)
Most championships	Újpest (26 titles)
TV partners	M4 Sport
Website	www.waterpolo.hu
Current: 2021–22 Országos Bajnokság I

Országos Bajnokság I (English: Nationwide Championship I, commonly abbreviated OB I) is the highest level water polo league for men in Hungary, that is administered and supervised by the Hungarian Water Polo Federation. Since 2009, after signed a four-year sponsorship contract with telecommunications company Vodafone, the competition is officially known as Vodafone OB I.^[1]

Current teams[]

The following 14 clubs compete in the OB I during the 2021–22 season:

Team	Home city	Pool	Colours
BVSC	Budapest (XIV. ker)	Szőnyi úti Uszoda
Debrecen	Debrecen	Debreceni Sportuszoda
Eger	Eger	Bitskey Aladár Uszoda
Ferencváros	Budapest (IX. ker)	FTC uszoda, Népliget
Bp. Honvéd	Budapest (XIX. ker)	Kőér utcai Uszoda
Kaposvár	Kaposvár	Csík Ferenc Sportuszoda
Miskolc	Miskolc	Kemény Dénes Sportuszoda
OSC	Budapest (XI. ker)	Nyéki Imre Uszoda
PVSK	Pécs	Abay Nemes Oszkár Sportuszoda
Szeged	Szeged	Tiszavirág Sportuszoda
Szentes	Szentes	Dr. Rébeli Szabó József Sportuszoda
Szolnok	Szolnok	Tiszaligeti Uszoda
UVSE	Budapest (IV. ker)	Komjádi Béla Sportuszoda
Vasas	Budapest (XIII. ker)	Komjádi Béla Sportuszoda

Previous winners[]

Notes[]

• 1914–16: Cancelled due to war.
• 2019–20: Canceled due to COVID-19 pandemic.

Name changes[]

• Budapesti Honvéd SE (Bp. Honvéd): 1949 Budapesti Honvéd SE, 1999 Honvéd-Spartacus, 2000 Honvéd Domino, 2001 Domino-BHSE, 2007 Domino-Honvéd, 2010 Grupama Honvéd, 2013 Racionet Honvéd, 2018 Bp. Honvéd
• Ferencvárosi TC (FTC): (1904 Ferencvárosi TC, 1950 EDOSZ, 1951 Bp. Kinizsi, 1957 Ferencváros, 1989 FTC-Törley, 1993 Ferencváros, 1994 FTC-Vitasport, 1996 FTC-Vitalin, 1999 FTC-Thomas Jeans, 2000 FTC-Mirato, 2001 FTC-VMAX, 2003 Jégcsillag-FTC, 2004 Betonút-FTC, 2006 FTC-Aprilia, 2008 FTC-Fisher Klíma, 2012 Széchenyi Bank-FTC, 2014 Ferencváros, 2015 FTC-PQS Waterpolo, 2018 FTC-Telekom Waterpolo)
• Újpesti TE (UTE): 1891 Újpesti TE, 1950 Bp. Dózsa, 1957 Újpesti Dózsa, 1990 Újpest, 1993 UTE-Primavera, 1994 UTE-Office & Home, 1998 UTE-Taxi2000, 1999 UTE-Santal-Taxi2000, 2000 UTE-Humet, 2002 UTE-Taxi2000, 2004 UTE-VB Leasing, 2006 UTE-Óbuda-Újlak, 2007 Uniqa-UTE, 2010 Újpest)

Performances[]

By club[]

Club	Winners	Runners-up	Third place	Winning years
Újpest	26	16	7	1930, 1931, 1932, 1933, 1934, 1935, 1936, 1937, 1938, 1939, 1941, 1942, 1945, 1946, 1948, 1950, 1951, 1952, 1955, 1960, 1967, 1986, 1991, 1993, 1994, 1995
Ferencváros	23	13	21	1910, 1911, 1912, 1913, 1918, 1919, 1920, 1921, 1922, 1925, 1927, 1944, 1953, 1956, 1962, 1963, 1965, 1968, 1988, 1990, 2000, 2018, 2019
Vasas	18	18	5	1947, 1949, 1953, 1975, 1976, 1977, 1979, 1980, 1981, 1982, 1983, 1984, 1989, 2007, 2008, 2009, 2010, 2012
Szolnok	10	6	6	1954, 1957, 1958, 1959, 1961, 1964, 2015, 2016, 2017, 2021
BVSC	7	9	6	1966, 1985, 1987, 1996, 1997, 1998, 1999
OSC	7	7	4	1969, 1970, 1971, 1972, 1973, 1974, 1978
Bp. Honvéd	6	2	11	2001, 2002, 2003, 2004, 2005, 2006
Magyar Úszó Egylet	4	1	1	1906, 1907, 1908, 1909
III. Kerületi TVE	3	9	5	1923, 1924, 1928
Eger	3	6	6	2011, 2013, 2014
	2	6	9	1929, 1943
	2	1	-	1904, 1905
	1	4	-	1917
	1	2	1	1940
	1	1	1	1992
	-	6	9	-
	-	1	-	-
	-	1	-	-
	-	1	-	-
Szentes	-	1	-	-
Szeged	-	-	7	-
	-	-	1	-
Nemzeti SC	-	-	1	-
	-	-	1	-

• The bolded teams are currently playing in the season of the Hungarian League.

Most seasons[]

The number of seasons that each team (in alphabetical order) has played in the top division from 1904 until 2021–22. A total of 61 teams had competed in at least one season at the top division. Ferencváros is the only teams to have played in the top division in every season since the league's inception in its modern form.

• 111: Ferencváros
• 087: Újpest
• 085: Eger
• 074: Vasas
• 071: BVSC, Szolnok
• 061: Bp. Honvéd
• 056: OSC
• 052: Szentes
• 044: Szeged
• 042:
• 038: Tungsram
• 036: MTK Budapest
• 031: Tatabánya
• 024: III. Kerület
• 023: MAC
• 020: Nemzeti SC
• 018: MAFC, KSI
• 017: Magyar Úszó Egylet
• 016: Csepel, Pécsi VSK
• 012: Szegedi Úszó Egylet
• 011: BEAC, Debrecen
• 010: Kaposvár
• 009:
• 008: BKV Előre, Bp. Vörös Meteor, UVSE
• 007: Miskolc
• 005: ,
• 003: Balatoni Úszó Egylet, Óbuda TE, Vívó és Atlétikai Club, Volán, Cegléd, Neptun VSC, AVUS
• 002: Gamma SE, , Erzsébeti TC, Marosvásárhelyi SE, , Szegedi MTE, Szegedi Dózsa, Szent István University, Fehérvár Póló SE
• 001: Postatakarékpénztár, Szegedi VSE, Közalkalmazottak SE, Angyalföldi Sportiskola DSE, Eszterházy Károly University, YBL Waterpolo Club

The teams in Bold participate in the 2021–22 OB I.

Format[]

As we can see from the chart the number of teams in the Hungarian First Division changed a lot and continuously. The league started in 1904 with four teams and with the formation of teams the league expanded continuously. Currently, there are 14 teams in the first division.

Season	Number of teams
from 1904 to 1905	4 teams
in 1906	2 teams
from 1907 to 1908	1 team
from 1909 to 1918	2 teams
from 1919 to 1920	4 teams
from 1921 to 1922	5 teams
in 1923	6 teams
from 1924 to 1925	7 teams
in 1926	6 teams
from 1927 to 1928	7 teams
from 1929 to 1933	9 teams
from 1934 to 1936	8 teams
from 1937 to 1938	9 teams
from 1939 to 1942	10 teams
from 1943 to 1944	11 teams
in 1945	8 teams
in 1946	11 teams
in 1947	12 teams
from 1948 to 1953	10 teams
in 1954	12 teams
from 1955 to 1959	10 teams
from 1960 to 1961	12 teams
from 1962 to 1973	10 teams
from 1974 to 1979	12 teams
from 1980 to 1988–89	14 teams
from 1996-97 to 1998–99	12 teams
in 1999–00	10 teams
in 2000–01	12 teams
in 2001–02	13 teams
from 2002-03 to 2008–09	12 teams
in 2009–10	11 teams
in 2010–11	13 teams
in 2011–12	12 teams
from 2012–13 to 2014–15	14 teams
from 2015–16 to 2020–21	16 teams
from 2021–22 to present	14 teams

Hungarian clubs in European competitions[]

		Champions League					Euro Cup					Cup Winners' Cup (defunct)
		C	Winning year(s)	RU	SF		C	Winning year(s)	RU	SF		C	Winning year(s)	RU	SF
Orvosegyetem		2	,	2	1		0		0	0		0		1
Vasas		2	, 1985	1	6		0		0	3		3	, , 2002	1
Honvéd		1	2004	3	0		0		0	1		0		1
Újpest		1	1994	2	1		3	, ,	0	0		0		0
Ferencváros		1	2019	0	1		2	2017, 2018	2	1		4	, , ,	1
Szolnok		1	2017	0	1		0		0	1		0		0	0
Budapesti VSC		0		1	1		0		0	1		0		2
Szeged		0		0	0		1	2009	1	2		0		0	0
Eger		0		0	1		0		1	0		0		0	0
Debrecen		0		0	0		0		0	1		0		0	0
		0		0	0		0		0	0		0		1
TOTAL		8 title		9	10	6 title		4	9	7 title		7

See also[]

• Magyar Kupa (National Cup of Hungary)
• Hungary men's national water polo team

References[]

External links[]

• Hungarian Water Polo Federaration (in Hungarian)
• OB I at waterpoloworld.com (in English)