Diósgyőr-Vasgyári Testgyakorlók Köre is a professional football club based in Miskolc, Hungary.
1910s The preparations for the establishment of a sports club of the ironworks started at the end of the 1909. Vilmos Vanger, an elementary school teacher and a five-member committee asked the director of the iron works to approve the foundation of a sports club. On 6 February 1910, the Diósgyőr-Vasgyári Testgyakorlók Köre was founded at the premises of the factory. The red and white were chosen as the colours of the club. Vilmos Vanger was nominated as the first president of the club, while, Árpád Weisz became the vice-president. The secretary was Andor Erdélyi, while the finance director was István Hamza. The first coach of the club was Gyula Molnár.
The foundation of the club was approved by the Ministry of Interior therefore the club could participate in a Hungarian League match as early as 1912. In 1916 and 1918 the club won the Northern Hungarian championships. The club had played with all of the first league teams when it celebrated its 10th birthday.
1940s The club first reached the top league of the Hungarian League in 1940. In the 1940–41 season Diósgyőr finished 6th as Diósgyőri MÁVAG. János Füzér and István Berecz scored 33 goals during the season.
In the following season, 1941–42 Diósgyőr finished 8th. During this season the club was able to beat Ferencváros by 3–2 for the first time in history. They also managed to reach the final of the 1942 Hungarian Cup, after beating Újpest 3–6, but ultimately lost 2–6 in the final, against FTC.
The results of the 1942–43 season was a bit worse since the club finished only the 12th, however, during this season they also could beat its Budapest rival Ferencváros 2–1 at home.
In the 1943–44 season the club finished 11th. Diósgyőr managed to reach the quarter-finals of the cup, losing 0–1 to Ferencváros.
The club were leading the table by matchday 6 of the 1944/45 season, but the league was interrupted as the Soviets were closing in on Hungary in January 1945, and the season ended without a champion declared.
After the war, the national league resumed after a one-year-long hiatus, in the 1945/46 season. DVTK were relegated at the end of the season. They spent the ensuing 4 seasons there, finishing 2nd (and 2 points off 1st place), 5th and 6th, before ultimately reaching promotion as champions in 1950.
The upper half of thetable at the end of the 1949/50 season of the Eastern Conference of the 2nd Division #TeamMWDLGDPoints1Diósgyőri Vasas 30204680 : 37442Kerámia SE30194768 : 46423Ózdi Vasas SzIT TK 30177665 : 32414Miskolci MNVTE30177682 : 54415Miskolci Lokomotív30175877 : 4139
1950s DVTK started off the decade under the guidance of coach József Tomecskó, (he previously managed the club from 1943 until 1944) who managed the team for two years, and 101 league games, achieving an 8th-place finish with the club in their first season back at the 1st Division, and an 11th-place finish the next season.
From 1951 to 1956, the club's official name was Diósgyőri Vasas. Tomecskó parted ways with the club in 1952, and was replaced by Pál Szabó. The team finished the 1952 season in the relegation zone, being 3 points away from safety.
The club would be crowned champions of the Eastern Conference of the 2nd Division in the 1953 season, and were promoted again, finishing 8 points above Miskolci Honvéd.
Their first season back in the top-flight was a success, and the team finished 9th, with DVTK's all-time topscorer, Zoltán Dobó netting 16 goals.
At the end of the 1955 season, the club sat at 12th place, which meant DVTK would spend the next season in the second tier of Hungarian football. It would not take long for the team to be promoted again, as they only spent a single season in the 2nd Division, being crowned champions for a third time.
From the 1956 season onwards, the club's name was DVTK - Miskolc. Largely due to the work of coach Pál Teleki, who was part of Hungary's 1934 World Cup Bronze medal-winning squad, the team managed to finish 9th place for 2 consecutive seasons.
The team managed to finish the 1959/60 season 5th place, under the watch of Sándor Felföldi.
1960s The club finished the 1960/61 season at the bottom of the league, managing only 3 wins out of 26 games, and were relegated again. The last game of the season was a memorable 4–7 defeat against fellow Eastern Hungarian side DVSC, who were also relegated. The club finished the next season 4th place in the 2nd Division, with 35 points.
The following season, under coach Márton Bukovi, DVTK were vying for a place back in the 1st Division again, and put on a great performance throughout the season, winning 19 of their 30 games, and losing only 3 times. DVTK defeated Budapest Spartacus 2–1 in front of 15,000 Diósgyőr fans on the last day of the season. The result meant, that the team would finish a mere one point above fellow Borsod-county club, Ózdi Kohász, and were promoted back to the top-flight.
This was the club's third 2nd Division title in 10 years. The club would spend the following 2 seasons in the 1st division, coached by György Nagy. They finished 11th, then 14th, which meant relegation, again, at the end of the 1964 season. The club performed under expectations, crashing out of the cup in the first round, after drawing 2–2 at Gyöngyösi Spartacus. The MLSZ had a rule in place, whereby in case of a draw, the team in the lower division would progress in the cup.
In the wake of relegation, Nagy was replaced by Kálmán Preiner, who wasted no time getting DVTK back to the first division, and achieved promotion via 2nd place first time trying, finishing 4 points behind Dunaújvárosi Kohász. DVTK also had a cinderella-like run in the 1965 Hungarian Cup, takung revenge on Gyöngyös, by beating them 1–6, and eliminating MTK and Újpest in the process. In the final, Győri-ETO proved to be too difficult of an opponent, and the Miskolc-based team got hammered 0–4, losing their second Hungarian cup final after 1942.
The club finished 9th in the 1966 season, with Preiner parting ways with the club. He was replaced by Pál Szabó, who returned to the club after 15 years, having previously managed the red and whites for a brief period of time in 1952.
The club achieved a 7th-place finish with Szabó in the 1967 season, with two DVTK players, Lajos Szurgent and András Horváth both scoring double digit goals, with 13 and 10 respectively. The club reached the round of 16 of the 1967 Hungarian cup, but were eliminated by Újpesti Dózsa. Szabó left at the end of the 1967 season, to be succeeded by Gyula Teleki.
Teleki only lasted 23 games at the club, and was sacked before the end of the season. His temporary replacement was Oszkár Szigeti, who just about managed to keep the team in the 1st Division, winning 2, and drawing 2 of his 7 games in charge.
DVTK was managed by Sándor Tátrai during the 1969 season. The team had an overall lackluster season, only being 4 points from safety at the end of the season, finishing 13th, thanks to two draws in their last 2 games.
1970s
For the spring part of the 1970 season, the Hungarian Football Federation decided to split the 16 top-flight teams into two groups of 8. DVTK got drawn to Group A, and achieved a 4th-place finish, winning 7 of their 14 games. The club came close to its third cup final, but lost in the semi-finals to Komlói Bányász.
After starting off the 1970/71 season poorly, and only managing to win 1 out of their first 5 games, DVTK sacked Tátrai, and replaced him with József Tóth for 2 games. The club's next permanent coach was Imre Mathesz, whose first game in charge was an away fixture against Csepel in October 1970. Mathesz managed to keep the club up, despite the sluggish start, achieving a 12th-place finish.
The club's seemingly never ending bad performance carried on to the next season. They were eliminated early from the Cup, by SZEOL and until matchday 23, DVTK had only won 3 games. Matheisz lost his job after a 0:3 away loss against Budapest Honvéd, on matchday 22. Despite this, the team, miraculously, didn't lose any of their remaining 7 fixtures, beat Csepeli SC, Rába-ETO, and Komlói Bányász, and managed to stay up under temporary head coach József Tóth.
DVTK started off the 1972/73 season under Kálmán Preiner, who had previously managed the club in 1965. Despite remaining in the fight to stay up until the very last day of the season, Szegedi EOL, who also needed a win to keep their top-flight membership, emerged victorious over DVTK, and an 87' minute strike from Ferenc Vass sealed the club's fate. The loss ended DVTK's uninterrupted 7-year stay in the top-flight, their longest up to that point. DVTK also crashed out of the cup in the round of 16, following a 5–2 loss against Vasas.
Despite the relegation, DVTK kept Preiner at the helm for the following season. Preiner managed to repay the club's instilled faith in him, and got the club promoted as champions, in a fairytale season, winning 19 of their games, and only losing 6, winning every single but three of their home games. Preiner got DVTK promoted first time asking, the same way he did in 1965.
The 1974/75 season was the start of Géza Szabó's legendary tenure as coach of DVTK. His first game in charge was a 0–1 loss at home against Pécsi Dózsa. DVTK fans could probably not even imagine the heights that he would go on to take the club. DVTK finished the season 11th place, winning 7 games. They also managed to get to the quarter-finals of the cup, where, after a 0–0 draw, were elimanated on penalties against Újpesti Dózsa.
The following season, there were no relegations from the 1st Division, and DVTK finished 14th, winning only 6 of their 30 games. In the cup, Diósgyőr progressed to the quarter-finals again, where they encountered Ferencváros. Despite winning the away leg 0–1, the club were elimanated on away goals, after losing the home leg 1–2. At the end of the 1976/77 season, the club finished 10th, winning 13 games. Other memorable moments of the season include DVTK finally beating Ferencváros at home, for the first time since 1966, in front of 25,000 people. Thanks to a brace from Ferenc Oláh, and a goal from Fekete, Diósgyőr managed to defeat Ferencváros 3:2 in October 1976.
Diósgyőr advanced from the groupstage of the 1976/77 Hungarian Cup, finishing ahead of Videoton, Máv-DAC, and Nagykanizsai Olajbányász SE. At the time, instead of a cup final, the cup was decided by the last four remaining teams playing each other in a round-robin format. In the final four, DVTK found themselves in a group with Ferencváros, Újpest and Vasas. DVTK won the first game, defeating Újpest 4–1, with Görgei scoring a hat-trick. The club was defeated by Ferencváros, but overcame Vasas, thanks to a late goal from György Tatár. FTC and DVTK finished on equal points, but due to better goal difference, DVTK won the 1976–77 season of the Hungarian Cup, for the first time in their history, therefore they qualified for the UEFA Cup Winners' Cup 1977-78 season. In the first round they encountered with the Turkish Beşiktaş J.K. The first leg was won by the Turkish club 2–0 at the İnönü Stadium, while Diósgyőr trashed Besiktas at home in Miskolc. In the second round Diósgyőr hosted the 1976–77 Yugoslav Cup winner Hajduk Split and they won the match by 2–1. However, in the second leg the Hungarian team lost to 2–1 and 4–3 on penalty shoot-out.
The 1977/78 season was Szabó's 4th season at DVTK, and he reached a 6th-place finish in the Championship with the club, winning 11 games. Despite going into the cup as the defending champions, DVTK were eliminated in the first round, after losing 9–8 on penalties at Tyukodi TSZ.