Lights off in Hungary: Red Star kickoff time in doubt
Hungary banned kickoff times that need floodlights as of August 1. Hapoel Beer Sheva against Red Star is still listed for Tuesday at 19.30, and nobody has confirmed that hour will hold.
Everything at the Haladas stadium in Szombathely is ready for Tuesday evening: the pitch, the stands that hold roughly 9,700, the away sector fenced off for visitors. The only thing missing is confirmation that the floodlights are allowed to come on.
The third qualifying round tie for the Champions League, Hapoel Beer Sheva against Red Star Belgrade, is scheduled for Tuesday at 19.30. That kickoff time turned into an open question overnight, because in early August a 19.30 start in Hungary means playing under artificial light, and as of Saturday artificial light is decided by the federation rather than by the groundsman.
What the Hungarian federation actually ruled
The Hungarian Football Federation issued a ruling that took effect on August 1, 2026 and runs until further notice. It covers league matches in the first, second and third divisions. The federation’s statement reads:
all league matches in the first, second and third divisions, starting from Saturday, August 1, 2026, until further notice, will kick off at times that significantly reduce energy consumption, with particular emphasis on avoiding the use of artificial lighting
The federation also set an exact hour. “The latest possible kickoff time without artificial lighting is 17.30,” the same statement says. Clubs that cannot move a start early enough to produce the saving face postponement, and the federation said it would then negotiate compensation with clubs and broadcasters. Which is to say the bill for a low river eventually lands on television rights.
Why Hungarian electricity depends on the Danube
The trigger has nothing to do with football. The Danube has dropped, and output at the Paks nuclear plant, about 90 kilometers south of Budapest, dropped with it, because the plant draws its cooling water from that river. Paks is running at less than half power: 965 megawatts instead of the usual 2,000. That is a shortfall of more than a thousand megawatts from a single site, so the savings are being hunted where consumption is visible and easy to measure. Stadium floodlights sit near the top of that list.
Will the Szombathely match move
Officially, not yet. The ruling formally applies to domestic competitions, while kickoff times for European ties are set by UEFA in agreement with the host, so 19.30 has not been withdrawn. If the match were pushed into daylight under the Hungarian limit, it would start no later than 17.30, two hours earlier than what is printed on the tickets today.
The situation is odder still because the home side is already playing away from home. The Israeli champion stages its European matches outside the country, so Szombathely was an improvisation before any of this, and now it also depends on a Hungarian energy directive.
There is a practical arithmetic here for Red Star. Under UEFA rules the visiting club receives five percent of capacity, which at a ground of about 9,700 seats works out to roughly 475 tickets. Those have already gone on sale, and any change of hour hits supporters travelling from Serbia through Hungary who planned their return trip around a night game.
How both sides reached this round
Red Star came through the previous round without any trouble, 9-0 on aggregate against Larne. Hapoel had the harder route: beaten 1-2 in Iceland, the club won the return leg 2-0 to advance. The second leg in Belgrade is set for August 11.
When we reported that Red Star would play in Szombathely with Spain’s Jesus Gil Manzano appointed as referee, the only unknown was how the side would look on neutral ground in front of a few hundred of its own fans. Now the hour itself is an unknown.
Red Star is waiting on confirmation, and there is little room left: the first leg is on Tuesday, the return on August 11 in Belgrade.
