Inside the private life of Hungary's football-loving prime minister
"Never ask him for anything when he's hungry; if his favourite football team loses, handle him very gently," says Viktor Orban's wife, Aniko Levai. On 31 May 2024, the Hungarian politician turned 61.
Viktor Orban is a Hungarian politician and lawyer, the Prime Minister of Hungary since 2010 and a member of the National Assembly for nine consecutive terms since 1990. He is the chairman of Fidesz, a national, conservative, and moderately eurosceptic party.
The conservative politician, who has governed in Budapest without interruption for 14 years, strongly criticises the European Union's and NATO's stance towards Ukraine. He promotes his campaign for the European elections with the slogan: no migration, no gender, no war. At the same time, he announces a fight against Brussels bureaucrats.
Privately, he is an avid football fan. He plays football, was a member of the Felcsút FC team, and founded the Ferenc Puskás Football Academy in 2007.
Orban's wife: never ask him for anything when he's hungry
Viktor Orban married lawyer Aniko Levai. For years, he was an unbeliever, and it wasn't until 10 years after their civil wedding, in 1999, that they decided on a church wedding. His wife is Catholic, and he is a follower of Calvinism, one of the main currents of Protestantism.
"My husband, when he is home, is a gentle person who avoids conflicts at all costs," his wife told the weekly "Story Magazin" a few years ago.
Levai, although trained as a lawyer, takes care of the household on a daily basis. As she claims - she never gets involved in political matters.
"I prepare my husband's suit, shirt, and tie every day - for the next day. Sometimes, for example, during a campaign, several sets in one day," she said in 2014, quoted by "The Wall Street Journal."
She admitted that she knows how to gauge her husband's mood perfectly. In the pages of "Story Magazin," she even presented a "manual" for Viktor Orban. There are a few rules that she always tries to follow. "Never ask him for anything when he's hungry; never dare disturb him when he's playing the popular Hungarian card game "ulti"; if his favourite football team loses, handle him very gently," she listed.
She also has a way to quickly wake her husband from bed. "If he doesn't want to get up in the morning, tell him that the latest issue of the "National Sport" newspaper has arrived, and he'll open his eyes immediately."
She also admitted that losing is very difficult for him. To prove her point, she shared a particular story.
"He learned to ski as an adult only for the sake of his daughters. Once, when I won a skiing competition, and he came in second, he arranged for the winners to be recognised in different categories so that he wouldn't be in second place right behind me," said Levai.
Father of five children
Viktor Orban and Aniko Levai have five children (four daughters and a son). Their son Gaspar Orban is a former football player. He belongs to Christian communities. According to him, he found God during a mission trip to Uganda.
Orban's eldest daughter is Rahel. In 2013, she married Istvan Tiborcz, a Hungarian businessman and investor in the tourism industry. In 2016, their daughter was born, thus making Orban a grandfather.
The other daughters are Sara, born in 1994, Roza (b. 2000), and Flora (b. 2004).
