Sheffield United owner Kevin McCabe has won a tender to buy into Hungary's best known club Ferencvaros, ending a two-year saga during which the team was relegated due to its debts.

Hungary's National Asset Management Council said yesterday that McCabe's Hungarian firm, Esplanade Kft, would buy the struggling club's real estate, including its stadium in central Budapest, for 3.035 billion forints ($16.58 million).

Ferencvaros have been Hungarian champions 28 times and won the domestic cup 20 times but the club's debts, which are estimated at over $10 million, have mounted in the past decade and the team was relegated in 2006.

Five failed tenders to sell the real estate and ground have been held over the past two years.

The deal will help Ferencvaros pay its debts and upgrade its stadium to meet FIFA and UEFA requirements.

McCabe said after preliminary talks last year that if his offer was successful, personnel from his club Sheffield United would be seconded to Ferencvaros to manage soccer operations.

In 2006, United became the first foreign owner in Chinese football when they bought a stake in Chengdu FC and last year the club formed a partnership with Belgium's Royal WS Woluwe FC.

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