BLOG: Szeged is an amazing story

For those of you who know “Match of the Week”, you know we actually travel to the stadiums and sports arenas of the top handball clubs in Europe and we report live from there. It is a tough life on the road, staying in hotels, eating alone, (boo hoo, I hear you say), but it is made up for by the hospitality and generosity of clubs.

Imagine going on holidays to foreign parts and you find a nice restaurant. The next night, do you go back again and sample the delights and service once more? Or do you go somewhere else and then wish you hadn’t.

The club based on the banks of the river Tisza is one place you will always wish to return to. Pick Szeged is our destination for MOTW 2. I have to say; it is one of my favourite places to go, because I am always made feel so much at home there. The club is generous to a fault and I have made some good friends there, who always take me out the night of the game. So in Szeged it’s not back to the hotel room with a Kindle, but rather, perhaps, dinner with the players or a drink with some people from the club.

Szeged is an amazing story. Always in the shadow of the arch rivals Veszprém, they haven’t won the Hungarian championship since the noughties yet they continuously defy their small budget and compete in the VELUX EHF Champions League. And the club is showing its teeth with the signing of Swedish star, Larholm. Last season they were a tough proposition on home soil and bar a thumping from Kiel, they gave some very good teams some very good games.

Szeged loves when MOTW comes to town. For them it is a chance to show the world what passion, loyalty and good team work can achieve without the big money of other clubs. So MOTW is an event in Szeged. It is welcomed and all courtesy is extended including player interviews and casual chats.

And there are some characters on that team. Attila Vadkerti, the captain will chat to you all night about a wide range of topics. Dr. József Czina, is a lawyer. Balogh, a new player, has just bought a Ford Mustang because he likes sports cars. He looks nothing like Steve McQueen (remember his Mustang in Bullitt), he looks more like me. But a special mention has to go to Šulc, Fero as they call him. Short for František, I like to think “Fero” actually means “The Man of Steel”. He really is a star for me. A Slovakian, who has played at the top level for so long and, in fact, was one of the top scorers last season at the group stages. Unfortunately for him, Szeged didn’t progress so neither did his scoring statistics. Šulc, or as you pronounce it, Schulz, pushes this team on with Attila “the Hun”.

Last season Szeged had Kiel, Montpellier (whom they beat at home), Copenhagen and León in their group, this season Barcelona, Zagreb, Berlin and last 16 contenders Kadetten Schaffhausen. It never gets easier. But I can guarantee, they will fight so hard in the” Városi Sportcsarnok” (that is sports hall in Hungarian, but sounds so much more impressive)  that any team that wins there will know that they have been in a battle.

The visitors for this week are Schaffhausen, and this is a good team. Dissinger is back, although last week there were fears he may have damaged a knee again, they have signed Marko Mamić an Allstar from the Men´s 18 EHF EURO tournament and Prieto has joined from AGK. It’s a tough game which both will have to win, if they are to stand a chance of making it out of this group. Last week Szeged lost by 3 away to Zagreb, while the Schaffhausen was taught a lesson by Barcelona.

I have a great story about Schaffhausen too, but that will have to wait for another time.

Follow the livestreaming of Match of the Week Round 2 on ehftv.com powered by LAOLA1.tv on Saturday, 6 October (17:15 hrs local time).

Photo: Aurél Iványi