National champions men: part 3 - central Europe

The domestic leagues have come to an end and we now approach the qualification and group phase draws of the 2014/15 VELUX EHF Champions League. In five parts, ehfCL.com shine the spotlight on each of the teams who qualified for the next edition of Europe's top flight and their race for the ticket in their respective national competitions. The third part is dedicated to teams from central Europe - Poland, Hungary, Slovakia, Austria and Switzerland.

Poland – KS Vive Targi Kielce

Kielce steamrolled all their opponents on the way to their eleventh national championship title in the Polish Ekstraklasa.

After winning all 22 games in the regular season with a perfect record of 44 points, they lived up to their highest expectations in the play-off too eliminating Kwidzyn in the quarter-finals (2:0 in a best-of-three series) and Azoty-Pulawy in the semi-finals (3:0 in a best-of-five).

In the final they faced Wisla Plock once again, after having played and won already two games in the regular season, another two in the Champions League and one in a very narrow Polish Cup final in Warsaw (33:32). Plock showed a very formidable fashion before the final series not only in the cup final and the European encounters.

In the second game Kielce escaped a surprising setback after extra-time, but could not avoid their first domestic defeat of the season in game 3 at the river Vistula. They clinched the first Polish title for their coach Talant Dujshebaev, who replaced Bogdan Wenta halfway through the regular season, in the fourth match, winning the best-of-five series 3:1.

Hungary – MKB-MVM Veszprem KC

VELUX EHF FINAL4 participants Veszprem added another domestic title to the collection after going neck and neck with Pick Szeged throughout the season.

Both frontrunners shared the spoils against each other with one win each during the regular season and were separated at the top only by goal difference with Veszprem taking first place.

After comfortable wins in the semi-finals, the two sides were set to meet again. Carlos Ortega’s men took the first game 30:21 at home and while the second game in Szeged was less clear, Veszprem managed to take a 28:24 win and retained their title.

Runners-up Pick Szeged made up for their disappointment by winning the EHF Cup a week later in Berlin and will take part in the 2014/15 VELUX EHF Champions League after a one-year absence.

Slovakia – Tatran Presov

It was another busy season for Tatran Presov as the perennial champions of Slovakia fought on multiple fronts, playing the domestic Extraliga, the Slovakian Cup and the regional SEHA league, where they won the regular season only to finish fourth at the final tournament.

After missing the VELUX EHF Champions League for the second straight year they also did not qualify for the EHF Cup Quarter-finals so the only remedy for the ambitious club from eastern Slovakia were the eleventh cup trophy and the tenth national championship title with an untarnished record of 36 league victories.

Even without their coach Peter Hatalcik, who missed the final part of the season due to a serious injury in a biking accident, they prevailed over the surprising finalist HK Topolcany 3:0 in the best-of-five series. Right after the season´s end Hatalcik, whose injury requires a lengthy recovery period, was replaced by the former national team coach Peter David.

Austria – Alpla Hard

Alpla Hard retained their Austrian title, but by no means had it easy after battling through a difficult campaign where they lost six games throughout the season.

After narrowly finishing top of both the regular season and championship round, the team from western Austria had little difficulty in the play-offs, until they faced Raffreisen Fivers in a repeat of the previous season’s final.

The best-of-three series went all the way after both sides won their respective home games. In the decider, Hard made full use of their home advantage to win 31:28 and book their place in VELUX EHF Champions League qualification for the second season on the trot.

Switzerland – Kadetten Schaffhausen

A year after losing the finals to Wacker Thun, Kadetten Schaffhausen were in no mood to make the same mistake twice.

After finishing one point behind Pfadi Winterthur at the top of the regular season table and once again by the end of the championship round, Kadetten kicked into gear in the semi-finals against Kriens-Luzern, wasting no time in the best-of-five series and set up a showdown with the side who had bested them throughout the year.

Pfadi Winterthur had the home advantage, but it counted for very little against Kadetten who won two away games and a home tie in between to take the series 3:0 and see themselves back into the VELUX EHF Champions League after one season away.