Rivalling club coaches lead Hungary in EHF EURO Qualification

In the wake of the disappointing Women’s World Championsship that saw Hungary missing a spot at the Olympic qualification tournaments, the Hungarian federation chose not to keep coach András Németh at the helm.

After weeks of looking for the ideal replacement, they came up with a temporary solution. The coaches of the two most prestigous Hungarian clubs, Ambros Martin of Győr and Gábor Elek of FTC, took over.

Former world-class playmaker, Beata Siti, returned to the national team staff having worked as assistant coach under the late Karl Erik Böhn.

The MVP of the EHF EURO 2000 will provide an important link between the players and the coaching staff, however, many tip her to take over the team as head coach at one point.

Having missed the chance to get in the ring for the Olympic Games Hungarian handball has been in turmoil ever since the Last 16 loss against Poland at the World Championship.

Elek and Martin, who are bitter rivals in the Hungarian league, are appointed only for the time of the EHF EURO qualifiers, which gives the Hungarian federation time to find the long-term solution.

The coaches even discussed how to share duties: the Győr coach will be responsible for defence while Elek will take care of the attacking side of the national team.

The first eighteen player strong squad – on an interesting side note, the two upcoming matches on 9 and 13 March will be again against Poland, that team that ousted Hungary at the World Championship – has just been announced.

And there are already things worth talking about:  The squad contains eight players from Ferencváros, while there are only three from Győr.

It will be interesting to see Ambros Martin dealing with the defence, which is built around Ferencváros’ defensive specialist Klára Szekeres.

In fact with Zsuzsanna Tomori out injured, it is likely that both central defenders will be FTC players with Rea Mészáros being the other one.

As for Elek’s part, the in-form goalkeeper of Ferencváros, Melinda Szikora is once again left out of the squad – former head coach Andras Németh had been the target of heavy criticism for doing so before the World Championship – which is even more surprising as Szikora had practically won the all-important Women’s EHF Champions League match vs Baia Mare for her team days before the squad was announced.

What about Kovacsics?

It will be interesting to see how the coaching duo deals with Anikó Kovacsics. The 24-year-old playmaker, who had not been 18 when she was Győr’s most prolific scorer in the Women’s EHF Champions League final in 2009, is mainly used as a left wing lately due to the massive competetion in Győr.

She was also deployed at left wing at the World Championshio. However, the announced squad whose attacking formation will be put together by Gábor Elek lists her as a playmaker.

Hungary travel to Poland for the first leg on 9 March, the return match will take place in Érd on 13 March.

 Both teams have defeated Slovakia and Finland in their first two qualifiers respectively. Should either Poland or Hungary win both matches in the upcoming double-header, that team would already by qualified for the Women’s EHF EURO 2016 in Sweden.

Hungarian squad for the upcoming EHF EURO qualifiers against Poland

Goalkeepers: Blanka Bíró (Ipress Center-Vác), Kinga Janurik (Érd), Éva Kiss (Győri Audi ETO)

Right wings: Viktória Lukács (FTC-Rail Cargo Hungaria), Adrienn Orbán (Győri Audi ETO)

Right backs: Dóra Hornyák (FTC-Rail Cargo Hungaria), Anna Kovács (Dunaújvárosi KKA)

Centre backs: Anikó Kovacsics (Győri Audi ETO), Zita Szucsánszki (FTC-Rail Cargo Hungaria)

Line players: Anett Kisfaludy (Érd), Rea Mészáros (FTC-Rail Cargo Hungaria), Piroska Szamoránsky (FTC-Rail Cargo Hungaria)

Left backs: Kinga Klivinyi (Érd), Klára Szerekes (FTC-Rail Cargo Hungaria), Krisztina Triscsuk (Dunaújvárosi KKA), Szandra Zácsik (FTC-Rail Cargo Hungaria)

Left wings: Ildikó Erdősi (Siófok KC), Nadine Schatzl (FTC-Rail Cargo Hungaria)