No Nagy: Hungarian superstar retires from international handball

After close to 200 international matches for Hungary in which he scored more than 700 goals, László Nagy, arguably the biggest name in Hungarian handball, has announced his retirement from international handball.

It means that the men’s national team will have to play without their long-time charismatic leader when they take to the court at the EHF EURO 2018 in Croatia in January.

“In recent weeks I have agreed with Máté Kocsis, the President of MKSZ, that I will finish my career in the Hungarian national team after almost 18 years,” László Nagy said at a press conference on Monday.”

“The reason is simple: There is no problem on the right back position. Gábor Ancsin and Zsolt Balogh have both proven themselves.

“There are plenty of memories, experiences and friendships, as well as love for the team. It was an uplifting feeling in the national team, I would like to thank all members of the national team,” he was quoted on the federation website.

“Laszlo’s decision is something we should honour. He has achieved a number of successes in the national team, so we lose a role model and one of the world's finest defenders,” said national team head coach Ljubomir Vranjes.

“It's not a simple task, but we have to move on. It is difficult to make up for it, but we have a lot of young players, so there is a future for the Hungarian team, which we have to build, of course, without László.”

Hungary have been drawn to Group D in Varazdin at the EHF EURO 2018 alongside Spain, Denmark and the Czech Republic.

Their first match is against Denmark on 13 January.

László Nagy played 199 times for the Hungarian national. His best results are fourth place finishes at the 2004 and 2012 Olympic Games.

He also took to the court at four EHF EUROs and six World Championships.

With his former club, FC Barcelona Lassa, the current Telekom Veszprém captain won the EHF Champions League in 2005 and 2011.