24.09.2020, 12:00
200 victories and hunger for the trophy

MATCH DAY EXTRA: After Barcelona, Veszprém are now the second club in the EHF Champions League Men's history to reach this mark

It was 22 September 1993 and an expected 33:17 victory against Strovolou Nicosia (Cyprus) - nobody could have guessed that this win, was the start of one of the biggest success stories in European handball.

Beating Nicosia was the first EHF Champions League victory for Veszprém and on Thursday night their 37:25 win over PPD Zagreb leaves the team from Lake Balaton as the second men’s EHF Champions League side to have 200 victories (294 matches). They now sit just below Barça with 234 wins in 311 matches so far.

But in contrast to the Spanish side, which won the Champions League trophy eight times, Veszprém are still waiting for their first title in this competition, despite being finalists four times since 2002 - including three finals at the EHF FINAL4 in Cologne against Barcelona, Kielce and Vardar.

In the 2009/10 season, Veszprém won eleven of their 14 Champions League matches, but missed the premiere of the EHF FINAL4 in the quarter-final against Kiel.

Their best ever seasons both have 15 victories from 20 matches. 2015/16 was one of those seasons but their last match was the tragic defeat in the final against Kielce, after a penalty shoot-out. And 2018/19 was the other, when they lost the final against Vardar.

But now, David Davis and his star-studded team hope for trophies, and this 200th victory was only another milestone en route to that goal.

TEXT: EHF / Björn Pazen