We wish you a Happy New Year!

Championship title, cup winning, Champions League Final Four participation, Super Cup winning - MKB-MVM Veszprém has been through one of the most successful years of its history that was full of great victories and unforgettable moments.

 

 

On domestic field, the team was undefeated throughout the year. The most memorable moments were naturally the successes against Szeged. We won in the regular season at home; we had a glorious game in the final of Dalkia Hungarian Cup of Pécs, then we did a double in the Champions final. Besides, we should not forget about the first domestic official match of 2014/2015 period, when we won over the Kinizsi Bank Super Cup against the team of ‘Tisza-part’ in the Veszprém Arena.

 

In the Champions League, everyone who pulled for the team got an everlasting experience in spring. Although, we were defeated in the game against Motor Zaporozhye in Ukraine, we ended in the first place in the group. In the eighth final, we faced the team of Wislaw Plock and in the sign of the Polish-Hungarian friendship; an incredible, friendly atmosphere welcomed the opponents on both matches. We lost by one in the first game that was full of scores but then we revealed our real power in the rematch and we undoubtedly got on.

In the fourth final, we got the team of PSG Handball in the draws that many considered the hardest opponent to defeat. So, we had to beat them in order to reach our big old dream: the final 4 in Cologne. The team of Veszprém played incredibly in the games of Paris and Veszprém against the opponent team that mustered up great players; we might have been in their best form in the period of 2013/2014. One who saw the second match in any way (in the Arena, in front of the TV, or on the big screen in front of the Arena) will definitely never forget it. There was an enormous joy because of the long-awaited big step that we did. Following the match on Monday, after the training in the gym, the fans thanked the team this historical event with an extraordinary surprise. In this video, you can see what happened exactly.

 

 

Although, preparing for the Final Four was not entirely easy, because Iman Jamali (knee) and Fazekas Nándor (wrist) had been injured, but finally both of them could travel to Cologne. Numerous Hungarian fans went with the team to the celebration of the male’s handball, and many foreigners were found there cheering for the team of Veszprém in the compelling Lanxess Arena. Unfortunately, the final 4 of the Champions League did not go the way as we had expected. In the semi-final, we were defeated by the THW Kiel, and then in the bronze match by the team of Barcelona, thus we finally ended in the fourth place of the most prestigious cup series. The player of MKB-MVM Veszprém, Momir Ilic became the top scorer of the Champions League, whose excellence was appreciated by the fans of Veszprém since in the voting of our official website he was chosen as the best player.

 

 

In the summer, five new players came to our team: Christian Zeitz had signed to Veszprém one year before and the engagement of Lékai Máté, Gasper Marguc and Mikler Roland has been announced in springtime. The last confirmation was Andreas Nilsson who could join to the crew only after the training camp in Rogla. Everyone looked forward to seeing the new and extremely strong squad on the court that improved match after match with the help of Carlos Ortega, head coach and his assistant Xavi Sabaté, to whom Porobic Haris joint as a coach of goalkeeper. The team was set up, the new players accommodated and MKB-MVM Veszprém did well in autumn, since it was defeated only once in an away group match of the Champions League against Rhein-Neckar Löwen. In spite of the defeat, they are still at the top of the group of death, and in the last two games they have to gain only one score in order to remain there. The biggest victory of the new season was definitely the one against Vardar Skopje after an unbelievable end game; moreover, the domestic matches against Löwen and Montpellier were also memorable.

 

 

MKB-MVM Veszprém has also taken part in SEHA League that was new for us; therefore we missed the regular season of the Hungarian Championship (we are going to join in the playoff). In this league, primarily the best teams of countries from Southeast Europe gathered, however, the Hungarian club leads confidently the table and it clearly has the chance to win in final 4 of springtime. Lots of supporters visit the matches making an outstanding and high-standard atmosphere, which helps our team to have enjoyable games, to develop and to get ready to bigger challenges.

 

We will not lack of challenges in 2015; we have goals and we hope that the New Year will be at least as productive as the previous one. We are quite sure that the team as well as the fans will do everything for that.

We wish you all a Happy New Year! Go for it, Veszprém!

 

Photos: Zsolt Melczer