Prominent national teams capable of upsetting any opponent on a good day, EHF Champions League powerhouses and successful hosts of countless major handball events — Hungary are undoubtedly one of the leading countries in handball. But the men’s national team have only ever celebrated one medal at a major international championship: silver at the World Championship in 1986.
After three of the four predictions from EHF EURO media and commentators saw Hungary predicted as the ultimate potential-for-fairy tale story at the tournament, we look at the reasons why the team look set to end their long wait for another medal this January.
1) That perfect squad recipe
The mix of experienced players and hungry young stars is widely known to be the most promising recipe for any team to succeed at a major event, and Hungary have that box well and truly ticked.
Avid handball fans are well familiar with Hungary’s players from their prominence in international club competitions such as the EHF Champions League and hardly need convincing of the quality in the squad. The older players such as goalkeeper Roland Mikler, centre back Matei Lekai and defensive pillar Adrian Sipos combine with notable rising talents such as backs Dominik Mathe and Mátyás Gyori, not to mention Bence Bánhidi on the line — hard to believe he is just 26 given his highly visible presence in the team and top competitions for several years.
2) Time for a breakthrough event
With this line-up and more, Hungary have been loitering just outside the top sides for some time, and they have come very close to breaking through at the most recent major international tournaments.
At the EHF EURO 2020, they jumped from 14th in 2018 to ninth — a particularly impressive feat given the changed competition format to 24 teams, the fact they were among the youngest squads in terms of average age, and that 10 players were making their EHF EURO debut. At the IHF Men’s World Championship 2021, they rose from 10th in 2019 to fifth, only narrowly losing the quarter-final to France in extra time.
The fact the team that would go on to win the Olympic title only months later needed 70 minutes to beat Hungary shows just how strong the EHF EURO 2022 co-hosts were at Egypt 2021. And at the EURO one year prior, they grabbed attention with a series of impressive results including wins over Russia, Iceland and a draw with Denmark that meant they topped their preliminary round group with no defeats. They also served semi-finalists Slovenia their first loss in the event in the main round — although it was visible in that stage that Hungary ran out of steam in the later stages of their matches.
However, the issue of consistency to the end of a match is one that teams build to, and with that EURO now two years behind us and considering the World Championship results, they are clearly on the cusp of a breakthrough. The only question is when.
3) Bence Bánhidi and Roland Mikler
A strong squad no doubt, but Hungary’s performance at the EHF EURO 2022 will rely on two important leaders in particular — and both are poised to deliver.
Goalkeeper Mikler had the most playing time for Hungary at last year’s World Championship and was among those with the highest number of saves across the competition — only Sweden’s Andreas Palicka and Spain’s Gonzalo Perez de Vargas eclipsed him in terms of both number of saves made and comparable or higher percentage, and both went on to win medals.
Bánhidi had the third most playing time for Hungary at Egypt 2021, behind Mikler and Lekai; was their top scorer from the field with 29 goals; had the joint-highest number of steals; and had the second highest number of blocks behind only Sipos, with whom he shares the middle block. Such a breadth of statistics clearly illustrates his value for the team.
The two are vital for Hungary to be at their best, and the good news for the co-hosts is that both are injury and Covid-19 free and can be expected to be strong based on their form generally this season. Mikler has had some ups and down in the Champions League, but responds spectacularly to a crowd, so he is sure to rise to the occasion on home turf. Meanwhile, Bánhidi is Szeged’s top scorer in the Champions League, with 45 goals — the highest scoring line player in the top flight.
4) Roaring home crowd
Any team with recent results like Hungary’s would be marked as one to watch out for — but the fact that they are now playing on home turf, with 20,000 fans expected in the new MVM Dome in Budapest, gives Hungary an additional boost that means they will be very unlucky not to deliver a top performance at the EHF EURO 2022.
In particular, Mikler’s affinity for performing when there is a crowd behind him indicates the 37-year-old could be about to have the best tournament of his life, and a goalkeeper in form is one of the most vital ingredients for big success.
5) Path to the semi-finals
Hungary have a solid chance to top their preliminary round group and proceed to the main round with the maximum number of points. Starting in group B, they will meet Portugal, Iceland and the Netherlands. Only Portugal ranked ahead of Hungary at the EHF EURO 2020, before the EURO co-hosts snatched fifth place at the World Championship 2021 while Portugal were 10th, Iceland were 20th and the Netherlands did not qualify.
In the main round, Hungary’s potential opponents include Slovenia, North Macedonia, Denmark, Montenegro, Croatia, Serbia, France and Ukraine — some formidable rivals for certain, but if Hungary make it to the next stage with the maximum points they will start the tough main round race in a strong position to continue to the medal round.
Should Hungary reach the semi-finals, it will be their first ever appearance in that stage of the EHF EURO. Their best previous ranking was sixth in 1998.
All the ingredients appear to be there — all that remains is to see how well they can cook the goulash.
