Humans of Beach Handball: Dalma Mátéfi

Dalma Mátéfi makes her presence felt on the court. Not only for the shooters of the opposing team, as the 25-year-old Hungarian has become one of the standout goalkeepers in international women’s beach handball in recent years.

But also for everyone watching her games. Playing for the Hungarian national team or her club Red Velvet BHC Budapest, Mátéfi’s usual save rate is well over 30 per cent, so she has a lot to cheer about — and she shows it. Her powerful athleticism, her exuberant celebration after blocking yet another shot, and the tattoos all over her body expressing her extrovert character.

“I really like celebrating the good things that happen on the court, whether it’s a save or a goal,” Mátéfi says. “Every small or big celebration gives me extra confidence, keeps me in the rhythm, and maybe it even makes the opponent a little nervous or unsure.”

Seeing her act on the beach handball courts, you might think Mátéfi could also be a rock singer performing on stage.

She is, actually.

In 2020, Mátéfi moved to an indoor club in the Hungarian countryside, Kisvárdai KC. It was the year the coronavirus pandemic broke out. With not much to do, Mátéfi bought a guitar.

“I started learning how to play by watching YouTube videos. I already had some basic knowledge because I had played the violin for seven years in primary school,” says Mátéfi, who has since written a bunch of songs. “Most of my songs are quite melancholic, but when I’m happy, I don’t really sit down and write songs — I prefer to just enjoy the moment.”

Cseh Tamás is one her biggest musical inspirations for “his honest, simple but brilliant songs which have had a huge influence on me in many ways,” and she is also into Hungarian alternative music.

Mátéfi posted some of her own songs and a few covers on TikTok — and got discovered by Dávid Nagy, a guitarist known for playing with heavy metal band Pokolgép: “I have him to thank for giving me the opportunity to play music at concerts, too. We already have one song together, and hopefully there will be more in the future.”

Meanwhile, Mátéfi’s Instagram account has become a balancing act between music and the other passion in her life: (beach) handball.

Young Dalma grew up in a family where sport played a prominent role. While her father played volleyball, her mother got her into handball. Ilona Kondiné Budai was Hungarian international and two-time top scorer of the domestic league in the mid-1980s.

“When I was born, she was already working as a coach, and as soon as I was old enough to walk, I was always there at her training sessions,” Mátéfi recalls.

The eventual goalkeeper’s first beginnings as a handball player took place at the other side of the court — on the wing.

“But I was pretty terrible at running and shooting, so I said to mom: ‘I want to try to be in the goal, hoping I might be better there.’ She let me go — and I never wanted to leave the goal again.”

Developing into a top-level indoor goalkeeper in Hungary, the addition of the beach variant happened when Mátéfi was 17 and got invited to training camps for the youth national team. At that time, she set up her own beach handball team with a few likeminded friends from school.

“I really fell in love with the sport from the moment I stepped onto the sand,” she says, calling the shootout her favourite part of the game. “For me, the real fight is when there is no one else around — just you and the attacker — and you are both trying to outsmart each other somehow. I absolutely love these moments.”

Ever since, indoor and beach has been a combination that suits Mátéfi. And her current indoor club, first-division side Moyra-Budaörs United Shipping, supports her.

Switching back and forth from halls and hardcourts to open air and sand “always feels a little strange” as “you have to get used to the rhythm of the sport again and find your place and pace.” But in the end, Mátéfi is convinced her indoor career is only benefitting.

“As time goes by, I feel more and more that some of the things I do on the sand — especially the more creative and daring moves — can also be useful in indoor handball,” she says. “Both of them make me happy.”

Results weren’t long in coming. Mátéfi was the All-star goalkeeper of the Women’s 18 EHF Beach Handball EURO 2018 — the first international event she played for Hungary — and won bronze at the Buenos Aires 2018 Youth Summer Olympic Games later that year.

Especially since 2025, successes have been piling up.

With Red Velvet, Mátéfi won the domestic league and cup in Hungary, finished third at the Champions Cup 2025 in Porto Santo, and second at the ebt Finals 2026 in Trapani. With the national team, she won the EHF Beach Handball Championship 2026 in Zagreb to earn a ticket for the EHF Beach Handball EURO 2027.

Mátéfi’s contribution to the teams’ successes cannot be rated high enough. Her save rates were 37 per cent at the Champions Cup, 36 at the ebt Finals, and 31 at the Beach Handball Championship, and she was named in the All-star Team as the best goalkeeper in all three events.

“It is always a huge honour to receive an individual award at any event, and it gives you an extra boost. But honestly, I would trade any of them for, for example, winning the Champions Cup or qualifying for the World Championship,” Mátéfi says.

“When the team is sad, an individual award doesn’t mean that much. Of course, I don’t want to sound like I don’t appreciate these awards — it really is an amazing feeling to receive one. Especially when there is a gold medal around your neck as well.”

Now herself one of the most prolific stars of Hungarian beach handball, Mátéfi has shared the court with some of the big names of the game.

“Of course, I would include Renáta Csiki on that list, but since I’m a goalkeeper, I definitely have to choose Ági Győri,” she says when asked about her role model in the sport.

Currently coaching at the national team, Ágnes Győri was the standout Hungarian goalkeeper in beach handball for many years, winning the European title in 2013 and earning silver medals at the World Championship and the World Games.

“What she did on the sand was incredible,” Mátéfi says about Győri. “She was also the one who taught me the basics and most of the things I still use today. I feel very lucky and honoured to have her as my coach.”

With Red Velvet’s participation in the Champions Cup 2026 in Porto Santo on 15-18 October coming up, Mátéfi will show her skills and celebrations — and her tattoos, for that matter — one more time this calendar year.

Some of her tattoos have a special meaning for her, others don’t. But it is the process of “sitting down with the tattoo artist and creating the design together” that gives her joy. As does, believe it or not, the actual tattooing.

“I love that little but pleasant feeling when the tattoo is actually being done,” Mátéfi says. “Maybe that’s also why I became a goalkeeper: I don’t mind a little pain.”

photos © Joe Pappalardo (main); kolektiff / Uros Hocevar, Saša Pahič Szabó; Joe Pappalardo (in-text)