They wrote that what Hungary lacks in footballing skills makes up for with its national anthem, the ‘Himnusz’.
Furthermore, they added that the Hungarian anthem has been used since 1989 and it is twice the length of the God Save the Queen. Furthermore, they published the full English version of the Hungarian anthem from which the first verse you can find in the end of this article.
Of course, the 1989 date is not true since the Hungarian national anthem has been used since 1844 though officially it was included in the Hungarian constitution only in 1989. Even , at the beginning of the 1950s, during the darkest days of the communist dictatorship, Mátyás Rákosi, the leader of the communist party, was not able to change the national anthem of Hungary. Want to read more about the Hungarian national anthem? Here is a good introductory article:
However, this is not the only mistake the British tabloid made. For example, they mentioned Dominik Szoboszlai among the key players of the Hungarian soccer squad even though Mr Szoboszlai is not going to play in the EURO2020 because of an injury.
And finally, here you can read the national anthem of Hungary. The anthem contains eigh verses, but only the first is sung.
Verse 1
O God, bless the nation of Hungary With your grace and bounty Extend over it your guarding arm During strife with its enemies Long torn by ill fate Bring upon it a time of relief This nation has suffered for all sins Of the past and of the future!
The Centre of Budapest Transport (BKK) issued a statement yesterday. In that, they call everybody’s attention to the changes in the traffic and public transport system of Budapest during the soccer European Championships starting today. The tournament will last until July 11.
According to metropol.hu, the main fan zone in Budapest will be in the Városliget (City Park). Here is a photo of how it looked on June 2 while it was yet under construction:
https://www.facebook.com/puskasarena
BKK writes that the capacity of the place is 11 thousand. The place will be open for 31 days from 11 am. Furthermore,
it will close one hour after the final whistle blow of the given day’s last match.
Meanwhile, on those days when there will be no matches, it will close at 10 pm.
The City Park is easy to reach by public transport from every part of Budapest. However, one can take a walk there or use a bicycle, as well. However, since there is no parking lot attached to it, the company does not recommend anybody to arrive by car.
Metro line number 1, which has two stops in the City Park, will circulate with an extended schedule until late night and more frequently.
Moreover, from June 26, its operation will adapt to the length of the matches (extra time, penalties).
Interestingly, you will be able to buy tickets and season tickets on match days from 3 pm to 11 pm on mobile POS points on the Olof Palme promenade.
There will be four EURO 2020 matches in the Puskás Aréna, Budapest. On June 15, the Hungarian national 11 will start the tournament with the defending champion Portugal. On June 19, there will be the France-Hungary duel, while on June 23, Portugal will meet world cup winner France in the stadium. Finally, on June 27, Puskás Aréna will host a round of 16 matches. The stadium will not provide parking opportunity during the events. Therefore, BKK recommends everybody to walk or arrive by using public transport. Furthermore,
there will be road closures in the neighbourhood of the stadium on match days.
Hungary will bank on their X-factor to emerge from the toughest group at Euro 2020 alongside defending champions Portugal and the past two world champions in France and Germany.
Hungary, 37th in the world rankings, are clear underdogs, but as Portugal will remember from the last European Championship, they can be difficult opponents. They played out an exhilarating 3-3 draw with the Portuguese five years ago – taking the lead three times – en route to winning the group with victory over Austria and a draw against Iceland.
That appearance ended a 30-year absence from international tournaments, a dark age for a Hungarian side once considered the world’s best and ranked third before crashing out of the 1986 World Cup.
Lacking big-name players, Hungary rely on solid defence and swift counter-attacks to pick apart opponents, though they have been plagued by inconsistency.
In qualifying for the tournament, they beat World Cup runners-up Croatia and Euro 2016 semi-finalists Wales, only to lose twice to Slovakia and finish fourth in the group. Relegated to the Nations League, Hungary shone once again, beating higher-ranked opponents Serbia (in Belgrade) and Turkey twice.
“It will be a really strange European Championship,”
said football analyst János Kele. “The bigger teams are so World Cup focused that some of them are far from complete. Plus the coronavirus scheduling mess really hurt their planning.”
Because the pandemic delayed and complicated football seasons everywhere, the best players at the biggest clubs will get very little rest before the tournament, and even less time to prepare together. In matches where exhausted players are thrown together to face lesser-known but fresher and well-coached teams, the difference in ability will be less obvious than usual.
“Rawer opposing game plans are a lot easier to pick apart,”
Kele said.
Cornerstones of the squad come from one Bundesliga club, RB Leipzig, including goalkeeper Peter Gulacsi and centre back Willi Orban, as well as Hungary’s brightest star, midfielder Dominik Szoboszlai.
Hungary owe their Euro participation to a last-minute solo effort by the 20-year-old Szoboszlai which secured victory over Iceland in the qualification playoff.
Injured since January but now training fully, Szoboszlai should be fit for the tournament.
Italian coach Marco Rossi has boosted the squad with 16 new players, and has built a reputation for making good decisions during games. Substitute Loic Nego scored the equalising goal against Iceland before Szoboszlai’s winner.
“Hungary is probably one of the most cohesive teams,”
The Hungarian government has made a decision on how attending the matches in Budapest during the European Football Championship would work. The detailed rules are published in the Hungarian Gazette.
The European Football Championship, which was postponed from 2020 to 2021, is not hosted by one country, but the matches have been distributed among several cities. One of the organisers became the Hungarian capital, Budapest, where the Puskás Arena will host the matches.
Foreign citizens coming to the match can enter Hungary with a negative PCR test.
According to the government decree, a person who does not have Hungarian citizenship arriving at the matches may enter Hungary as a spectator. To do this, you must confirm that there is no sign of coronavirus infection in your body with a negative PCR test no older than 72 hours upon entering the country. The test must be in Hungarian or English, writes 24.hu.
Foreign citizens coming to the match are subject to the rules that are the privilege of people receiving vaccines in Hungary.
So, foreigners arriving for a football match can stay in an accommodation by presenting their entrance ticket, as well as stay in the interior parts of a catering unit as well as leisure venues. Currently, only Hungarian citizens with an immunity certificate can do this. A person who has received at least one dose of a coronavirus vaccine or has been confirmed to have had the coronavirus infection will receive a certificate of protection.
According to many, this is exclusionary on the part of the Hungarian government, as it is mandatory for Hungarian citizens to be vaccinated to enter these places. Despite the more than 5 million administered vaccines, there are problems around vaccination.
A 16-year-old girl registered in vain for the vaccine and did not receive it because someone had already used her social security number.
The National Health Insurance Fund Management revealed that the girl’s social security number had already been used by someone with a foreign passport in January. The family is asking the competent authority to remove the previous vaccination from the registry so that the girl can get the coronavirus vaccination, writes index.hu.
The two Italian female stars of swimming had quite a sexy dance in a Budapest hotel.
The European Aquatics Championships 2020 was pushed to this spring because of the coronavirus. The tournament, which ended last Sunday, came to Budapest again this year, for the 5th time in the history of the European Championships. The last time an aquatics tournament was organised in Budapest, in 2019, Hungary achieved great results. It was quite a successful competing period for Hungarian athletes; many young and aspiring sportspeople achieved the goal for which they got in the pool.
Katinka Hosszú once again took the title of the most decorated female swimmer at the European Championships, standing now with a total of 24 medals.
In total, considering the competitions of swimming, synchronised swimming, and open-water races, Hungary kept 15 medals at home, 5 of which are shining in gold, 4 of them are silver, and 6 are bronze. Overall, our female athletes conquered the guys by winning 10 medals as opposed to the men’s 4 spots on the podium.
Italy was extremely successful as well: the country won the most medals in total, 27 to be exact. Two of their most successful swimmers, Federica Pellegrini and Martina Carraro, have a great competition behind them, no wonder they were extremely happy about it. So much so that
they decided to share a pyjama and have quite a sexy dance in their hotel room.
For the delight of mainly our male readers, they even recorded their celebration.
Federica Pellegrini, an Olympic swimmer and a European and World Champion, is the first woman ever to break the 4-minute barrier in 400m freestyle. Moreover, she is the only swimmer, even in the category of males, who has won 8 medals in a row in the same event. This time, in Budapest, although not reaching her personal best, she still left the premises with two silver and three bronze medals, while Martina Carraro closed the championship with two silver medals.
Their happiness was quite obvious, as seen in the video spotted by origo.hu. The short recording was made by their teammate, Sara Franceschi. The two top-class swimmer ladies decided to share a single pyjama: Pellegrini chose the top part while Carraro received the bottom one. They then had a cute and sexy dance that was later shared on the Instagram page of Pellegrini.
Hungary’s world record holder Kristóf Milák posted the second fastest men’s 200m butterfly of all time at his home European swimming championships in Budapest on Wednesday.
Milák stopped the clock at one minute 51.10 seconds, a championship record bettered only by the 1:50.73 he set at the 2019 world championships.
He was more then three seconds quicker than Italian silver medallist Federico Burdisso in 1:54.28, and now holds five of the 10 best swims of all time in the distance.
Another Hungarian also made news in the pool with 35-year-old László Cseh becoming the first swimmer to compete in 10 long course European championships and qualifying for the final in the 200m individual medley.
Russian Kliment Kolesnikov won the 100m freestyle in 47.37 seconds, a day after breaking the world record in the 50m backstroke.
He then came last in the 100m backstroke semi-finals 10 minutes later and received first aid, with the medal ceremony from the earlier event delayed to give him enough time to recover.
“I was just tired, it’s something that can happen to you,” he said, adding that he had not given up on swimming both races at the Tokyo Olympics.
After three days, Russia took over at the top of the medals table with five golds to Britain’s three.
The European Aquatics Championships will be held in Budapest, confirmed the President of the European Swimming Association (LEN) in February. Almost every single LEN member state decided to come to Hungary.
Ninety-nine per cent of LEN member states chose to come to Hungary because they feel safe. The vaccination data in Hungary is the best in Europe, and they believe that we are well-organised,
says Sándor Wladár from the Hungarian Swimming Association (MÚSZ). From Monday, the Danube Arena and Lake Lupa will host the European Aquatics Championships for two weeks.
The responsibility is huge because no world event of this volume has been organised in Europe since the pandemic, said Sándor Wladár at the press conference on Friday. He is confident that in a good two weeks, the teams will part with the mindset that it was worthwhile to travel to Budapest again.
According to Napi.hu, following the protocol developed for the coronavirus epidemic, those arriving in Hungary must have a negative PCR test, they will be tested on arrival at the hotel, and then they will be tested every 3-5 days.
The 2020 continental race will start in 2021, which is very characteristic of our last year,
said Balázs Fürjes, the government commissioner responsible for international sports events, co-chairman of the organising committee of the European Championships.
Together, we will defeat the pandemic and restart life, sports events, and the economy in Hungary. Part of this, the sign and an important step is the European Championships […] This event will put Hungary on the map again at the best time –
Balázs Fürjes emphasized that successes also increase the sense of belonging and national self-esteem.
According to him, the swimming world championships always occupy a special place among the world competitions for Hungarians.
According to Fürjes, the government supported the organisation of the European Championships because it offers various benefits to both Hungary and Budapest.
In two weeks, a total of 4,000 official participants from 51 nations – 1,100 athletes – will be present at the European Championships, which will be viewed on television by hundreds of millions worldwide. That equals 20,000 guest nights in hotels, helping the currently quite stagnant tourism.
In the first week of the continental race, competitions for synchronised swimmers and divers will be held in the Danube Arena, while open-water swimmers will compete on Lake Lupa. The pool swimming races will take place on May 17, MTI wrote.
According to the information of index.hu, Hungarian football fans might return to the stadiums before the start of the EURO 2020, during which Budapest will be the only venue organising matches ‘full house’. Meanwhile, four Budapest spas opened to provide treatment.
Gergely Gulyás, Minister of the Prime Minister’s Office, said at the government info on Thursday that the government would decide about the further stages of reopening when the country reaches 3, 3.5, and 4 million inoculated people. Based on index.hu, fans might return to the stadiums in the 32nd round of the Hungarian Football League organised on May 1. It is not excluded that they will be able to take part in the matches even before, which
would mean next weekend (April 24-25).
However, Mr Gulyás added that fans would need an immunity certificate to enjoy the matches at the scene.
Meanwhile, telex.hu reported yesterday that four Budapest baths would open on April 19 to offer treatment for patients. These will be
the Széchenyi,
the Lukács,
the Paskál, and
the bath of Pesterzsébet.
According to the relevant government decree, pools have to remain closed, but all other facilities will open, including therapeutic massages or physiotherapy. However, because of the epidemic, the treatments can only be used following prior consultations.
The Budapest Gyógyfürdői és Hévízi Zrt. responsible for the operation of the baths
already inoculated their 200 employees in March
to make it easier to reopen. Furthermore, as Ildikó Szűts, CEO of the company, told telex.hu, they continue to sanitise, patients have to make an appointment, and they will probably test all their guests before they enter any of the facilities.
Yesterday, the operative body said that they prolonged
all border control measures until May 23,
hellomagyar.hu reported. That means that Hungarian citizens have to go into a 10-day-long quarantine after they arrive home. Meanwhile, foreign citizens cannot enter the country, except if they have to appear in court, study, receive medical treatment, or take part in family events (baptism, wedding, funeral) in Hungary. Furthermore, if they work in transportation, nurse their relatives, or attend international church events, they can likewise enter.
Hungary has been working towards becoming a popular sports destination. Sadly, the country still needs some alterations to organise the biggest sporting event out there, the Summer Olympic Games.
One thing is for sure, though, Budapest will be among those 12 cities which are to host certain games of this year’s UEFA European Championship. The tournament was postponed last year due to the pandemic but got the green light
to be organised this summer, between June 11 and July 11.
The Hungarian capital’s participation can be considered a solid fact, even though Aleksander Ceferin, the President of UEFA, recently said that
only those cities can be organisers which can guarantee a certain number of fans in the stadiums.
As Gergely Gulyás, the Minister of the Prime Minister’s Office, said back in March, only those vaccinated can enter the stadiums and attend games. Since the vaccination program in Hungary is going very well, with over 2.5 million jabs administered, very soon, all those wishing to attend a game will be able to do so. According to government plans, by the end of May, everyone who registered for the vaccine will be able to receive it, added the Minister.
Nevertheless, if the virus causes unforeseen complications in the upcoming days or weeks, host cities have until 28 April to modify their plans and models on how to organise the matches safely, writes Origo.hu. For now, all host cities’ plans were considered positive and were accepted. However, UEFA did not make it public with how big of an audience the cities counted. Martin Kallen, the Operational Chief of UEFA, only said that there were great differences in the size of the audience planned by the cities.
According to plans, Puskás Stadium would give place to three matches at the group stage (two of Hungary and one between France and Portugal) and to one in the round of 16.
When it comes to the 2032 Summer Olympics, for the organisation of which Hungary was a candidate, unfortunately, the country has to give up its hopes this time.
The International Olympic Committee (IOC) announced that it considers Brisbane the perfect place to organise a complex event of such magnitude.
Until now, all cities had 7 years to prepare for the games and the “winner” used to be announced after a 2-year-long period of application during which contestants had to fulfil certain criteria related to the organisational process. This time, the Committee decided to take a different path and, already back in February, Brisbane was named the most likely candidate, then in March, the Committee announced that the city complied with all criteria.
The organiser city has never been revealed this early. The IOC argued that this way, the rest of the contestants will save time and money spent on the preparation of the plans.
Germany has already announced that in the case that Brisbane is the 2032 Olympic Games’ organiser, the country will automatically prepare as a candidate for the next games 4 years later. According to a source of Népszava.hu,
the Hungarian Olympic Committee might consider doing the same, concentrating on the 2036 Olympic Games.
However, the toughest part when it comes to Hungary organising an international event of such magnitude is not to agree on all details and criteria with the IOC but to convince the vast majority of Hungarians that this event would very much be beneficial for the whole country.
Hungary’s final group match of the 2021 European Championship ended in a 6-1 defeat at the hands of the Netherlands, meaning Zoltán Gera’s team finish in fourth place in the group.
Our U21 national team was left without a point against Germany and Romania after their first two European Championship matches, so, regardless of the result of their last group-stage fixture against the Netherlands, it was already certain that they could not progress to the knockout stages. However, Zoltán Gera’s team was hoping to spring a surprise against the Dutch and end their tournament on a high note. Meanwhile,
the Dutch had everything at stake,
given that after their draws against the other two group rivals, they definitely had to win to progress.
Tamás Kovács/MTI
Hungary coach Gera made six changes to his starting lineup from the Romania match, Benedek Varju, Mihály Kata, András Huszti, Donát Bárány, Csaba Bukta and Kristóf Hinora joining Szabolcs Mezei, Bendegúz Bolla, Attila Mocsi, Alen Skribek and goalkeeper Balázs Bese on the pitch at the start.
The first quarter of an hour saw the visitors shade possession but
Hungary had the better opportunities,
twice seeing the ball cleared by opposing defenders when in promising positions in the Dutch penalty area. However, the Netherlands soon took control of the game, their attacks becoming more and more dangerous and Bese twice having to make saves. Hungary held out until the 42nd minute when De Wit took control of defence-splitting pass, surged towards the Hungary goal under pressure from Varju and fired the ball into the bottom-right corner of the net.
Tamás Kovács/MTI
The second half started badly for the hosts when the Dutch, who had made three half-time substitutions, were
awarded a penalty in the 46th minute for a foul on Gakpo,
Boadu converting the spotkick down the centre of the goal to make it 2-0. Zoltán Gera then decided to make a three substitutionsof his own, Norbert Szendrei, András Csonka and László Deutsch coming on for András Huszti, Kristóf Hinora and Alen Skribek. The pressure on Hungary continued to be applied though and the Netherlands made it count in the 58th minute, Gepko shooting into the bottom-right corner from 23 metres.
Tamás Kovács/MTI
Seven minutes later, Hungary had something to celebrate, a quick counter-attack seeing Bukta play the ball to Csonka who passed to another substitute Bence Bíró, but Dutch defender Sven Botman knocked him off balance inside the penalty area and Bolla dispatched the
resulting spotkick to pull a goal back.
In the 70th minute though, the Dutch took advantage of a defensive error and Gakpo completed his hat-trick to restore his team’s three-goal cushion. Two late goals from Botman and Brobbey added gloss to the scoreline for the Netherlands, who eventually ran out 6-1 winners.
The first allocation of tickets for the Men’s EHF EURO 2022 have today gone on sale to mark a year before the tournament throws off in spectacular style in Hungary and Slovakia.
According to EHF, handball fans can now purchase ticket packages for the tournament’s high-profile matches that will take place inside the new, 20,000-seater Budapest Multifunctional Sports Hall.
These include the special night in Budapest on 13 January, which will celebrate the first match inside the new arena that will feature hosts Hungary in the tournament opener.
Supporters can buy tickets to all 23 matches scheduled to take place in Budapest, with packages for preliminary round, main round and final weekend matches available.
Prices for matches in Budapest start at 20 euro for a day for a ticket, while 100 euro gives fans access to the entire final weekend.
Further ticket details for matches in Szeged, Debrecen, Bratislava (Pozsony) and Kosice (Kassa) will be announced in the due course.
To showcase the best of the Hungarian cities, Budapest, Szeged and Debrecen are preparing for more. They are offering a festival experience: Watch Games. See More. – the slogan of the tournament, which embraces additional programmes that guarantee an authentic experience beyond the arenas during EHF EURO 2022.
The sale of experience packages – containing a wide variety of gastronomic, cultural and leisure programmes and services – has also started.
By purchasing them, in addition to match tickets, supporters will be able to attend concerts, museums, restaurants and spas, giving handball fans an almost complete programme for the days spent in Hungary.
Who will be playing where?
On Tuesday, the EHF Executive Committee confirmed the match schedule for the event, which will see teams benefit from additional rest days compared to previous Men’s EHF EUROs. Click here to download the schedule.
In terms of which venues nations will be playing,
Hungary will play in group B in Budapest, while fellow hosts Slovakia have been placed in group F in Kosice.
Having secured qualification already, Croatia will play in group C in Szeged, while Germany head to Bratislava in group D.
Should Slovenia qualify, they will play in group A in Debrecen, while Bratislava will be the home for the Czech Republic in group E should they earn qualification.
Next year, a lot of sports events will be organised in Hungary, especially in Budapest. As a result of the coronavirus epidemic, the sports world and the sports calendar have undergone a profound transformation. There were sporting events that took place in other locations, and some would be held later. The largest of the postponed events is the Tokyo Summer Olympics, which will be held in the summer of 2021. This is also important to note because the events of many sports are aligned with the Olympics.
In this article, we have gathered the Hungarian sporting events to be held next year with the help of turizmus.com.
The women’s handball Olympic qualifying tournament would have been organised in March this year. At the beginning of the virus situation, the international organisation of the sport, IHF, discussed the postponement in a video conference. The men’s Hungarian national team will definitely not be there in Tokyo; they can fight for a medal at the World Championship in Egypt. The women’s national team will compete for participation in the Olympics between March 19-21, 2021. The fact that the qualifying series is held in Győr, Hungary, may help them achieve their goal. The Olympic qualification is also at stake in the wrestlers’ competition in Budapest in March.
Also in the spring, in April, the Fed Cup final for women’s tennis players will be replaced in Budapest. The new date is April 13-18, 2021. The venue is still the Papp László Sports Arena, where the best women’s teams in the world will play on the slag track.
May will be a crowded month. Budapest will host the European Swimming, Synchronized Swimming, Open Water and Diving Championships. Furthermore, Budapest and Papp László Sports Arena is the venue again, this time for the final four of the women’s handball champion’s league. Hopefully, a Hungarian team will be among the top teams.
One of the main sporting events of the year is the European Men’s Football Championship in June and July. It is particularly noteworthy that, for the first time, the organisation of the European Championships will be shared among many cities. In the capital of Hungary, the Puskás Arena in Budapest, three group matches and a game from the Round of 16 will be held. During the group matches, the Hungarian team can be seen twice. Besides, the national team of the reigning European Champion Portugal and reigning World Champion France will be visible as well. Also, the European Championship for those under the age of 21 is partly held in Hungary alongside Slovenia.
In terms of individual sport, the Budapest World Juggling Championship stands out. In June, the Hungarian capital will host the World Equestrian Championships and the European Four-Wheel Drive Championships in September.
Several World Cup competition will take place in Hungary in 2021 in several sports, such as pentathlon in March and kayaking in May. The Gyulai István Memorial Athletics Hungarian Grand Prix will be held again in Székesfehérvár in July, and the Hungarian race will take place in Formula 1 on the first of August.
However, the race calendar for 2021 is far from complete, and due to the coronavirus epidemic, several sports do not yet have the dates and locations of many competitions. It is also questionable where and how many spectators there will be at sporting events.
A battling team performance and goals from Willy Orban, Zsolt Kalmár and Nemanja Nikolic gave Hungary a stirring 3-1 victory over hosts Bulgaria in Sofia and set up a EURO 2020 play-off final with Iceland in the Puskás Aréna next month.
Marco Rossi opted for a 3-4-1-2 formation in Bulgaria’s capital city, Péter Gulácsi in goal behind a back three of Willi Orban, Ádám Lang and Attila Fiola, with Kalmár playing well ahead of fellow central midfielders Ádám Nagy and Dávid Sigér. Filip Holender on the left and Attila Szalai on the right provided width while Roland Sallai was stationed behind lone striker and captain Ádám Szalai.
The Hungarian team. https://www.facebook.com/magyarlabdarugoszovetseg
In the absence of emerging talent Dominik Szoboszlai, it was left to Dunaszerdhelyi AC playmaker Kalmár to provide much of the inspiration to a Hungary team desperate to secure a play-off final place in Budapest next month. Firstly, he won a 17th-minute corner which he swung in for Leipzig defender
Willi Orban to head into the bottom left area of Bulgaria’s goal.
Hungary were indebted to goalkeeper Gulácsi for three excellent saves during the remainder of the first half but it was Kalmár again who lifted his team early in the second period when his innovative, low, skidding free-kick caught out the home team’s goalkeeper at his near post from fully 30 metres out.
Marco Rossi’s team were now in control of the game and remained so
after a VAR review denied Bulgaria a 57th-minute penalty after Ádám Lang was eventually adjudged not to have committed a foul in his own team’s penalty area. Buoyed by that decision, Hungary fought hard and protected their position in the game despite pressure from the hosts, a period during which Loic Nego came on for his Hungarian international debut after being cleared to play for the country only just last week. Rossi’s charges were rewarded for their endeavour in the 76th minute when two more substitutes, Szilveszter Hangya and Nemanja Nikolic, combined, the former crossing for the latter to head unmarked into the Bulgaria goal.
https://www.facebook.com/magyarlabdarugoszovetseg
From that moment on, the tie was effectively over and not even an 89th-minute consolation goal for Bulgarian debutant Yomov could dampen the spirits of the visitors, already safe in the knowledge that
they’d be playing in the Puskás Aréna next month for the right to reach the 2020 UEFA European Championship.
Iceland’s 2-1 victory against Romania now means that they will provide Hungary’s opponents in this winner-takes-all encounter in November.
https://www.facebook.com/magyarlabdarugoszovetseg
Reactions
Marco Rossi, Hungary coach: “I don’t know how I feel, to be honest. On one hand, I’m happy at qualifying. But I’m not happy with how we played. Bulgaria played better than us; we were a little lucky. We have some talented players and, if we stick to the tactics, we’re capable of achieving success.”
Willi Orbán, Hungary defender: “I can’t remember scoring such an important goal as I did today. It was a difficult match: Bulgaria built their attacks well and we didn’t always succeed with ours, but in the end we won deservedly. Great challenges are coming. We need to be smart. The match against Iceland in November will be special.”
https://www.facebook.com/magyarlabdarugoszovetseg
Hungary midfielder Zsolt Kalmár: “I enjoyed the game – the right team deservedly won. I hope this style of ours persists in the next matches. Iceland will be a tough opponent.” On his long-range free kick for Hungary’s second goal: “I saw the distance and preferred to shoot instead of passing. Mr Rossi trusts me and I want to thank him for that.”
Nemanja Nikolić, Hungary striker: “The stakes were high and we were not able to attack right away. We scored goals at good times, which calmed us down. Now our dream is closer and we are 90 minutes away from the European Championships.”
Péter Gulácsi, Hungary goalkeeper: “We developed as the game went on. We wanted to be able to play a final at home, in the Puskás Arena. There were a lot of mistakes in our game, but the point is that we were still able to win.”
“Now it’s only pictures, next year it will be reality”, describes the visualisations of the new handball stadium Máté Kocsis, president of the Hungarian Handball Federation. The modern establishment will have a capacity of 20,000 people.
Kocsis is very proud that once the construction is done, the sport of handball will be played in a world-class venue, and added that
the establishment will also have all the standards for other indoor sports including basketball, volleyball, tennis, ice skating, and even equestrian and motor sports.
Photo: www.facebook.com/kocsismate
As national sports magazine Nemzeti Sport writes, the stadium will have a capacity of 20,022 people and other than sports events, it will be also used to host various concerts, exhibitions, and conferences.
Photo: www.facebook.com/kocsismate
As Balázs Fürjes, Minister of State for Budapest and the Capital’s Metropolitan Area mentioned in an interview last year, the location of the new stadium will be next to Groupama Arena and Népliget bus terminal in Budapest, and “will cost zero money to the taxpayers”.
The European Aquatics Championships, originally scheduled to be held in Budapest this month, will be organised between May 10 and 23 next year in view of the novel coronavirus epidemic, the European swimming league LEN said on Tuesday.
The organisers announced last week that the event had been postponed to 2021 because of the epidemic.
The championships had already been postponed once, from May to August.
The LEN also announced the cancellation of the current international water polo cup seasons.
FINA announces new dates for Fukuoka World Championships
FINA, the world swimming governing body, announced on Monday that the FINA World Championships, initially scheduled for the summer of 2021 in Fukuoka, Japan, will now take place from May 13-29, 2022.
In a statement, FINA said following consultation with the city of Fukuoka, Japan Swimming Federation, organizers, athletes, coaches, technical committees, TV partners, and sponsors; FINA is pleased to announce the new date of Fukoaka worlds, says Xinhua.
“After liaising with the relevant stakeholders and receiving feedback from them, we do not doubt that the decision taken will provide the best possible conditions for all participants at the Championships. We look forward to witnessing the world’s best aquatic athletes from around the world competing in the city of Fukuoka (JPN) in 2022,” said FINA President Dr. Julio C. Maglione.
“At a time of unprecedented uncertainty, FINA hopes the announcement of these dates will allow for some clarity in planning for all concerned,” Maglione said.
The FINA World Masters Championships will take place across the island of Kyushu, from May 31-June 9, 2022.
Just like on Saturday, Hungarian skating brothers Shaoang Liu and Shaolin Sándor Liu, as well as Dutch skater Suzanne Schulting were at the top of the last day of finals of the European Short Track Speed Skating Championships in Debrecen on Sunday.
Olympic champions and Hungarian skating ace Shaolin Sándor Liu won the 1,000m men’s final (1:25.636), arriving just before his brother Shaoang Liu (1:25.667),
leaving the bronze medal to Russian athlete Semen Elistratov (1:25.831).
In the same event at the ladies, dutch skater Suzanne Schulting won the gold in 1:33.353 before her compatriot Lara van Ruijven (1:33.464), and the third place went to Italian athlete Arianna Fontana, who had won the 3,000m superfinal in 5:46.150 before Russian skater Ekaterina Efremenkova (5:46.451) and another Italian skater Martina Valcepina (5:46.618).
In the men’s 3,000m superfinal, Semen Elistratov won the race in 4:57.674, distancing Stijn Desmet from Belgium (4:57.721) and Itzhak de Laat from the Netherlands (4:57.766).
The last finals of the day were the relays, 3,000 meters for the ladies and 5,000 meters for the gents.
In the women’s event, the Netherlands were victorious with a time of 4:12.877, beating Italy (4.13.022) and Russia (4:25.577).
The same three nations prevailed at the men’s race, but in a different order. Russia was the fastest (7:06.884), tailed by the Netherlands (7:06.984) and Italy (7:07.055).
Host Hungary won the men’s tournament of the 34th European Water Polo Championship here on Sunday, edging Spain 14-13 (1-3, 3-0, 2-2, 3-4, 5-4) with penalty shots in the final.
Hungary earned the best team of Europe in waterpolo for the 13th time.
Nobody has fonder memories on Budapest than the members of the Spanish women water polo team. They won their first-ever European title in the Hungarian capital 2014 and now they clinched their second here, between the two they were silver medallist at the 2017 World Championships. In the final they staged a great second half and a 5-0 rush to turn the game against Russia and bag the gold medal. The bronze went to Hungary, the host team came from 5-8 down and also had a 5-0 run while not conceded a single goal in the last 14 minutes of the match.
Women’s final: Spain v Russia 13-12.
Bronze medal: Hungary v Netherlands 10-8.
For places 5-6th: Greece v Italy 5-7. For places 7-8th: France v Slovakia 17-8
Spain sat back to the European throne after six years and this was is no way surprising. The team played back-to-back World Championships finals in 2017 and 2019, and even though they suffered a shocking semi-final defeat against the Greeks two years ago in their home, Barcelona, this time they came up with a balanced performance and finished atop once more in Budapest.
Photo: MTI/Czagány Balázs
With the Olympic berths already secured by both sides, the final was tense but not really nervous – as a consequence, the first half already offered a scoring festival. The action-packed opening period saw seven goals, the Russians took a 3-4 lead but the Spaniards geared up for the second and went in front while the teams netted one goal after the other. Nine more came in these eight minutes so by halftime the teams produced the amount which is usual during an entire match (8-8).
The real twists arrived in the third as Ekaterina Prokofyeva netted a 6 on 5 while the Spanish offence had been frozen for a while. Maria Bersneva added one more five minutes later for 8-10 and the next Spanish 6 on 5 was almost denied but with some luck the ball was recollected by Maica Garcia who broke the Spanish silence, lasting for 8:10 minutes. And in just 35 seconds Anna Espar scored an action goal – thus the last period also started from equal (10-10).
One more lucky goal signed that Spain was really on the rise, this time the other Espar sister Clara could put away the rebound in a man-up. Russia had an extra to equalise but it was missed and soon Garcia delivered her trademark action goal from the centre with 4:14 remaining. Olga Gorbunova, who was just one goal shy of tying Rita Keszthelyi’s feat of 28 goals as the top scorer, was blocked in the following 6 on 5 – on the contrary, Paula Leiton’s powered one more in for Spain from the 2m line in a man-up for 13-10. It was a 5-0 rush from Spain and that decided the title. The Russian ‘freeze’ took 9:30 minutes, even though they pulled two back in the remaining time but the second came 22 seconds before the end, Spain kept the ball and launched great celebrations at the end.
The bronze medal match also offered some extraordinary scenes as the titleholder Dutch team seemed to be in absolute control, they looked more powerful and more efficient. Even though Hungary jumped to a 3-1 lead but the Dutch replies with four connecting goals in 2:31 minutes and went 3-5 up after eight minutes.
The battle was great but the Dutch defence worked properly, killed three Hungarian man-ups in the second and even though a penalty brought the hosts a bit closer, a double in 53 seconds gave the Netherlands a 4-7 lead. With some luck, Hungary pulled one back 18 seconds before the middle break but Iris Wolves’ fine goal from the centre reset the three-goal gap at 5-8 early in the third.
Nothing really predicted what would come next – but it happened. Rebecca Parkes also netted one from the centre for 6-8 and then the Hungarian defence began to click in a way barely seen in women’s water polo. Even though the Dutch put them under enormous pressure, a hand somehow always blocked the incoming roads, mostly goalie Edina Gangl. And the Magyars started rolling in front, netted two action goals in 48 seconds to go even, then the stands erupted when Dora Leimeter put the ball away from a man-up with 5 seconds left in the third to take a 9-8 lead.
The fourth was a giant battle between the Dutch offence and the Hungarian defensive lines and the hands were still there, once top scorer Rita Keszthelyi blocked a close-range shot on the goal line. They killed three man-ups in a row, then earned one with 2:10 minutes from time and Anna Illes sent a great bouncing shot to the top left corner in the last second of the possession with 1:50 remaining. The Dutch tried everything but it remained 10-8 – however unbelievable it was the Magyars had a 5-0 rush in the second half and shut out the title-holder side for 14:25 minutes.
It also meant that the Hungarians managed to halt their bad run in the bronze medal matches (lost the previous three in Rio 2016, Barcelona 2018 and Gwangju 2019) – and maintained the Magyars’ traditions to clinch double medals at the home championships (2001, 2014) and in the January editions (2012, 2016) since the men’s team will stand on the podium on Sunday as one of the finalists. (len.eu)
Final rankings: 1. Spain, 2. Russia, 3. Hungary, 4. Netherlands, 5. Italy, 6. Greece, 7. France, 8. Slovakia, 9. Israel, 10. Croatia, 11. Germany, 12. Serbia
Individual awards
Best goalkeeper: Anna Karnaukh (Russia)
Top scorer: Rita Keszthelyi (Hungary) with 28 goals
