TELEKOM VESZPREM – Eyes on the prize

AUTHOR'S STORY ''There is something simply fascinating in the story of this Handball City and that will surely never change.''

Telekom Veszprem

Throughout his incredible playing career, Momir Ilic scored many important goals reaching some big trophies. Lately, however, he decided to turn a whole new page in his handball story taking over as a head coach in Veszprem with a goal of rebuilding a team and still going for all the titles. Telekom Veszprem fans are still dreaming of that EHF Champions League title.

However, on the road to that prestigious title, there are many obstacles in both SEHA – Gazprom League and Hungarian Championship with Szeged challenging the team from Veszprem every single year.

Spanish coaches Antonio Carlos Ortega, Xavi Sabate and David Davis have all managed to go all the way in SEHA  - Gazprom League with reigning Hungarian runners-up. For Ilic, SEHA – Gazprom League Final 4 was the first big event in his coaching career and he managed to pass that exam.

All three of the upper-mentioned Spanish coaches failed to take the Hungarian giant to the top of Europe. Ortega lost the Champions League final against Barcelona, Xavi Sabate’s team failed to stick with the nine-goal lead with less than 15 minutes left to go against Kielce while David Davis didn’t have the answer for Vardar’s ‘golden generation’ in 2019.

Everything is once again in Balkan coaching hands. Veszprem fans still remember Croatian coach Zdravko Zovko. Former Olympic champions as a player with Yugoslavia was leading Veszprem from 2000 to 2007 helping them reach some unexplored heights. They have even managed to reach Champions League final in which they were stopped by German Magdeburg. Now, almost two decades later, Veszprem have managed to become the real symbol of  consistence and success in European handball.

In the past it was Arpad Sterbik, Kiril Lazarov and Carlos Perez. A bit later Laszlo Nagy, Aron Palmarsson, Chema Rodriguez and Momir Ilic. Now the ‘Red Army’ in Veszprem Arena cheers Petar Nenadic, Yahia Omar, Rodrigo Coralles and many others every single time they are out there on the court with the same everlasting passion.

There is something simply fascinating in the story of this Handball City and that will surely never change.