2025-06-08 21:30

We have already announced several changes to One Veszprém HC's 2025/2026 roster, but we will announce more departing and arriving players at the end of the season.

In addition to our previously announced departures (Kristóf Palasics, Agustín Casado, Nikola Grahovac, Mikita Vailupau, Aron Pálmarsson), our French Olympic, World and European champion Ludovic Fabregas, who every team would like to have in their squad, is leaving after two years. We would have liked him to stay with One Veszprém for years to come, but when the new club management took over in the summer of 2024, there was no longer any possibility of negotiating an extension. The player will leave Veszprém with trophies, having been an active part of the historic IHF Super Globe victory, as well as the two Hungarian championships and a cup gold.

In the summer, our Russian left back Sergei Kosorotov, who joined our club in 2023 and won the Hungarian championship and cup with the Builders, will also leave Veszprém. In his case, we did not make use of the option to extend his contract by an extra year and decided to sell his playing rights.

One of our talented young Hungarian player will continue his career in the K&H League and in foreign championships next season for a year on loan in Gyöngyös, our right winger Bálint Végh, who has been a member of our adult team, scored 41 goals in 23 league games and was part of the team that won the IHF Super Globe.

Our young left winger, Balázs Hoffmann accepted the offer of Tatabánya KC, and we are very happy to have another talented Hungarian player for the domestic top league.

Péter Lukács, who has already made his debut in the Hungarian senior national team, will continue to strengthen Norwegian Elverum on loan next season. The goalkeeper Benedek Nagy will stay with his current team (Balingen-Weilstetten), as will Krisztián Mikler, who spent last season with NEKA in the first league, and will play another season on loan in Balatonboglár.

The club management is also working hard to strengthen the squad in cooperation with the coaching staff. In addition to the players announced so far (Thiagus Petrus, one of the best defenders in the world; left winger Ahmed Hesham, a young key player or the Egyptian national team; Yanis Lenne, the number one right winger for the French national team; and 20-year-old left winger Robin Molnár, who has already made his debut for the Hungarian national team), Ali Zein, a left winger who has played nearly 300 times for Egypt, will join Veszprém for two years. The player has already worked with our head coach Xavier Pascual at Dinamo Bucuresti in recent years, so he is familiar with the Spanish coach's playing system and can adapt to it as quickly as possible. He is also used to European handball, having played for French champions Paysd'Aix UC between 2016 and 2018, before playing an important role for Barcelona, with whom he won everything in 2022, including the Spanish championship, the cup and the Champions League. He then moved to Bucharest, where he has won three Romanian league titles and two cup trophies.

We also welcome Ahmed Adel, who joins One Veszprém from al-Ahli. The Egyptian international forward has committed himself to our club for two years. His development has been helped by experienced coaches like David Davis, Stefan Madsen and Juan Carlos Pastor. The left-handed pivot has not only achieved success with his club, but also with the Egyptian national team, finishing fourth at the 2021 Tokyo Olympics, reaching the quarter-finals in Paris last year, and finished 5th with the national team at the World Championships in January.

We also extended the contracts of our two key players. Our French-Serbian lineman Dragan Pechmalbec joined our club in 2022, is a great fit for our playing system and is committed to Veszprém until 2029, having won the Hungarian championship twice and the Hungarian Cup twice, scoring 445 goals in 148 games.

Our Egyptian left back Yehia Elderaa, who will soon return from a serious injury, has also extended his contract with our club until 2029. The player is also a two-time Hungarian champion and two-time cup winner with the Veszprém, and have scored 288 times in 104 matches.

These players have proven to play a key role in our team's playing style in recent seasons, and it was particularly important to keep them at the club to maintain consistency.

Our head coach Xavier Pascual said immediately after his arrival that he wanted to open up to the club's young talents, so he personally follows the matches and occasionally coaches the training sessions of the youth. As part of the Talent programme we have signed a four-year contract with our left wing, one of the great promises of Hungarian handball, Máté Gáncs-Pető. The 17-year-old was voted the best player of the EHF Youth Cup round in Veszprém and has already played regularly in the domestic league this season including the final, scoring 40 times in 13 matches. Our coach has already used him in the Champions League group game against Sporting, and the staff is looking forward to solve the left-wing position with him.

Adam Dopjera, our Slovakian-Hungarian young talent is joining the first team squad, he has already made his senior debut this season, and the club management have signed him on a two-year professional contract.

László Várady-Szabó, our young European youth bronze medal winning goalkeeper, has signed for two years, and he has experience in the first team a, well where he defended the goal several times last season. His talent is also recognised internationally, and in January he was invited to the EHF Respect Your Talent camp in Vienna. Nándor Győri, the junior national team goalkeeper, will remain on loan in Veszprém for another year. We would like to give them opportunity in the hungarian top league. We have extended the contract of our 20-year old pivot Levente Szabó for two years, who will continue to get a chance in the first team.

The club management is still working on strengthening the roster, preparations for the 2025/2026 season are scheduled to start on 4 August 2025 with the new squad, and we will provide information about the preparation period in July.

We thank the leaving players for everything and wish them continued success at their new clubs and in their future careers! And welcome to Veszprém to the new players!

#RedUnited #HandballCity #StrongerTogether

MEGOSZTÁS