The Hungarian men's handball team reached its best European championship position in its history and finished fifth in the Olympic qualification continental tournament, as it defeated Slovenia 23-22 on Friday afternoon in the Cologne qualifier.

The best result of the Hungarians - whose goal was to get into the top ten - was sixth place at the 1998 continental tournament. For the first time, they advanced from the group stage with a 100% performance, won four matches at a European Championship for the first time, advanced from the semi-finals for the first time, and for the first time since 2008 they ended the European Championship with a positive record - five wins, three losses.

This time, Bence Krakovszki and Zsolt Krakovszki were left out of the 18-man squad of the Hungarian national team. The goalkeeper, Kristóf Palasics, who was operated on for appendicitis, is in good condition, he was able to leave the hospital and watched the match at the Lanxess Arena.

Dominik Máthé's knee injury is already being investigated in Paris.

For the first time in the tournament in Germany, the Hungarians started by changing two men between the attack and the defense, but the Slovenians did not go 5-2 at the beginning of the match for that reason, but because they made fewer mistakes. The team settled down without time-outs, first equalized, and then took the lead in the 13th minute (8-7).

László Bartucz defended better and better, and although the national team could have attacked for a three-goal lead in the 21st minute, Bóka's shot and then two penalties were missed, the Hungarians did not score an action goal for more than ten minutes, and they were 13-12 behind at the break.

At the beginning of the second half, the game was stopped for several minutes because the timing system had to be restarted at the referee's table. Three quarters of the way into the game, the Hungarian team had already missed five penalties, but despite this, based on some defensive actions by the Slovenians, Bencé Bánhidi was again in a better position in the 48th minute (19-18).

Five minutes before the end, the team again found itself in a two-goal deficit and, on top of that, a man disadvantage, but it was able to turn things around.

Bóka Bendegúz also made two seven-meter shots, and there was only a minute and a half left, when the score was 23-22, which did not change even after the referees' time-lapse video.

László Bartucz contributed to the success with ten saves. On the other side, Gasper Marguc, the right winger of Veszprém, scored one goal, Borut Mackovsek, the shooter of Szeged, scored three goals, Dean Bombac, the manager of Szeged, scored one goal, and Klemen Ferlin finished with 11 saves. The two teams met for the thirtieth time, alongside 14 Slovenian wins and one draw, this was Hungary's 15th success.

"Both teams really wanted to win and both teams could have won. The final minutes were the deciding factor, when luck was on our side," said national team captain José María Rodríguez Vaquero at the press conference after the match.

He added that it was a very difficult match and although the players were already very tired, they did an amazing job on the pitch today, as they did throughout the tournament. He highlighted that eight matches is a lot, as the teams have to play tough matches every other day, but the Hungarians always tried to give their best.

"My players are amazing, they deserve success. I am very happy about the historic result, the whole of Hungary can be proud of the guys," said the Spanish coach.

MTI

Front page photo: Members of the winning Hungarian team celebrate after the Hungary-Slovenia match for the fifth place of the Men's Olympic Qualification European Championship at the Lanxess Arena in Cologne on January 26, 2024.
The Hungarian national team won 23-22. MTI/Zsolt Czeglédi