Budapest has just won the right to co-host the European Men’s Handball Championship for 2022. Taking place over two weeks in January, the event will be staged in six cities, including Debrecen, Veszprém and Szeged, as well as two in Slovakia. Showcase matches will take place at the Papp László Sportaréna, venue for the European Women’s Handball Championships in 2004 and 2014. With football’s prestigious Euro 2020, and the European Aquatics Championships that same year both on the agenda, sports fans in Budapest have plenty on the horizon to look forward to.
Staged every two years since 1994, the European Men’s Handball Championship is coming to Hungary for the first time – Croatia was the host last January, 2020 will go to Austria, Norway and Sweden.
Despite a long tradition in the sport, Hungary has never won the competition, nor even finished in the first four places.
As current Hungarian handball star, a European gold-medal winner at youth level, László Nagy, says: ‘As an athlete, there is no bigger dream than to play for your home crowd. During large-scale international events, I could only see in my opponents’ eyes what the support of their fans from home meant to them. I would like my fellow younger players to experience this great feeling – especially given that Hungarian fans are considered to be among the most fantastic in the world!’ More details
