The Board of the Hungarian Handball Federation has finalised the coaching staff of all junior and youth national teams for the 2019-2020 season.

Only one change is to be seen at national level: László Sótonyi was appointed as the head coach of the men’s junior national team. The excellent professional of NEKA has been managing the national B team until now, but by the time the following team camp is about to be held, he will be working with the U20 squad.

 

„I was happy of course to have been asked to do this job, I find it a great challenge, and it means more responsibilities than working for the national B team. Big tournaments are ahead of us, and the depth of the talent pool is also bigger, I am curious about the joint work with the juniors. I would like to bring the best out of the boys, the goal is to be able to offer as many players for the national A team as we can, and that they become as soon as possible available to move up. I am in weekly contact with Krisztián Kárpáti from whom the squad I have inherited, but since I am working on club level with the same age group, I do have an overview of the players already” – emphasized László Sótonyi, who took over in this position fromJános Gyurka.

The new junior head coach finds it extremely useful that the cooperation with the national A team will be much closer than before.

„The squad is open, one can get in and out and I am glad that there is a concept which includes in talent development the junior age group, and that the same principles are used by István Gulyás and László Nagy with the national A team. It means that tactically and also from the viewpoint of physical preparation there will be a lot of common ground, plus training camps will be held at the same locations. So, on the one hand, the young guys will see the best at work, bearing in their minds where they should arrive, on the other hand, coaches can get an idea of ​​what they need to work on. I have long been expecting a unified approach to talent development training, I trust that I can be of good help in realising this.” – saidLászló Sótonyi for our homepage.

The junior team will be having a training camp in Balatonboglár between 15 and 18 September, on its final day playing the first-division team of Komló in a test match. Into the squad of László Sótonyi two current and four former NEKA players received invitations: Márton Dely, Dániel Kecskés, Kristóf Győri, Bence Papp, Zoran Ilics and Dominik Gál.

The junior squad:

Pál Merkovszki (FTC), Kristóf Győri (FTC), Brúnó Bajusz (Pick Szeged), Bence Holdosi (FTC), Tamás Tóvizi (Balatonfüredi KC), Alex Bognár (Váci KSE), Ákos Kőhegyi (Balatonfüredi KC), Viktor Jurij Melnyicsuk (Telekom Veszprém), Viktor Prainer (FTC), Bence Papp (Gyöngyös), Márton Dely (NEKA), Zoran Ilics (Telekom Veszprém), Dominik Gál (Zagreb), Huba Vajda (Balatonfüredi KC), Bence Hornyák (Telekom Veszprém), Dániel Kecskés (NEKA).

Coaching staff of national teams:

Women

Juniors

Head coach: Vlagyimir Golovin

Assistant coach: Krisztina Pigniczki

Target tournament: U20 World Championships, July 2020, Romania

Youth

Head coach: Szilárd Kiss jr.

Assistant coach: György Papp

Target tournament: U18 World Championships, August 2020, PR China

U15

Head coach: Beáta Bohus

Assistant coach: dr. Péter Woth

Target tournament: U16 European Open Championships, 2020 Gothenburg, Sweden

Men

Juniors

Head coach: László Sótonyi

Assistant coach: Gábor Herbert

Target tournament: U20 European Championships, July 2020, Austria-Italy

Youth

Head coach: Krisztián Kárpáti

Assistant coach: István Pásztor

Target tournament: U18 European Championships, August 2020, Slovenia

U16

Head coach: Zsolt Kopornyik

Assistant coach: Levente Szabó