Pascual to Stay in Veszprém: Club Rejects Kiel Rumours and Targets More
Although the duck season in Hungary only starts on September 1st, in our sport, due to its specificity, it can start earlier. As, for example, in the summer of 2026. Our head coach, Xavi Pascual, who has appeared several times in several places in recent days, is negotiating with the German THW Kiel. And then, if he does sign there, the German team’s Faroese manager, Elias Ellefsen á Skipagötu, will come to us in return. The reality is that Xavi Pascual has a contract with us for two more years, and we intend to continue on the path with him. True to our winter promise, we have jointly evaluated the 2025-26 season, and in accordance with what was said during the exchange of ideas, we will try to make our dreams come true together, here in Veszprém.
The specialist, who won three Champions Leagues as head coach with Barcelona, started building in Veszprém two years ago, and even during the summer break, he is working on how we can be better in the 2026-27 season. We know that we had weaker matches in the season left behind us. We know that, even under dramatic circumstances, and arguably in a way, we missed out on the CL Final Four against the later silver medalist Füchse Berlin. We, like our fans, regret these very much. But we achieved three of our four main goals, we won the Hungarian championship (with a hundred percent performance!) and the Hungarian Cup, we were able to play in the final of the Club World Championship, and we missed out on the fourth, the F4, by only seven points.
This summer, two Olympic, world and European champions, Emil Nielsen and Lukas Jörgensen, and one of the greatest assets of Hungarian handball, Imre Bence, will join us. Thanks to them, we will be enriched with significant potential, outstanding international experience, and we believe that we will make great progress. It will also be helped by the fact that Ahmed Hesham, Ivan Martinovic and Yanis Lenne will no longer have to deal with the difficulties that many people naturally encounter in their first season.
The One Veszprém squad will be exceptionally strong in the 2026-27 season, we are confident in our progress, and therefore our goals do not change. Before our first match, the Super Cup match against OTP Bank-Pick Szeged on August 30, we will present our new players to the general public at a press conference and outline how we want to be successful in the new season.
