Dunaferr Women's Handball Team

The "new" history of the Dunaferr women's handball team started ten years ago when the management of Dunaferr SE expressed their intention that the team ranked in the middle part of the Hungarian first division up to that moment, should be a front runner among the women's handball teams in the world.
The well-planned acqusition of excellent players and a quality professional work had its result soon as in the 1994/95 season beside the fourth place taken in the national championship the team managed to beat the German Lützellinden and become the winner of the European Cup-winners Cup. The players who had a very important role in this success were Meksz Anikó, Siti Bea, Mátyás Auguszta and Kocsis Erzsébet, who was chosen the best player of that year.
Next year the team won the bronze medal in the extremely strong Hungarian National Championship and a year later they took the silver medal. In 1996 they were placed among the first eight and a year later among the first sixteen in the European Cup-winners Cup. The players of the Dunaferr team were naturally indispensable players of the national team, and in the 1996 Olympic Games due to their excellent performance the Hungarian National Team won the bronze medal repeating their success in the 1976 World Championship. Five Dunaferr players (Meksz Anikó, Mátyás Auguszta, Németh Helga, Sáriné Kocsis Erzsébet, Siti Beáta) had an active role in this sensational success and thus became top international players.
The real golden age was still to come. In the 1997/98 season they were beaten neither at national nor at international level. The team won the national championship and the Hungarian Cup which was followed by their winning of the EHF-Cup. The hard part of the job was still ahead. By winning the Hungarian championship we directly joined the European elite qualifying into the European Champions Cup. The appearance of the red-white team could not have been better in the highest-ranking cup-series as they had excellent results in the European Champions Cup in addition they won the Hungarian Cup and championship. Everybody can remember their unforgettable win against the previously unrivalled Hypo team in the semi-final, which was followed by their success against Ljubljana in the final, thus occupying their well-deserved place at the top.

It was all crowned by winning the European Super-cup and this way the team whose coach was Zsiga Gyula conquered all the possible trophies in the 98/99 season. Compared to this, the 2000 season represented a set-back as the team won "only" the bronze medal in the Hungarian championship, but nevertheless they could not be beaten in the Hungarian Cup. In the National team the girls achieved better results as they won the silver medal in the 2000 Sydney Olympic Games. Three Dunaferr players (Bojana Radulovics, Balogh Beatrix, Zsemberiné Simics Judit) got a place in this national team. The Dunaújváros handball fans could be happy for another title won by Bojana Radulovics who was selected the best handball player of the year similarly to Kocsis Erzsébet earlier. During the next season the team restructured with new players had to take comfort with a national championship title and a Cup-winners cup quarter-final and then after a consecutive second and first place in the national championship in the 2002/2003 seasons they could play in the international cup final but for the first time in its history the team could not take the last step towards victory as they lost against the Danish Slagelse in a close struggle.
After ownership changes in the 2004 championship the team continued to make their courageous plans by strengthening its structure (in 2004 we could already admire the performance of nine players selected for the national team day by day) and again the aim is to win the Champions League. The excellent professional work done for years is a very good guarantee that the Dunaújváros women's handball, which started its conquest ten years ago, will preserve its well-deserved place on the world handball map.

Results:
National championship:
I. place:
1998., 1999., 2001., 2003., 2004.
II. place:
1997., 2000., 2002.
III. place:
1996.
Hungarian Cup:
I. place:
1998., 1999., 2000., 2002., 2004.
European Cup-winners Cup:
I. place:
1995.
EHF Cup:
I. place:
1998.
II. place:
2003.
European Champions Cup:
I. place
1999.
European Super-cup:
I. place:
1999.

Contact
Dunaferr Women's Handball Ltd. Address: Vasmű út 13., 2400 Dunaújváros, HungaryPhone:+36 25/523-133Fax: +36 25/523-134
Contact: Csaba Soós Mobil: +36 30 929-7344
Dunaferr Sport HallAddress: Eszperantó u. 2-4., 2400 Dunaújváros, Hungary
Team's e-mail address: dferrhandball@dferrhandball.comManagement's email address:takacscs@dferrhandball.com