EHF EURO Cup brings Patricia Kovács back to her roots

The Women’s EHF EURO Cup is held for the second time in the build-up to a European Championship. In the first edition, before EHF EURO 2022, Norway came out as the winners; in the current edition, Norway take part again and meet the EHF EURO 2024 co-hosts Austria, Hungary, and Switzerland.

After they lost in the midweek round 1 against Switzerland (33:27), Austria take on Hungary in round 2 on Sunday (live on EHFTV at 17:00 CEST) in Schwechat.

One Austrian player especially looking forward to this match is centre back Patricia Kovács, who has Hungarian roots. Her parents are from Hungary.

“Unfortunately, we never had our best matches against Hungary, so I hope we can change it now,” the 27-year-old Kovács says.

There is more that connects Kovács with Hungary than the country of birth of her parents: she played for two Hungarian club teams in the past – for one season (2017/18) at Vác and for three (2020-23) at Mosonmagyaróvár. The time in-between she spent at Metzingen in Germany.

“Of course, I know many players of the Hungarian team. Either I played for the same clubs, or we duelled in the league,” says Kovács, who returned to her home club Hypo Niederösterreich this summer after six years abroad.

“I wanted to start my business career parallel to handball; this is impossible in Hungary, where you are a 100% professional player,” says Kovács, who started to work in the risk management department of a bank in Vienna this summer. “But playing abroad in Hungary and Germany was highly important for my development on and off the court.”

At the age of 19, Kovács had her debut in Austria’s women’s team, and she has always been coached by Herbert Müller since the beginning.

On Sunday, it is match No. 75 for Kovács in the national team. Her biggest event so far has been the 2021 IHF World Championship in Spain, where she finished top of the combined list for goals and assists, with 89 points (43 goals, 46 assists).

Now, she has two more major tournaments coming up. Austria are preparing for the World Championship in Denmark, Norway and Sweden later this year, followed by the EHF EURO on home ground in November and December 2024.

“Of course, the anticipation for 2024 is really huge. It is the first EHF EURO participation for Austria since 2008, and playing such an event on home ground is something unique in your career,” Kovács says.

“We are happy that we do not have to go through qualification this time but can develop our team without pressure in the EHF EURO Cup. You can try a lot of things to be ready for 2024.”

The advantage for Austria might be the well-rehearsed squad they already have.

“In previous years, we had a lot of changes in our roster, now the team has been together for some years. To host the EHF EURO 2024 is a very special motivation for all of us, everybody wants to be part of this major event for Austrian women’s handball,” Kovács says.

Austria play their preliminary round matches of the EHF EURO in Innsbruck – and it is their big dream to make it to the main round in Vienna.

“Many of our players come from the Vienna region, so do I. And playing in Vienna would mean many friends and the families will be at our matches,” Kovács says.

But before that final tournament, the focus is on the EHF EURO Cup. Austria suffered a remarkably clear six-goal defeat in their opening game in Switzerland Wednesday, putting even more pressure to do well in the home game against Hungary on Sunday.

“I hope we have a chance against Hungary, mainly because we play on home ground in Schwechat. But against Norway, we will definitely not be the favourites,” Kovács says.

The EHF EURO Cup duels with Norway only follow in February and March 2024, but Austria will meet them sooner than that: Norway are also one of their opponents at the World Championship – alongside Greece and Korea.

“We are happy that we were awarded with a wild card for the World Championship,” Kovács says. “We need to be part of such big tournaments and gain experience to be successful in 2024.”

photos © 2021 Diener/Philipp Schalber