BENU Hungarian Cup: the final fours have been formed
The women's final lineup has been determined, and now the men's four teams for the BENU Hungarian Cup are also set. Among men, the regulars of the past two years, FTC-Telekom and EPS-Honvéd, will once again compete in the semifinals. Meanwhile, Szolnoki Dózsa-Praktiker, who is currently on a 14-game winning streak, is in for the third time and BVSC-Manna ABC returns to the semifinals after four years. The women's final is heading towards another matchup between FTC-Telekom and UVSE-Helia D.
There is a change in the men's final four lineup: while the defending champions FTC-Telekom are almost a fixed participant in the playoffs - so much so that they have won the last six occasions, the last time the Final Four was held without them was in 2016 - BVSC-Manna ABC will compete for the title for the first time since 2020, and after 2021, Szolnoki will have another chance. In the last two years, the same quartet has met: alongside Ferencváros, Vasas, OSC, and Honvéd, but this time only Honvéd will be in the semifinals for the third time in a row.
In the quarterfinals, Ferencváros and Honvéd had the easiest tasks, with Ferencváros beating Kaposvár as expected, while Honvéd had no major problems defeating Szeged.
A tougher battle was fought between BVSC and Szentes - at least in the first match, where Szentes surprisingly secured a draw against Vasas, who have achieved several great results on the European stage but have been performing inconsistently at home. However, after that, BVSC dominated. Although the first half was like a complete match (8-10), the hosts ran out of steam in the second half, scoring only two goals compared to Konarik Ákos's six, leading to a confident victory and a spot in the Final Four.
This was not the first remarkable victory for Szentes: back in September, they started their journey with a win against Szolnok in the preliminary round. This is worth mentioning because since then, Szolnok has embarked on a winning streak that we last saw from the Champions League-winning team. There are no foreign or local stars, just a lot of motivated young players, and what they have been doing since September 23 is hard to put into words. Let's just say they are currently on a 14/14 winning streak. Euro Cup, league, cup - victory after victory. And in the quarterfinals of the Hungarian Cup, they accomplished a significant feat by eliminating last year's finalists, Vasas. In an intense finish at Komjádi, they won, and at home, they dominated (16-9): besides Ferencváros, few were able to defeat them with a seven-goal difference...
As for the women, they are in the same position as the men were last time: the same four teams are competing in the Final Four as one year ago. The defending champions UVSE-Helia D, FTC-Telekom, and Dunaújváros have made it to the final. The purple-yellows defeated Szeged, the Ferencváros team defeated III. Kerület, with both advancing teams scoring 47 goals in the two quarterfinal matches. Newcomers from Dunaújváros had no trouble beating Szentes, and the only heated battle was between Eger and BVSC. Eger won the league match by one goal, but in the cup, they lost by one at home and two away against the railway team.
So, the four teams competing in the Champions League will now battle for the cup - UVSE will face Dunaújváros, while Ferencváros will play against BVSC in the semifinals.
