Veszprém made it two out of two at the 2025 IHF Men’s Club World Championship, with a 31:22 win over Al-Ahly, as both teams qualified for the second time in a row for the semi-finals of the competition, joining FC Barcelona and SC Magdeburg.

GROUP B
Veszprém KC (HUN) vs Al-Ahly SC (EGY) 31:22 (13:12)

With this group’s second-placed side all but assured their place in the semi-finals of the 2025 IHF Men’s Club World Championship, the question was who the group winner was going to be. 

Veszprém had a chance to become the best group winner if they won by six goals or more, but they could not face Al-Ahly again in the semis, which meant that their opponent was going to be an European side – FC Barcelona if they lost and SC Magdeburg if they won or drew.

But by no means the title holders were going to step away from another win, as the motto of “winning a match will only bring you more wins” worked out for Veszprém well in the previous edition of the competition, when they secured their maiden title.

Nevertheless, this match was far from a walk in the park for Veszprém, as Al-Ahly, which beat Barcelona in the previous edition, provided a strong display and challenged the Hungarian side throughout the whole match, this being the most balanced match of this edition of the IHF Men’s Club World Championship so far.

Veszprém are betting much on depth this season, with plenty of talent in their roster, as Xavi Pascual can rotate between Ali Zein and Yehia Elderaa on the left back, between Ahmed Hesham or Luka Cindric on the centre back position and between Ivan Martinovic and the MVP of the previous edition, Nedim Remili, on the right back position.

With this in mind, Veszprém had only eight players scoring in the first three quarters of the match, as left wing Hugo Descat once again led the way, with six goals up until that point. However, the Hungarian powerhouse never led by more than five goals and Al-Ahly were more or less two or three goals down throughout the whole of the first half.

A fantastic goal scored by Mohsen Ramadan at the buzzer saw the first half ending with Veszprém holding the slightest of leads, 13:12, making the second half even more interesting and competitive. The single problem? Al-Ahly’s start.

A 7:3 start for Veszprém powered by three goals from Descat and two from Remili worked wonders, but two three-minute runs without a goal scored for Veszprém enabled Al-Ahly to cut into that lead, 22:19. Yet the Egyptian side missed three chances to cut it to only two goals and they were duly punished by their opponents, opening a seven-goal lead, 26:19, with a 4:0 run.

It was the decisive moment of the match, as Veszprém could never be caughy by Al-Ahly, jumping to a 31:22 win, taking full advantage of Al-Ahly’s tired legs in the last 10 minutes of the match, with the bet on depth from the Hungarian side paying off. Descat was the best scorer of the match, with nine goals, followed by Remili, Cindric and Ali Zein, with four goals each.

Veszprém were the best group winners in this edition of the competition, with a +45 goal difference, while Barcelona had a +41 goal difference and Magdeburg boasted a +40 goal difference. However, as they cannot face the best second-placed side with the two sides being in the same group, they will face the third best group winner, which is Magdeburg, leaving Al-Ahly for another showdown against Barcelona in the semi-finals.

Player of the Match: Rodrigo Coralles (Veszprém)