The Hungarian Water Polo Association (MVLSZ) held its renewal general meeting today, where delegates unanimously re-elected Olympic champion Norbert Madaras as president for another four years.
Madaras, who has been at the helm for the past two years, outlined a comprehensive sports development strategy that will guide Hungarian water polo until 2032.
The general assembly opened with a presidential report by Madaras, reflecting on his two years of leadership. “I knew this would be a challenging task, and it has indeed been the most difficult one of my life. But I’m smiling because I enjoy challenges, and I believe we’ve achieved many positive results since November 2022,” Madaras said.
He highlighted the association’s stabilized financial situation and celebrated recent achievements in the pool. Under his tenure, the Hungarian men’s team claimed gold at the 2023 World Championships, while the women’s team secured silver in 2024. Despite these successes, Madaras acknowledged a lingering “sense of absence” regarding Olympic performance.
In youth development, Hungary’s dominance has been unparalleled. In 2023 and 2024, Hungarian youth teams consistently placed in the top four in all six age categories at the World and European Championships, earning four gold medals in 2023 and more medals in 2024, including a world title for the U18 men’s team.
Madaras also laid out an ambitious future vision for Hungarian water polo. Among the notable initiatives is the launch of the Health and Methodology Center at Dagály, and the introduction of a video platform that will allow all MVLSZ-organized matches to be followed live within a few years. Additionally, the association is developing instructional materials to improve youth training and performance, and plans to integrate artificial intelligence into game and performance analysis.
The highlight of the meeting was the presentation of MVLSZ’s 2024-2032 long-term sports development strategy, built on four pillars: sustainability, supply development, efficiency improvement, and increasing water polo’s popularity. “We need to achieve systemic development in the profession, enhance health and performance diagnostics, and increase the number and quality of our sports professionals,” Madaras explained.
The overarching goal, however, is to expand the sport’s base. “We aim to attract more young people to water polo and maintain, if not increase, its popularity. We have two Olympic cycles ahead of us to achieve this, and I believe we have a solid foundation to build on.”
After the president’s report and strategy were unanimously accepted, Madaras was re-elected as president for another full Olympic cycle. György Beck will continue as co-president, while István Gergely and Tamás Molnár were elected as vice-presidents. The new presidency also includes Péter Biros, Sándor Tóth, István Kovács, Gergely Lukács, Bulcsú Székely, and Tamás Faragó, with Éva Hegedüs returning as Social President.