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The biggest bomb of the 2023 transfer market this summer “exploded” today.
Dusan Mandic joined Ferencvaros.
The double Olympic champion left Novi Beograd after a turbulent season. He was out of the team in the last two months due to a suspension.
Today, he was presented as Ferencvaros’ new player.
Mandic played for Primorac, Partizan, Pro Recco, while he joined Novi Beograd in 2021. He was appointed team captain, but two months ago, he was suspended because, as it was officially explained, he was in bad shape. Therefore, Mandic didn’t help the team at the season's finish.
He won two Champions Leagues - one with Partizan (2011) and one with Pro Recco (2021).
“The previous period in Serbia was supposed to be the most beautiful time in my career. Instead of that it was the most difficult time in my career. I was out of the team of Novi Beograd for no reason, I underline, for no reason. In that difficult period, Balazs Nyeki (new head caoch - Ed.) and Ferencvaros were among the first who supported and contacted me. They showed a big interest in for me to become a part of such a big club as Ferencvaros is, with a great history and fans. I am more than happz and exciting to be here. The goals are the highest – to try to win everything we can", Mandic said after the signingd and wished good luck to ex-head coach Zsolt Varga in his future career.
Mandic won two Olympic golds (2016 and 2021), one bronze (2012), two medals at the World Championships (gold and bronze), three golds at the European Championships, four World League titles, gold and bronze in the FINA World Cup.
For the first time, two winners of the Total Player Award will be the teammates. Mandic, the winner of the 2021 award, will be welcomed by Denes Varga, who won the trophy two years before.
Ferencvaros held a press conference today and presented the team for the season 2023/24. The club confirmed that one of the additions is Italy’s universal player Edoardo Di Somma, who arrived from Brescia.
Edoardo Di Somma Photo: Total Waterpolo
Edoardo Di Somma (27) grew up in the water polo school of Bogliasco. In 2015, he moved to Pro Recco. The best Italian club sent Di Somma on loan to Sport Management twice (2015 – 16 and 2017/19). In 2019, he became the World Champion in Italy and after that returned to Recco, but he left the club in 2020 to join Brescia where he spent the last three seasons. He won three medals with Italy – two at the World Championships (gold in 2019 and silver in 2022) and gold in the 2022 World League.
The club presented a new head coach. Since the last summer, it has been known that Zsolt Varga would leave Ferencvaros after the end of the season (due to obligations with the national team)
Varga’s replacement is Balazs Nyeki, who was Ferencvaros’ assistant coach until now. Nyeki played for Ferencvaros for years and won the Cup Winners’ Cup (1998) and LEN Euro Cup (2017) with “Fradi”. In 2017, he retired and became Zsolt Varga’s assistant. After Varga’s appointment as the head coach of Hungary 11 months ago, Nyeki started preparing to become Ferencvaros’ head coach. The club solved the question of a new coach for already last summer.
Balazs Nyeki Photo: Ferencvaros Vizilabda
Besides Mandic and Di Somma, two players arrived at Ferencvaros - Bence Szabo, who returns to FTC after two years spent in BVSC and Akos Nagy, who comes from KSI.
Three players left the club.Nemanja Ubovic confirmed he had moved to Vouliagmeni. Left-handed Viktor Vadovics and Bence Varga also departed from Ferebcvaros. Vadovics will probably join Honved.
Ferencvaros' roster for the season 2023/24
Goalkeepers: Daniel Szakonyi, Soma Vogel
Field players: Stiylianos Argyropulos, Edoardo Di Somma, Gergo Fekete, Szilard Jansik, Luca Damonte, Dusan Mandic, Daniil Merkulov, Erik Molnar, Adam Nagy, Akos Nagy, Toni Nemet, Zoltan Pohl, Bence Szabo, Denes Varga, Vendel Vigvári
Head coach: Balazs Nyeki . Coaching staff: Balazs Korenyi, Andras Gardonyi, Norbert Katona.
Arrivals: Dusan Mandic, Edoardo Di Somma, Akos Nagy, Bence Szabo
Departures: Zsolt Varga (head coach), Nemanja Ubovic, Viktor Vadovics, Bence Varga.
