Bence Imre: A young wing in the fast lane

Last summer, Imre moved from his home side FTC-Green Collect from Budapest, to the four-time EHF Champions League and four-time EHF Cup winners, and right from day one has been tasked with filling the shoes of his legendary predecessor, Niclas Ekberg, THW's all-time top scorer. Having already won the German cup, Imre now aims to win his first international trophy with the Zebras at the Maschinensucher EHF Finals 2025 in Hamburg, where his team will first face Montpellier in the semi-final.

“The first six months were a bit tricky for me – a new club, new teammates, new friends, a new city – but now it’s really going up. It is absolutely fine now,” says Imre, who was awarded as Hungarian Handball Player of the Year in 2024. His biggest impressions at Kiel are the home matches, “When you enter the arena with 10,000 fans and this incredible atmosphere, it is simply magnificent. I am really proud to play at THW.”

Settling in has been easier thanks to one player who takes special care of the young players, team captain Domagoj Duvnjak; “Dule is like a father to the young ones. You can learn so much from him, he is like a coach on the court. And in every training, every match he gives 100 per cent, a real role model for every other player.”

Early on, it was quite different for Imre to live in a smaller town, “I was born in Budapest, I am a big city guy. In Kiel, everybody knows everybody, and even the people on the street already recognise me as a THW player. Now I love to live here, close to the sea.” At his former multisport club FTC, with its highly successful football and water polo teams, the handball focus was a bit more on the women, who have been Hungarian champions and cup winners in recent years and made it to the EHF Champions League final in 2023. “But in men’s handball we are Hungary’s talent pool,” says Imre.

He was born in 2002 - a fantastic year in terms of rising stars with players such as Dominik Kuzmanovic, his Kiel teammate Elias Ellefsen á Skipagøtu, Germans Renars Uscins, David Späth or Nils Lichtlein and his Hungarian national teammate Kristof Palasics. “It is true, this vintage year was special for handball. And of course, it was an incredible tournament to face all of them at the U21 World Championship in Germany in 2023. We played the final in front of 9,000 fans in Berlin, and though we lost it against Germany, I will never forget this atmosphere.”

Three months prior to that event, Bence made his senior debut in the men’s national team and since then has not only been a regular, but has been among the main scorers for Hungary. That scoring rate has transferred to the EHF European League, too, as the newcomer is Kiel’s top scorer with 52 goals in 11 matches this season. 

Having gone a season without a trophy last time out, THW won the German cup in April, beating Melsungen in the final – a complete relief for a club that expects regular silverware. “Kiel are not used to finishing a season without any trophies, so all the fans, the players and the whole club were extremely happy for this title. But still, we have hunger for more, we want to win the EHF Finals, as it currently does not seem to be easy for us to win the German League and to qualify for the EHF Champions League, which is always the goal of the club. Personally, winning already one title and having the chance to win a second one, means that I am really happy with my first season at Kiel.”

First, Kiel face Montpellier in the semi-final in Hamburg. One year ago, THW turned a 30:39 defeat to Montpellier in the first leg of the Machineseeker EHF Champions League quarter-final into a ticket to Cologne, winning the reverse fixture 31:21. Though he had not been part of the THW squad back then, Imre remembers the match well, “It was a magic night at Kiel, when the fans pushed the team to the ultimate. At Hamburg, we want to have two more magic matches with our fans.”

But the Hungarian also knows that the hurdles to win the trophy at the Maschinensucher EHF Finals are huge; “This year, four teams which belong to the Champions League, have qualified, all with enormous quality. In the league, we lost twice against Flensburg and Melsungen, and against Montpellier we really expect a tough match.”

Alongside success on club level, Imre has high hopes with the Hungarian national team, which just clinched their place at EHF EURO 2026 as winners of their qualification group. “At the EHF EURO 2024 and the World Championship 2025, we were really close to making it to the semis. And exactly this step we want to go to in 2026.

Main photo © Luis Palomeque; Feature photos © Sascha Klahn, Hungarian Handball Federation