{"id":47803,"date":"2026-04-16T15:13:57","date_gmt":"2026-04-16T13:13:57","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/semmelweis.hu\/english\/?p=47803"},"modified":"2026-04-16T15:13:57","modified_gmt":"2026-04-16T13:13:57","slug":"the-medics-cup-once-again-ended-with-a-victory-for-semmelweis-university","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/semmelweis.hu\/english\/2026\/04\/the-medics-cup-once-again-ended-with-a-victory-for-semmelweis-university\/","title":{"rendered":"The Medic\u2019s Cup once again ended with a victory for Semmelweis University"},"content":{"rendered":"
For the second time in a row, and for the fourth time in the past five years, the competition among students from the four Hungarian medical and health sciences universities concluded with an overall victory for Semmelweis. The university secured first place in both the men\u2019s and women\u2019s overall points competition in the 53rd edition of the Medic\u2019s Cup, which was organized by the University of P\u00e9cs. Between April 9 and 11, thousands of students from all corners of the country came to watch the women\u2019s and men\u2019s team competitions in five events, with more than 650 people cheering for the Semmelweis teams on site. Next year, Semmelweis University will host the competition.<\/div>\n

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Semmelweis University\u2019s teams have not only won on home turf<\/a> in recent years but also claimed victory at last year\u2019s 52nd Medic\u2019s Cup<\/a>, held in Szeged. This year, the competition took place in P\u00e9cs, where Semmelweis once again claimed the Medic\u2019s Cup. In this long-standing annual competition, athletes from the four Hungarian medical and health sciences universities (Semmelweis, as well as the Universities of Debrecen, P\u00e9cs, and Szeged) compete against one another. This year, matches were held in five events: handball, basketball, volleyball, five-a-side soccer, and water polo.<\/p>\n

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Semmelweis University not only won the 53rd edition of the Medic\u2019s Cup in the overall points competition, but its teams also finished on top of the podium in both the men\u2019s and women\u2019s overall categories.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

The university\u2019s women\u2019s basketball, soccer, and water polo teams, as well as the men\u2019s volleyball, basketball, and water polo teams finished in first place in the two-day competition. The women\u2019s volleyball and handball teams, as well as the men\u2019s soccer and handball teams finished in second place. Over the two days, the university\u2019s athletes won 21 of their 30 matches, lost five, and tied four.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe last time the university\u2019s teams played in P\u00e9cs was in 2022; back then, in a very close contest, we won the basketball game – and with it, the Medic\u2019s Cup – with a three-pointer scored in the final second. This time, too, we were able to perform so well in a very balanced, strong field, and in every event in which we didn\u2019t finish first, we stood on the second step of the podium in both the men\u2019s and women\u2019s competitions,\u201d Dr. B\u00e9la Merkely, Rector of Semmelweis University, told our website, giving his assessment of the results. \u201cEvery team played at a very high level; in addition to outstanding individual performances, we also saw excellent teamwork, and thus we secured the top spot in the overall points competition with a convincing lead,\u201d he added.<\/p>\n

The rector emphasized that the importance of the Medic\u2019s Cup had grown significantly over the past five years; accordingly, the university – including university leaders responsible for individual sports, the chancellor, vice-rectors, and deans – was paying special attention to the teams\u2019 development. He also noted that they had succeeded in finding the right coaches, who had significantly contributed to the improvement of the teams\u2019 performance, and the approach of allowing participation in university sports throughout the entire duration of studies – and not just for Hungarian students – seemed to be taking root.<\/p>\n

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There are international students in almost every team; in fact, they make up the majority of the women\u2019s soccer team, and the top scorer in the women\u2019s soccer tournament was a German student. – Dr. B\u00e9la Merkely<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

According to the rector, another factor contributing to this success was that it had become a tradition for the university to organize an evening for the athletes on the opening day of every tournament to get into the right mood, where students were asked to limit their partying to just a few hours so they could perform well in their matches. \u201cThis worked because we basically won every match on Saturday,\u201d the rector said. He also added that in return, the university organized the Cup Winners\u2019 Gala Evening every year – including this May – where teams and athletes who performed outstandingly in the Medic\u2019s Cup and the Hungarian University Championships (MEFOB) were celebrated, and graduating students were bid farewell.<\/p>\n

\u201cAnother factor contributing to the success was that the Medic\u2019s Cup is important not only to the athletes but also to the university\u2019s leadership and the Semmelweis community, and besides the hosts from P\u00e9cs, we had the largest on-site group of supporters,\u201d added Dr. B\u00e9la Merkely. He also noted that visitors to P\u00e9cs had been able to participate in a well-organized sporting event with a great atmosphere. At Saturday\u2019s closing ceremony, following the announcement of the results and the presentation of the awards recognizing outstanding athletic achievements, Semmelweis University took over the baton from P\u00e9cs.<\/p>\n

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Next year, from April 9 to 11, 2027, we will host the Medic\u2019s Cup in Budapest – with the natural expectation that we will win it again, and that Semmelweis\u2019s name will once again be inscribed on the cup next year. – Dr. B\u00e9la Merkely<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

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\u201cOver the past two days, there were both easier matches and serious challenges, where the result came down to a single point. In any case, we managed to win in a strong field of competitors in a friendly atmosphere, and our athletes across all sports were able to showcase their skills,\u201d Korn\u00e9lia V\u00e1rszegi, Director of Semmelweis University\u2019s Physical Education and Sports Center, told our website. As she noted, one of the exciting and challenging aspects of the Medic\u2019s Cup is that the composition of the teams at the universities changes every year, so it is always a surprise to see how well prepared and how strong the opponents are that Semmelweis athletes will face. \u201cFor Semmelweis\u2019s teams, preparing for the Medic\u2019s Cup is one of the most important things; you could say they train for it all year round,\u201d the director added. This year, the team from P\u00e9cs proved to be the toughest opponent.<\/p>\n

According to Korn\u00e9lia V\u00e1rszegi, the university managed to win the Medic\u2019s Cup thanks to both the well-integrated teams and the coaches\u2019 persistent and high-quality professional work. She mentioned as an example that both the women\u2019s and men\u2019s handball teams had improved significantly compared to last year.<\/p>\n

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Growing international participation in the Medic\u2019s Cup<\/h6>\n

When asked about the growing number of international students on the team, Korn\u00e9lia V\u00e1rszegi emphasized that the university\u2019s goal was to encourage more students in the English and German programs to participate in the Medic\u2019s Cup. Of the entire team, 20 were international students, including five on the men\u2019s basketball team, four on the women\u2019s soccer team, and three each on the men\u2019s handball and volleyball teams. There are many reasons for this increased activity: For example, coaches can give instructions in English, and players can communicate with each other in a foreign language. In addition, international team players at the Medic\u2019s Cup receive free medical care and rehabilitation from Semmelweis University if they sustain a sports injury. They are also eligible for a sports scholarship.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

Real-time updates on match results were available on the website<\/a> and app created by the host, the University of P\u00e9cs, and several matches were also streamed simultaneously on the university\u2019s YouTube channels.<\/p>\n\r\n [slb_exclude]\r\n

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\u201cIncluding the athletes, Semmelweis University had the largest student contingent again this year, with nearly a thousand people participating in this edition of the Medic\u2019s Cup,\u201d said Imre Rich\u00e1rd Nagy, President of the Students\u2019 Union (H\u00d6K). According to H\u00d6K, in addition to the 50 ultras, more than 600 students cheered on the teams at the venue. As he put it, the audience saw well-integrated Semmelweis teams, and signs of the conscious preparation they had done were also evident. He highlighted that the women\u2019s soccer team had played in a highly skilled and composed way.<\/p>\n

In keeping with tradition, the sports competitions were accompanied by concerts and events aimed at bringing the student communities of the four universities closer together. However, there was also a change this year, with the cheerleaders\u2019 performance taking place on Saturday afternoon rather than during the closing ceremony.<\/p>\n

Melinda Katalin Kiss, Judit D\u0151tsch
\nTranslation: Dr. Bal\u00e1zs Csizmadia
\nPhotos by B\u00e1lint Barta \u2013 Semmelweis University<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The university secured first place in both the men\u2019s and women\u2019s overall points competition.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":102369,"featured_media":47806,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[17,286],"tags":[40],"class_list":["post-47803","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-semmelweis-world","category-x-nyitolap","tag-sports"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/semmelweis.hu\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/47803","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/semmelweis.hu\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/semmelweis.hu\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/semmelweis.hu\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/102369"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/semmelweis.hu\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=47803"}],"version-history":[{"count":6,"href":"https:\/\/semmelweis.hu\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/47803\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":47846,"href":"https:\/\/semmelweis.hu\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/47803\/revisions\/47846"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/semmelweis.hu\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/47806"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/semmelweis.hu\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=47803"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/semmelweis.hu\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=47803"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/semmelweis.hu\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=47803"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}