More than a thousand student-athletes from more than twenty higher education institutions competed in thirteen sports at Széchenyi István University in Győr. MEFOB Fest, the third of Hungarian University College National Championships, was the biggest ever event in Hungarian university sport. The host city of Győr won the most gold medals, ahead of the University of Pécs and the Budapest University of Technology and Economics.

At the MEFOB Fest, a joint event of Széchenyi István University and the Hungarian University and College Sports Association, national championships in eleven sports and a cup in two sports were organised for students of Hungarian higher education institutions between 30 April and 3 May in Győr. The spectacular opening ceremony took place at one of the main competition venues, the Győr Municipal University Sports Hall.

During the four days, the spectators could watch high quality matches and exciting races, promoting the importance of sport. The festival character of the event was reinforced by the fact that athletes could relax in the chill park on campus between the competitions, while the evening parties provided entertainment. All universities can be proud of their students for their athletic performances, with 17 institutions claiming to have won an event. The host Széchenyi István University won the most gold medals in the 13 sports, with 21, ahead of the University of Pécs, which collected 15, the Budapest University of Technology and Economics, which took six, and the Hungarian University of Physical Education and Sports Sciences, which finished with five.

The MEFOB Festival in Győr was characterized by high quality, sport competitions (Photos: Máté Dudás, Tian Yubo, Enikő Szabó, András Adorján)

"When the idea of MEFOB Fest was born two years ago, we had no idea it would grow to such a big event in such a short time. The interest was so great that the event was sold out four years in advance in 2022, and after Miskolc and Debrecen, the event came to Győr, where we organised our biggest sports festival ever together with Széchenyi University," said Péter Juhász, Secretary General of the Hungarian University and College Sports Association. He added that the host institution did its best to make these few days memorable for the participants, as it was an excellent event. "This is a programme that is increasingly anticipated by the students, and its main objective is to promote sport and build community. In addition to a colourful programme of events, the competitions, which allow amateur athletes to compete with Olympians and European and world champions, contributes to this," the Secretary General underlined.

MEFOB Fest was also a real festival with recreational activities and parties (Photos: Richárd Németh, Máté Szabó)

"Our event was a true celebration of sport, where recreational sports enthusiasts and students at the highest level were able to meet in multiple sports, building real new communities that they can certainly rely on in their civic life. Of course, we are also very happy with the outstanding home victories, many of the gold medals, such as the first place for the girls' water polo team, came as a surprise to me. In addition to the almost expected successes in rowing and handball, I must also mention the gold medal won by the girls' futsal team, which was the first time we had competed in this sport. I think that this championship title almost obliges us to continue with a well-planned joint effort with ETO FC" - concluded Dr. Tamás Gyömörei, Director of the Sports and Recreation Centre of the institution and President of the Sports Association of Széchenyi István University (SZESE).

A lot of people worked for the success of the MEFOB Festival - a group of volunteers (Photo: Zoltán Varga)

The rowing - in which several current and former classics, including Bence Szabó (Széchenyi István University), European Champion and World Championship silver medallist, one of the ambassadors of the MEFOB FEST, also competed - brought home superiority, the University of Győr won first place in five events. In addition, the Hungarian University of Agriculture and Life Sciences and the University of Óbuda took two and one first place respectively. Our home team also won five gold medals in the ergometer rowing events, while the Hungarian University of Agriculture and Life Sciences, the University of Pannonia, the University of Pécs and the University of Szeged each took one first place.

In men's water polo, the Budapest University of Technology and Economics triumphed, while Széchenyi István University won the women's competition. In women's futsal, Győr also won the women's competition, while the University of Debrecen came first in the men's competition.

In table tennis, nearly a hundred competitors, including the leading players of the men's and women's Extraliga, former junior national team players and adult national team competitors, competed. The University of Pécs was the winner in seven of the eight events, finishing second in the eighth, the teachers' category, behind the Budapest University of Economics.

The highly spectacular sport of cheerleading saw the largest ever number o compteitors of 247 students from 13 universities competing in 13 events. The excitement was heightened by the fact that both the Senior Pom Double and Senior Hip-Hop Double categories were competing for World Championship qualification. In total, Pécs won four titles, the Hungarian University of Physical Education and Sport Sciences three, the University of Debrecen two, while ELTE Savaria University Centre, Óbuda University, Semmelweis University and Pázmány Péter Catholic University each won one title.

This year saw the tenth final of the MEFOB ultimate frisbee competition, with more than 150 competitors from 11 university teams throwing the puck, with Széchenyi University as the first team not from the capital city to win the event.  In volleyball, the Hungarian University of Physical Education and Sports Sciences was the women's champion, while the Hungarian University of Agricultural and Life Sciences was the men's champion.

The quality of the MEFOB in chess was raised by the participation of Hungarian champions, Olympians and 18 title holders, with Corvinus University of Budapest winning two titles, while Széchenyi University, Budapest University of Technology and Economics, Eötvös Loránd University, Hungarian University of Physical Education and Sports Sciences and University of Pécs each collected one first place. The same results were achieved in both distances of the dragon boat, with the Pécs team winning both the 200 and 2000 metres, ahead of the Győr and Szeged teams.

This year's MEFOB Festival closed with the handball finals. In both the men's and women's finals, Széchenyi István University played against Eszterházy Károly Catholic University. In the women's competition, the team from Eger won in a great battle, while in the men's competition, the host Győr team triumphed, led by Zalán Lang, the team captain of Győri ETO-Uni FKC, ambassador of the MEFOB Feszt.

Two sports were not national championships but cups. In armwrestling, the host team from Győr won the most events, six in all. The students of the Budapest University of Technology and Economics won four times, while Óbuda University and Eötvös Loránd University of Sciences each took the top step on the podium once. In e-sports, a cup was also held, with Neumann János University taking first place. Detailed results of the MEFOB Fest can be found here.

The Széchenyi István University of Győr has handed over the imaginary baton to the Hungarian University of Physical Education and Sports Sciences, as the next MEFOB Festival will be hosted by this university, which will celebrate its centenary next year.