Introducing the 100-year-old TFSE, one of the hosts of the European Universities Volleyball Championship 2025
The upcoming European Universities Volleyball Championship 2025 will be hosted by the Hungarian University of Sports Science (TF) and its sport club TFSE, which are celebrating their 100th anniversary this year. As one of Hungary’s most historic and successful university sports clubs, TFSE is proud to welcome Europe’s best university volleyball teams to Budapest for this prestigious event.
TFSE, the sports club of the Hungarian University of Sports Science (TF) was established on December 5, 1925, originally under the name "Physical Education College Sports Club" (TFSC).
Currently, TFSE operates with 28 departments, involving approximately 1,500 athletes. The club’s key team sports include women’s basketball (NB I/A), women’s volleyball (Extraliga), men’s volleyball (Extraliga), and women’s futsal (NB I).
Among the outstanding individual athletes are Luca Ekler, Paralympic champion, World and European champion, and world record holder in athletics; Levente Józsa, Olympic taekwondo athlete and European bronze medallist; Ágnes Kőrösi, badminton player; judoka Gergely Nerpely; Mirkó Petrucz and Bertalan Tóth, sabre; Blanca Brunner, snowboard cross competitor. All of them are internationally successful TFSE athletes, with their sights set on the 2028 Los Angeles Olympic Games.
One of the most successful departments of TFSE is volleyball. The men’s team advanced from the Budapest first division to the Extraliga in just five years and secured a stable 8th place finish in the top league this season with a young Hungarian student roster. The women’s team finished second in NB I. in 2021, 2022, and spring 2023, and last year they won the championship, earning the right to compete in the Extraliga. Although they did not move up then, this year they successfully defended their title and will enter the Extraliga next season.
The women’s basketball team is also a major success story. Competing under the name TFSE-MTK, they achieved the best result in their history this year by finishing fifth in the NB I/A and reaching the top four in the Hungarian Cup. The department has a rich tradition, with the women’s team winning a national championship and securing a place in the European Champions Cup (BEK) during the 1970s.
The women’s futsal team has also achieved outstanding results in recent years, winning the NB I. championship last year and reaching the finals again this year. The men’s futsal team also competed in the top division but unfortunately was not able to avoid relegation. The full-pitch footballers in the BLSZ I league continue to compete actively — in 2025 they lifted the Budapest Cup and finished just behind the leading teams in the league.
In addition to the team sports, TFSE also boast strong individual sport departments. The fencing team, led by Ákos Patócs, has achieved international success despite the young age of its athletes. The athletics department has seen both quantitative and qualitative growth, particularly since the university's new athletics track was inaugurated.
The club’s past is just as rich in success as its present. At the 1948 London Olympics, TFSE athletes won four medals — all in gymnastics. The club’s only Olympic gold medal came in 1952, thanks to the legendary gymnast Ágnes Keleti. Her coach, Dr Jenő Koltai, was a symbolic figure of the university and the club; the sports centre bears his name today. In the 1950s and 1960s, the handball department experienced a golden era with several podium finishes in the top division.
