Denes Varga is one of the main organisers of the Black Sea International Cup, a club tournament that will be played in Batumi, Georgia, from October 15 to 18. In an interview with VLV, the Hungarian great explained how he brought the teams together, revealed the prize money and talked about life after his playing career.
Eight teams will compete in Batumi. Group A features hosts A-Polo Sport Management, Pro Recco, Waspo Hannover and the Japanese club Bourbon Waterpolo Club Kashiwazaki. Group B brings together Dinamo Tbilisi, Ferencvaros, CN Marseille and Novi Beograd. Each group is played as a round robin, and the final standings decide the placement games: the two group winners meet for the title, the two runners-up play for bronze, and so on.
Prize money close to Champions League level
Varga highlighted the financial side of the event.
“It is unprecedented that a tournament like this offers prize money almost as if it were the Champions League. The winner receives 75,000 dollars, the runner-up 50,000 dollars and the third-placed team 25,000 dollars. The Georgians cover the flights, accommodation and meals of the European teams, so the clubs only have to make use of the chance to test themselves and, if they do well, strengthen their club’s finances with the prize money.”
Asked whether the tournament will be held every year, Varga said: “I very much hope so.”
According to Varga, the event is backed partly by state support for the promotion of the sport and partly by wealthy businesspeople with ties to water polo. The sponsor of A-Polo Tbilisi is a former player who played until the mid-1990s and later became very successful in business. Varga said he works in logistics and owns the largest green energy company in the region.
Who came and who could not
Varga confirmed that he invited the teams himself, and that the timing cost the tournament two big names.
“Unfortunately, the date is not ideal, but they could not change it. Because of that, Olympiacos and CNA Barceloneta were unable to join. I then contacted Marseille, who were happy to come, and I invited the Japanese team. I would have liked to have an American team as well, but the college championship is in full swing there at this time of year.”
He added that a team of Americans playing in Europe was not realistic either, citing BVSC’s Chase Dodd, whom the club could not have released. Persuading Ferencvaros, his former club, was easy: “It was not difficult to convince Fradi to make the trip.”
How Georgia won him over
Varga’s link with Georgia began about a year ago, when A-Polo Sport Management approached him to help the club progress from the Conference Cup group stage. “The Georgians are very serious and committed when it comes to promoting the sport,” he said. He first declined because of his commitments in the United States, but the club came back six weeks later and travelled to Budapest with a concrete offer.
In the end, he played in both countries this spring. Varga said that in May he became champion in the United States and in Georgia within one month. In the United States he played for the Los Angeles Athletic Club, and in Georgia for A-Polo Sport Management. The Georgian club now plays in the Euro Cup Group Stage, where it was drawn with Apollon Smyrnis, Barcelona and Terrassa, as we reported in our Euro Cup draw article.
A-Polo then wanted to extend the cooperation and even offered him the role of president. Varga declined, because his family did not want to live abroad for a long period. Instead, he helps the club from time to time, as he does now with the organisation and marketing of the Batumi tournament, where he is the face of the event.
Varga said the Georgian goal is to reach the Olympic Games, which is why talks about naturalising players are under way, since the local youth base cannot yet make that possible. He recalled that Georgia gave many great players to the Soviet national team, including Chomakhidze, who in Varga’s words was perhaps the best centre in the world in his time and has now taken over as Georgia’s head coach.
Varga was also asked whether he would play for Georgia himself.
“They asked me whether I would become Georgian, but I told them it was better not to go into that, because my identity is tied to what I have achieved in Hungarian water polo over the past 30 years, and I do not want to give that up.”
Time with his family
Varga, who has not formally retired, said that one more place where he might still play is Cyprus, where the level allows him to enjoy the game without too much training. Most of his days, however, are now devoted to his children.
“In the last 13 years, since my older child was born, this area of my life suffered a lot. I missed many birthdays. Many times I could not be there when I should have been, and when I was there, I was exhausted. Now I am trying to make up for whatever I can.”
“A dominant Fradi, and then the rest”
Looking at Hungarian water polo, Varga said that Ferencvaros has dominated the league for nine years, just as Szolnok did before. “There is a dominant Fradi, and then there is the rest,” he said, adding that he would like to see a more balanced race from second to sixth or eighth place. In his view, foreign players have been key to the international success of Hungarian clubs, and the best of them, Mandic, Argyropoulos and Kakaris, now play for Ferencvaros.
On the Hungarian national team, Varga praised the run to the final of the recent World Cup, even though not every team arrived with its strongest squad. He warned that it will be harder when opponents return at full strength, especially with the World Championships in Budapest approaching.
The full interview is available on VLV.
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Disclaimer : This story is auto aggregated by a computer programme and has not been created or edited by DOWNTHENEWS. Publisher: total-waterpolo.com
