Bernadett Ferling

Bernadett Ferling (born 13 July 1977) Ferling took the Hungarian league and cup gold that year as well, which was followed by another four domestic championship and cup success until 2004.

Next year the Danube-side team entered the EHF Champions League and there was nothing that could prevent them from lifting the most prestigious European trophy. They irresistibly marched through the quarterfinals and semifinals, beating Ikast and Hypo Niederösterreich en route, to face Krim Ljubljana in the finals. Dunaújváros secured a two-goal advantage on the first leg and achieved a 26–26 draw in Slovenia, which was just enough to win the title. Later that year Ferling also collected the EHF Champions Trophy.

From the mid-2000s, because of their worsening financial situation and parallelly the strengthening of the rivals, Dunaújváros slowly lost their dominant position and eventually hit rock bottom in 2009, when they could not fulfil payments and most of their players left. To save the team from cessation, a new, fully independent board took over the club, led by Ferling, who has taken the presidential role, joined by other loyal players such as Erzsébet Kocsis, who was voted IHF World Player of the Year in 1995, and long-serving playmaker Gabriella Gáspár. She retired in 2015. She played for Dunaújváros for 20 years.

International She made her international debut on 22 November 2000. She has become a regular member of the Hungarian national team for 2002, but due to a recurrent injury she was unable to participate on the European Championship that year.

In 2003, she took part on the World Championship in Croatia, where Hungary won the silver medal. She added another two medals to her success list, after winning bronze both on the 2004 European Championship and the 2005 World Championship.

She competed at the 2004 Summer Olympics in Athens, and finished fifth with the Hungarian team. She played at the 2008 Summer Olympics in Beijing, where the Hungarian team finished fourth, after losing 20–22 to Russia in the semifinal, and 28–33 to South Korea in the bronze medal match.

Personal life

In 2003 Ferling married the ice hockey player László Orsó. In September 2008 it was revealed that she is pregnant, and as a result she stayed away from handball for the rest of the season. On 5 May 2009 she gave birth to a girl, named Virág. Ferling played her first competitive match after her maternity leave on 6 September 2009 against Siófok KC.

Achievements

Nemzeti Bajnokság I: Winner: 1998, 1999, 2001, 2003, 2004 Silver Medallist: 2000, 2002, 2005 Bronze Medallist: 2006, 2007 Magyar Kupa: Winner: 1998, 1999, 2000, 2002, 2004 Finalist: 2005 EHF Champions League: Winner: 1999 Semifinalist: 2004, 2005 EHF Cup: Winner: 1998 Finalist: 2003 Semifinalist: 2008 EHF Champions Trophy: Winner: 1999