The number of teams participating in the Hungarian Cup groups stage has stayed the same, however the participating teams as has changed. Debrecen will not have a senior team this season in the cup, however Vasas is back after not participating last season. The six Hungarian ERSTE Liga teams, MAC, Ferencváros, UTE, Dunaújváros, DVTK and the Fehérvári Titánok will be joined by Vasas and KMH Budapest. KMH Budapest was a new team to the tournament and they were the surprise team as they upset Fehérvár in their opening game, played a close game against Debrecen and lost to Ferencváros in overtime. The Budapest club that plays in the Slovak third division made some improvements in the offseason and cannot be taken lightly.
Vasas is taking this group stage seriously as they moved one of their games to have enough rest. This will not be easy for Vasas as they are a U20 team, however this will be a great learning experience for the team that hopes to be playing in the ERSTE Liga in the near future. For a young team like Fehérvár these games are a great opportunity get more senior matches into the legs of the young players who will be playing up from the U20 and being ready to make the jump to the next level. Teams like MAC Budapest and UTE who have a good youth system will use these games to get some ice time for the younger player. MAC is the defending champions and will be trying to be the first repeat champion in over five years. Dunaújváros and Ferencváros will be hoping to make it out of the group stage and pull off an upset in the final four.
The opening round of the group stage games start this week. Vasas will be hosting Fehérvár on Tuesday with the rest of the teams playing their first games on Wednesday. There will be a Budapest derby between Ferencváros and Újpest. There will also be a rematch of last years champions with MAC hosting DVTK.
Opening round
Vasas-Fehérvár Tuesday 18:40
KMH-DAB Wednesday 16:10
FTC-UTE Wednesday 18:00
MAC-DVTK Wednesday 19:30
