HK Topoľčany

These days the talk in Topoľčany is less about the table and more about keeping the lights on.

That pattern repeated in August 2019, when the loss of the Agrostav sponsorship forced a brief switch to Mestský hádzanársky klub Topoľčany, reversed again for the following season. Three seasons earlier, in December 2018, president and main backer Alexander Mallo resigned, and wages went unpaid as players left.

The three Extraliga titles, won in 1995, 1996 and 1998, and the 1994 Slovak Cup, belong to a version of the club that played under different sponsor names each year. Since then the closest it has come is a runner-up finish, in 2013/14 and again in 2017/18, with bronze medals scattered across three other seasons.

The nickname Žochári comes from the Žocha, the river that runs through the town, and the club changed its colours from red and black to white and blue for the 2022/23 season. Leadership has kept turning over too: Martin Miženko resigned as president in April 2022, replaced by Peter Krošlák.