EHF Champions League

"The Cats" are on the run

Björn Pazen

29 September 2010, 11:00

"The Cats" are on the run

Five times finalist, two times EHF Champions League winner – Krim Ljubljana is one of the most successful clubs in international women’s club handball.

The last title was won in 2003, the last time they reached the final was in 2006 – and after a year of renewing the team, the 16 times Slovenian champion is aiming high again in the new season.

But Krim has to play in a real hard group against last season’s semi-finalist Györ, 2008 EHF Champions League winner Zvezda Zvenigorod and their WRHL opponents Podravka from Croatia.

But Coach Martha Bon and the Krim players are confident to go on very far in this season."We have an interesting team this year," Bon said and added: "We know Györ and Podravka very well. The Croats beat us in the last matches of your regional league, but in the EHF Champions League I hope we will be better. We have respect for Györ, as they also have a high quality team. Zvezda is another top team, but we’re looking forward to the games and the competitive rhythm and hope for our fans and supporters."

Goalkeeper Sergeia Stefanišin is looking forward with confidence: "The group is interesting but hard work is ahead of us in order to archieve our first milestone, to proceed to the Main Round. Unfortunately you can’t select your opponents, so we have to live with this hard group. I am delighted that once again we're playing against Györ, because I believe that the time has come to defeat them. Each match in the group will be extremely difficult, but we’re well aware of this and can hardly wait to begin our EHF Champions League season."Team captain Liudmila Bodnieva is always optimistic: "That is one heavy group, but we’re used to play heavy games. Like in all tournaments we participate in, we will do everything to realize our goals."

Her optimism might be based on the facts that on the one hand the team didn’t change too much last season – and on the other hand that Krim signed one very important newcomer.Andrea Penezić, who was awarded Best Player of last season’s Regional League, arrived from their upcoming EHF Champions League opponent Podravka Koprivnica.

Now she will play together with the best WHRL goalkeeper, Jelena Grubišić. Two other players returned to Krim: Barbara Varlec from Serbia and Sanja Gregorc from Spain.

Last season Krim was the big surprise in the Group Phase as they were the first team to qualify for the Main Round, but then the Slovenians failed very closely against Györ and Larvik in the race for the semis.

In the Regional League Krim reached the fourth place, but has highest ambitions to become the best team from Ex-Yugoslavia in the EHF Champions League against top opponents like Podravka or the renewed team from Podgorica.

In the preparation the Krim players, nicknamed "The Cats", underwent a very special programme: pastoral life in the Slovenian mountains. Maybe this helps to climb the walls they have to cross to go on to the Main Round.