Reactions to the draw
Reactions to the draw
The VELUX EHF Champions League and Women's EHF Champions League qualification draws took place at the EHF Office in Vienna, Austria on 3 July 2012. Here's what the team representatives had to say following the draw:
RK Sloga, General Secretary, Alen Petkovic (BIH): We are playing in the CL for the first time and we are very happy to be part of it. When we can win, we will of course take our chance. It is a great honour to be playing in the Champions League. It is another level and we hope that we can show our people in Bonsnia Herzogovina that we can play with the major teams.”
Marius Puscasi, Vice President, HCM Constanta (ROU): “We’re in the third qualification group, we think we have a good chance, and we hope to organise the event in Constanta. We have a good tradition in handball and we try to play in CL and be in the first 16 teams in Europe.”
Zoran Cvetanovski, General Secretary, HC Metalurg (MKD): “Speaking about the men’s team, I’m satisfied, I think we have a good chance, I’m not happy that we may have to travel to Norway.
Ivan Matiehin, President, HC Dinamo-Poltava (UKR): “This is the first time that we have participated in the draw, this season was successful, we were Ukrainian champions and cup winners, we are strong and would like to play well. We want to continue success of the EURO 2012 football championship in Ukraine and will qualify for the main round.”
Josi Gewa, Maccabi Srugo Rishon Lezion (ISR): “It is nice to play against Constanta because our club has a very good relation to the Romanian clubs. If the tournament is in Constanta, it will be exciting for us, because we want to take a look at their facilities and see how things work in a professional team. All the teams in pot 1 are very strong and professional. It doesn’t matter against whom you play. Last year, we played against Metalurg and we wanted to play against Minsk this year because they are weaker than the others but in the end it doesn’t matter.”
Aleksandar Brkovic, General Manager of RK Partizan Beograd: “We are very happy with the draw. We have been drawn in Group A against RK Sloga, FC Porto and HC Lovcen, we played against FC Porto last year and won quite easily so we are happy with that. Last year’s Champions League campaign was a tough one; we were in the group of death alongside AG Kobenhavn, Reale Ademar Leon, Montpellier, Pick Szeged and THW Kiel, this year we have made improvements to the young squad with improvements in the back court positions. I feel we have upped our level 10% from last year and we are confident of qualifying and depending on the draw we aim to win two to three games in the group stage.”
Torbjörn Bastad, Byasen Trondheim (NOR): “I thought the draw was quite good, we had hoped for Group 4. Difficult to say whether we will make the main round, we need to see first whether we can host the qualification group at home. We’re glad that we’re not in Group 3, this is the strongest group. We have to play in the CL because we like to fight against Larvik.”
U Jolidon Cluj, Cosmin Salajan (ROU): “It’s a difficult group. We know two of the teams because we were in the same qualification group with them last year. Probably, we will organise the tournament. We hope that we will see good games and that we will qualify for the next round.We have some new players, but we didn’t finish our planning yet. We wanted to wait until after this draw to conclude the planning for the next season.”
Zoran Cvetanovski, HC Metalurg (MKD): “Bysen is our opponent for the third season in row. We have to travel to Norway and it will be a tough match for our girls. We have a good team and they are ambitious, we have new players, I’m sure they will do their best.”
Leif Duus, Viborg HK (DEN): “We don’t know the teams in our group, so we will have to prepare and get to know them better. We will also discuss whether we organise the tournament or not because we have the first right to organise.”
Andrzej Lech, Vistal Laczpol Gdynia (POL): We have very attractive opponents with Viborg from Denmark, Bera Bera from Spain and Brühl from Switzerland. It is very difficult for us to make a prediction since our two best players left the club.”
Beatrix Kökeny of FTC Rail Cargo Hungaria (HUN): “We have added two quality players to our squad in left back Nerea Pena from Spain and Hungarian left wing Verten Orsolya, both of these players play handball for their countries and this will bring some special to the squad. We are aiming to make it out of the group and if luck runs our way we can dream of making it to the last eight. We have new management and new players; it is a fresh start for us. We are thrilled to be playing Champions league handball after all these years!”
Jaroslav Curny of IUVENTA Michalovce (SVK): “It is not an easy draw; we are hoping to surprise our Hungarian opponents. We are going to take everything step by step. We have two new players who will improve our back court, the Ukrainian Yuliya Snopova will strengthen our left back position and 23-year-old Russian Natalia Vinyukova who plays at left back will add quality to the squad.”
