The Croatian champions secured their spot in their second European League group phase after eliminating LC Brühl Handball 53:43 on aggregate in the last qualification round, becoming their country's second representative, alongside their long-time rivals Podravka Vegeta. Having played the EHF Champions League Women group phase in the 2022/23 season and reaching the EHF European Cup in 2020/21, the team has valuable experience, despite them ending last in the group with only one point to their name a season ago.
One of the most experienced players in the team is right wing Tena Japnudža, entering her seventh European season with Lokomotiva. She agrees they have learned a lot from the challenging matches in the top-tier competition.
“Matches in the EHF Champions League were important for us. We played the top competition in handball against teams with the best players today. We saw where we stood with the quality, all opponents were taking advantage of our mistakes. Even though the results were not the best, we have learned a lot from it and what we need to work on more.”
Lokomotiva are coming into the EHF European League with a new head coach. Former coach Nenad Sostaric said goodbye to Lokomotiva after more than eight years of hard work, as he also left the helm of the Croatia national team to take over PPD Zagreb, leading them in the EHF Champions League Men. Lokomotiva were taken over by his assistant coach, 36-year-old Vedran Krkač.
“Coach Krkač has been with us for three years now. He was Nenad Šoštarić's assistant and when he took over the helm he knew all of us. The base of the training and tactics remained the same, with a focus on running and counter-attacks, which were always our good side but he also added his touch, working differently on tactics. Overall, I think we will welcome the European League ready to give our best,” says Japundža.
Krkač and his players will have a tough challenge in the new European season. Klara Birtić, Tena Petika, Stela Posavec, Lena Ivancok, Marija Kaludjerović and Lana Jarak left the club and the young squad has been reinforced by only Kristina Prkačin, Marija Gladun and Nikoleta Trunkova so far.
Lokomotiva are one of the youngest teams in the competition, aged 20.74 years old on average, with players that have never played on the international stage before. Eliminating LC Brühl Handball and securing a group phase berth was of great importance to the team.
“We need the European League. Through tough matches, we can learn and grow. In most of the seasons, the Croatian league is only about our rivalry against Podravka and all other matches usually end up in our favour. Yet, we slipped this season against Osijek but most of the time we miss strong matches.”
“This season, we have new young players that have never played in European competition before and it will be good to see how we can keep up with other teams that have ended up second or third in their respective countries,” shares Japundža, who was part of the “Queens of shock” - the Croatia national team that won bronze at the Women's EHF EURO 2020.
