BUDUCNOST T-MOBILE BEGIN PREPARATIONS FOR THE NEW SEASON

July 2008 saw the beginnings of the preparations for the forthcoming EHF Champions League season for Buducnost T-Mobile, in which the Montenegrin title holder will have more quality games than ever before. In addition to the national competitions (where Buducnost has no rivals) and the fourteenth consecutive participation in the EHF Champions League, this season will also see Buducnost T-Mobile play in a regional league, with teams from Slovenia, FYR Macedonia, Croatia, Serbia and Austria. This new regional league will see Buducnost playing more strong matches and the result of this might just be an improvement of the team as a whole and thus increasing their chance of success in the EHF Champions League.

The 2008/09 season has brought some new faces to the team. The newest member of Buducnost is the Hungarian Gyula Zsiga, former coach of Budapest Bank-FTC, Dunaferr and Cornexi Alcoa. Zsiga has signed a two year contract with Buducnost T-Mobile taking over from Tone Tiselj, who resigned in May, who completed only one year of a three year contract. Last year Zsiga had a chance to see both the positive and negative side of Buducnost’s play, because his former club Budapest Bank-FTC was a group phase rival of the Montenegrin Champion. The result was tied regarding the victories, but Buducnost managed to finish third (just in front of the Hungarians) and continued playing in Europe in the Cup Winners’ Cup.


“For the first time in my life, I am coaching outside of Hungary, and because of that I think this is a great opportunity for me. I took the challenge because the team is young, and because Buducnost has a very strong management. Around the club I can see many people working for the well being of handball and Buducnost”, said Gyula Zsiga commenting on his decision to move to Podgorica.

Buducnost made some changes to the players list too. The new players are the Russian line player coming from Lada Togliatti Liudmila Mochalina (currently still in Russia due to administration issues), the Croatian national team player Tihana Ambros, also a line player, coming from the Spanish Puertoduce Roquetas, and the Hungarian player, Gabriella Kindl, left back, who finished last season with Krim Mercator. After many years with the Montenegrin champions, the captain Dragica Orlandic decided to end her career, and in a carefully considered move, Buducnost has decided not to extend the contracts of Sanja Jovovic, Ivana Mladenovic, (both playing now in Italy), Snezana Damjanac and Anja Obradovic. Finally, an older face is returning to Buducnost. After a few years playing in Italy, with success, former right winger Anica Djurovic is back in Buducnost, not as a player, but as the new sports director.

“Three experienced players have arrived in Podgorica to fill the positions for which good players are hard to find. With these new players and our younger players, we expect to make a team who will be able to obtain expected results. It doesn’t mean that we have finished the list of reinforcements. If our coach is unsatisfied with the team, we will react immediately. The new regional league will be a very good competition for Buducnost T-Mobile, in order to have a proper preparation for the EHF Champions League. The girls will have enough strong matches, which is a precondition for good results”, stated Anica Djurovic.

In this years’ EHF Champions League, Buducnost T-Mobile will play in Group B, with Hypo Niederösterreich, last season’s runner up in this competition, the Spanish Orsan Elda Prestigio and the winner of Group 4 of the second qualification round (in this Group are Dunaferr, FCK Handbold, Motor and the second ranked team in group B of the qualification round one). The group phase matches in the EHF Champions League will begin at the end of October, which means Buducnost will play half (eight) of the matches in the regional league before the start of the strongest European competition.

“First of all, I want to know better all the girls, to see the state of their physical condition, and I am doing it day by day. The physical condition is very important, after that we will proceed with technical and tactical work, besides, only after the first games in the regional league we will have the first information about our calibre. That league is a great thing for the team, to have enough matches and get prepared for CL in which our goal is to be among the top eight teams in Europe”, added the new head coach of Buducnost T-Mobile Gyula Zsiga.