TEAMS: 1. Budućnost 2. Thüringer HC 3. Zvezda Zvenigorod 4. Viborg HK Expert Grit Jurack says: Group D will see some very interesting matches. Thüringer HC coach Herbert Müller is always modest, but no one should underestimate the German champions - they can be one of the biggest surprises despite their tough opponents, especially on home ground. Zvezda are another candidate for the semi-finals. Look at their reinforced squad with interesting players: even a world class player like Liudmila Postnova is sitting on the bench. The Croatian coaches are doing a really good job and breathed new life into this club. Nearly all their top stars have left, so defending champions Budućnost have a tough task ahead to reach the Main Round, as I estimate they cannot perform as well as their opponents. They can count on emotional players and their lion’s den in Podgorica, but I don’t know if this is enough to proceed. My former team Viborg have been hit hard by injuries, especially on the right side. By signing Anita Bulath VHK now have an alternative, but it will take some time to integrate her. Of course I hope that they proceed to the Main Round and I rate Viborg even higher than Budućnost, but below Zvezda as this season they are completely focused on the EHF Champions League. 74 2012/13 Women's European Cup EHF Champions League Group Matches Group D matches won draw lost goal-difference points 1 MNE Buducnost 0 0 0 0 0:0 0 0 2 GER Thüringer HC 0 0 0 0 0:0 0 0 3 RUS Zvezda Zvenigorod 0 0 0 0 0:0 0 0 4 DEN Viborg HK 0 0 0 0 0:0 0 0 MatchID: 201312020103- 037 MNE Buducnost vs. RUS Zvezda Zvenigorod 13.10.2012 20:00 Podgorica / MNE Del.: Metalari MKD 038 GER Thüringer HC vs. DEN Viborg HK 14.10.2012 15:00 Nordhausen / GER Del.: Cuderman SLO 040 RUS Zvezda Zvenigorod vs. GER Thüringer HC 20.10.2012 17:00 Chekhov / RUS 039 DEN Viborg HK vs. MNE Buducnost 21.10.2012 17:00 Viborg / DEN 041 GER Thüringer HC vs. MNE Buducnost 28.10.2012 15:00 Nordhausen / GER 042 DEN Viborg HK vs. RUS Zvezda Zvenigorod 28.10.2012 17:00 Viborg / DEN 044 RUS Zvezda Zvenigorod vs. DEN Viborg HK 04.11.2012 18:30 Chekhov / RUS 043 MNE Buducnost vs. GER Thüringer HC 04.11.2012 19:00 Podgorica / MNE 045 RUS Zvezda Zvenigorod vs. MNE Buducnost 11.11.2012 17:00 Chekhov / RUS 046 DEN Viborg HK vs. GER Thüringer HC 11.11.2012 17:00 Viborg / DEN 048 GER Thüringer HC vs. RUS Zvezda Zvenigorod 18.11.2012 15:00 Nordhausen / GER 047 MNE Buducnost vs. DEN Viborg HK 18.11.2012 19:00 Podgorica / MNE 75 RR_B365R3 EHF Report | 10.05.2012 12:40 | 4/4 BUDUĆNOST PODGORICA (Montenegro) Qualification for the Women´s EHF Champions League 2012/13 season: Montenegrin Champions Club address: Season Preview: Budućnost They secured the trophy and successfully Ivana Milutinovića B.B. finished their major long-term project by 81000 Podgorica, Montenegro winning the Women’s EHF Champions League title for the first time. Many of their players then Contact numbers: followed that up with the Olympic silver medal Tel. +382-20-244081 in London – but now everything has changed at Fax. +382-20-244081 defending champions Budućnost Podgorica. Email: [email protected] The team for the forthcoming season is Arena: completely different to the one which won the S.C. Morača title. Top stars Bojana Popović and Maja Savić Str. Ivana Milutinovića b.b. retired with former becoming the new team 81000 Podgorica, Montenegro manager, back court shooter Katarina Capacity: 4525 Bulatović transferred to Oltchim Vâlcea, and goalkeeper Sonja Barjaktarović and pivot Ana Media contact: Djokić now play for Rostov. Savo Laković, +382 67600055 [email protected] Coach Dragan Adžić has the challenge of integrating seven new and mostly young Online: players and has to build up a new team, so their Club website: www.zrkbuducnost.com objective for the coming season is only to reach Facebook: ŽRK-Budućnost-T-Mobile the Main Round. Explaining the changes, club ehfCL.com president Predrag Bošković said: “We decided that, after a season in which we achieved all our EHF Champions League: dreams, we should make a new young team Participations (including 2012/13 season): 17 with high quality." Winners: 2011/12 Semi-finalists: 1998, 1999, 2000, 2001, 2002, “We signed the best European players from the 2011 1990 generation. And maybe there are still Quarter-finals: 2003, 2004 two players who could be of that age and play Last 16: 1996 in Budućnost. I am convinced that Buducnost Group Phase/Champions League: 1997, 2005, will secure a lot of top results in the next season 2006, 2007, 2008, 2010 and that we will be a most pleasant surprise.” Cup Winners´ Cup: The playmaker and national team player Winners: 1984/85, 2005/06, 2009/10 Milena Knežević is also convinced for the IHF Cup: future. “This is a totally new team, so we will Winners: 1986/87 need some time to get into shape,” she said. “I am sure we will have a good time together and Montenegrin champions: 24 titles we will show a great fighting spirit and a strong (1985,1989,1990,1992-2012) defence. The team is young, we cannot Montenegrin Cup winners: 17 titles suddenly gain a lot of experience but we will do our best.” 76 The squad No. First Name Family Name Nat. Position Date of Birth Weight Height 40 Katarina Bralo CRO Goalkeeper 19.8.1988 80 182 10 Andjela Bulatovic MNE Centre Back 15.1.1987 70 175 72 Dragana Cvijic SRB Line Player 15.3.1990 80 183 18 Elena Gjeorgjievska MKD Right Back 27.3.1990 70 179 8 Jelena Despotovic MNE Left Back 30.4.1994 183 17 Bojana Popovic MNE Left Back 20.11.1979 185 22 Katarina Perovic MNE Goalkeeper 17.1.1994 182 10 Ivana Stojanovic Bozovic MNE Left Back 14.6.1988 177 27 Katarina Jezic CRO Line Player 19.12.1992 65 173 90 Milena Knezevic MNE Back 12.3.1990 70 178 92 Suzana Lazovic MNE Line Player 28.1.1992 70 176 77 Majda Mehmedovic MNE Left Wing 25.5.1990 60 169 8 Claudine Mendy FRA Left Back 8.1.1990 72 182 2 Radmila Miljanic MNE Right Wing 19.4.1988 60 174 14 Zeljka Nikolic SRB Right Wing 12.7.1991 60 164 88 Biljana Pavicevic MNE Left Wing 12.5.1988 60 170 5 Jelena Trifunovic SRB Left Back 4.8.1991 80 180 30 Marina Vukcevic MNE Goalkeeper 24.8.1993 70 178 16 Clara Woltering GER Goalkeeper 2.3.1983 60 178 9 Jelena Zivkovic SRB Right Back 6.7.1991 70 182 New signings (including former club): Left the club (including new club): • Claudine Mendy (Metz Handball/FRA) • Bojana Popović, Maja Savić (end of • Katarina Ježić (Lokomotiva careers) Zagreb/CRO) • Katarina Bulatović • Katarina Bralo (HBC Nimes/FRA) (Oltchim Vâlcea/ROU) • Jelena Živković (FTC Hungaria Rail • Ana Radović (KIF Vejen/DEN) Cargo/HUN) • Sonja Barjaktarović, Ana Djokić (both • Jelena Trifunović (Crvena Zvezda Rostov/RUS) Beograd/SRB) • Dijana Golubić (destination unknown) • Biljana Pavičević (Zito Prilep/SRB) • Dijana Števin (Jagodina) • Željka Nikolić (Zork Jagodina/SRB) • Gabriela Adriana Tacalie (Brasov/ROU) 77 Key players Clara Woltering: Charismatic Clara Woltering was educated by Andreas Thiel, one of the greatest German goalkeepers of all time. After playing in Leverkusen for more than ten years, Woltering transferred to Budućnost Podgorica in 2011 and won the Women’s EHF Champions League in her first season in Montenegro. And in 2005 she won the Challenge Cup with her former club Bayer Leverkusen. The 29-year- old is the most experienced player in the German national team with nearly 150 caps. Her biggest success was the bronze medal at the 2007 world championship. And after Sonja Bajraktarović left Budućnost to Rostov, Woltering has even more responsibility to carry on her shoulders. Milena Knežević: The 22-year-old playmaker is one of the biggest talents in Montenegro and already has a leading role at Budućnost as well as in the national team. Knežević was captain of the Montenegrin junior team that won bronze at the world championship 2010 and was member of the All-Star-Team at the same tournament. Her next milestone was to become a senior national team player, and she was part of the team which successfully finished the Olympic Games 2012 with the silver medal. And as a large number of stars left the club, Knežević has stepped up to play a major part in the Budućnost attack. Dragana Cvijić: The Serbian line player (22) is one of the most powerful attackers and defenders in the Women’s EHF Champions League. Cvijić arrived in Podgorica in 2011 after she had played for the Slovenian side Krim Mercator for two seasons. Born in Belgrade, Cvijić became a member of the Serbian national team very early – and was a key part of Budućnost’s victory in last year’s Women’s EHF Champions League. Coach Dragan Adžić: 42-year-old Adžić is already a legend in women’s handball – especially in Montenegro since they won Olympic silver in London. His list of successes started in 2010 when his women’s junior team won the bronze medal at the world championship in Korea. Then he led Montenegro women for the first time ever to European (2010) and World Championship (2011) titles.