The OTP Group Budućnost women's handball club will participate in the first edition of the Youth Champions League, an elite competition that brings together the greatest talents of European handball under the age of 17.
OTP Group Buducnost will play against Austria's Hip in the semi-finals of the qualifying tournament in Poreč on Sunday (16 pm). The other semi-final pair is made up of Croatia's Podravka and Hungary's Györ.
At the tournament in Poreč, the Podgorica club will represent players born in 2010 and 2011, with only one from the 2009 generation, and they will be led from the bench by Anđela Bulatović.
The first season of this prestigious competition will feature 16 teams. In addition to Poreč, qualifying tournaments will also be organized in Zagreb (Lokomotiva Zagreb, Krim, FTC and Ikast), Bistrica (Glorija Bistrica, Esbjerg, Debrecen and Borussia Dortmund) and Ankara (Kepez, Metz, ĆSM Bucharest and Odense).
The winners of the four tournaments will qualify for the final tournament of the Youth Champions League.
- First of all, I would like to express my gratitude to the club for giving us the opportunity to play in this prestigious competition, it is a great honor for us. This is a big deal for the club and confirmation of the quality work in the younger categories. It is important to emphasize that the competition is played by players born in 2009 and younger, and that our team only has one player of that age, while the rest are from the 2010 and 2011 generations. This is an additional challenge for us. In the semi-finals, we will face Hipo, we have some experience in duels against players from their team, because we had most of them as opponents when the Montenegrin national team played against Austria at the tournament in Serbia. Five players from the Austrian national team are in Hipo, it is a talented generation, and the left back who is the future of world handball stands out the most. Our goal is to be satisfied with the game, desire and fighting spirit shown, that is, to represent our club and city worthily - said Bulatović.
The team that will represent Buducnost in Poreč is Lara Burzanović, Petra Čađenović, Anđelina Jeknić, Kalina Kažić, Iva Ljiljanić, Nikolija Nikić, Elena Pejović, Iva Popović, Tijana Radonjić, Darija Rakočević, Mia Šćekić, Ema Spahić, Viktorija Tomic, Emilija Vidić and Kristina Vukčević.
The coaching staff, in addition to Anđela Bulatović, includes Gvozden Bulatović, Marina Rakočević, Vladimir Kovačević and Dušica Radović. The delegation is led by club director Goran Cmiljanić.
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