In previous decades, Buducnosti handball players swept across Europe, won the long-awaited Champions League in 2012 after an unforgettable final with Đera, three years later they strolled to the title, together with Vardar they were the only ones to appear in the first four final four in Budapest...
Now, however, the biggest Montenegrin club serves its rivals to improve the goal difference.
There were many signals that the season, in which at least one step forward compared to last year's participation in the round of 2 was announced, would be painful, and everything was confirmed already in the 39nd round, when the worst defeat in the club's history was equaled on the road to Odense - 24:XNUMX. .
After that, that limit was broken four times, of which it was stopped at minus 18 on three occasions, and once at -16. By the way, ĆSM Bucharest also broke the record of Valencia, which had been more than a quarter of a century long, which until then scored the most goals against the "blues" - 40 (the Romanians scored 44).
There are many reasons for such a flood of the Future, now they have all "matched" and the culmination has been reached.
Already in the 2017/2018 season, the last one in which he was president Predrag Boskovic (he had to withdraw due to the Law on Sports), the Podgorica giant had a smaller budget compared to previous seasons, in order to give a chance to young Montenegrin players at the time.
The series of participation in the final tournaments was interrupted, but the team of the then coach Dragan Adžić reached the quarterfinals twice in a row. They returned in the summer of 2019 Jovanka Radicevic i Majda Mehmedović, but the competitive year in which they again made it to the top eight was interrupted due to the coronavirus pandemic.
For the 2020/2021 season. were also brought girls who were declared the best in the world - Andrea Lekic i Alison Pino, as well as Valeria Maslova, Barbara Arenhart i Armel Atingre, but the club fell into huge financial problems due to the change of government at the state level and began to sink in terms of results as well.
Debts burdened the administration, which is why the quarter-finals in the 2020/2021 season, which it won Bojana Popović after succeeding Adžić, so far the last one.
Without money, with lawsuits for debts from the corona season and the one after it, Budućnost was forced to look for cheaper reinforcements, to give a chance to young players that in an earlier period they probably would never have considered, let alone brought.
Lack of money is, like e.g. In 2006, it also had positive sides, because young Montenegrin handball players who made a great contribution to winning the European bronze medal in November 2022 were given a chance.
Bubućnost first brought two Turkish women for this season - Neslihan Čališkan i Bayz Karacham, which did not even make its debut, because it was assessed during the preparations that it did not have the quality for the Champions League.
After they arrived, the company "Bemax" decided to invest more money in Budućnost, which is why the position of sports director (or manager of the club, as it was later announced) was appointed Katarina Bulatović.
She arrived too late, because all transfers in handball are agreed in December or at the latest at the beginning of January, and she joined the job in February.
In coordination with Popović and a little less Petrović, she had to choose from a small pool of free players, but she made several mistakes.
As capital reinforcements, she brought Olympic, world and European champion Kalidiat Niyakata, as well as Noemi Hafru.
On paper it didn't seem so bad, but both the French and the Hungarian arrived after serious injuries and during the preparations it turned out that they were light years away from the true form and what the Future was promised by the people around them.
The troubles were not over there either, because Petrović resigned after the defeat against Bittighheim at the start of the season, and then Milena Raičević stripped of captain's armband and sent to Rudar branch for suing club for wages when she was in a different state.
That case will have its epilogue at the EHF Court of Arbitration, but it has already cost Budućnost a lot - both in the rating and in the results, because one of the six officially declared legends of the club was the only center back in the team.
The season ended with a lot of embarrassment, but the next one will surely be better. Why? Because it can't get any worse than this.
And names Jelena Despotović, Đurđine Jauković i Nina Bulatović, who return to the Future, as well as young Russian women Valery Kirdyasheva, promise to get better.
If nothing else, even the sixth-placed team in the group will not "run away" from Podgorica by nine points, regardless of the fact that few top players want to join a team that had a goal difference of minus 14 in 122 Champions League matches...
Bonus video:
