MANAGERS OF SLAGELSE AND KOMETAL MEET IN VIENNA

The lastdraw of the 2004/2005 season took place at the EHF Headquarters in Vienna onTuesday 19^th April 2005. 7 federations will be represented in thefinals of the 2004/2005 Women’s Champions League and European Cup finals. 5 ofthe 8 clubs that have made the final were present to watch the draw.

eurohandball.com tookthe opportunity to talk to the two managers (Henrik Dudek – Manager of Slagelseand Dimitar Todorovski – Manager of Kometal GP Skopje) from the ChampionsLeague clubs that have fought their way through the competition to get to thisseason’s final: Slagelse and Kometal GP Skopje.

Slagelse DT back to defend their title from last season

Slagelse go into the final as defending title holders and will becertainly looking to make it two in a row. They have worked hard this seasonwith a new team, with two players joining them in the New Year – Carmen Lungu(ROM) and Andrijana Budimir (CRO). Dudek is certainly looking to keep the sameteam for the next two seasons. Dudek especially praised their goalie Leganger –who has reached her peak just at the right time in the season. She wascertainly worth the wait – Slagelse was trying to “net” her for five years.

The team is looking forward to going back to Skopjebecause of the great atmosphere in the hall and the amazing Fyro Macedonianhandball public. They are no strangers to Skopje as they were with the Kometalteam for the group matches: they will be looking to get their own back as theylost by 8 goals in Skopje! The 1^st leg will be played in the BrondbyStadium, which is actually 90 kms away from the small town of Slagelse with its40 000 residents, but we’re expecting a full house for the 1^st leg.

Thirdtime lucky for Kometal Skopje

Kometal GP Skopjehave beaten all the odds to get to the final of the 2004/2005 Champions League,despite the fact that – and as Todorovski admitted – they themselves have beenquietly confident of reaching it from the outset. He reckons that it’s the bestKometal team they’ve had in the past 10 years. After getting over the “Krim”hurdle there was no stopping them and they believe that it could go either wayin the final with a 50/50 chance of winning and of course they have reason tobe confident after beating Slagelse by eight goals on home territory in thegroup matches.

They are banking on their lucky trump card – the Turkish player YelizÖzel who can be certainly be called this season’s Champions League “shootingstar” – previously unknown, she was spotted at the 2004 Women’s EuropeanChampionship Qualification match between Turkey and Slovenia and was quicklysigned up before anybody else could get there. She has settled well in Skopjeand has made friends and even learned a bit of the Macedonian language, adding thisto the fact that she is relatively close to home, these were the reasons behindher recently signing a four year contract.

The handball fans of Fyro Macedonia are renowned throughout Europe forthe support they give their beloved team. Only 2 500 fit into the hall inSkopje but one thing is for sure, they will certainly create a terrificatmosphere to surge on their team. Thousands more will be following the matchon a wide screen set-up in the main square of Skopje.

This will more than likely be the last Champions League final ever tobe played in the well-known Kale Hall as they are currently building abrand-new hall ready for the 2008 Women’s European Championship, which is to beheld in Fyro Macedonia. The owner and main sponsor of the club has justrecently been elected mayor of the city and gives his full backing to thecompletion of the new hall, which will no doubt see many sell-out matches witha capacity of around 10 000, seeing as the Kalle Hall could be sold many timesover for the 2^nd leg of this season’s Champions League Final.