More than 5000 spectators in Pardubice supported “Jícha and Company” but the strong Russian opponents ended their hopes.

Despite an unsuccessful period (including an early exit from the EHF EURO 2012) the new coaches, duo Vladimír Haber and Jaroslav Hudeček, are confident of qualifying for the EHF EURO 2014.

“We have two goals. One is to advance to the Euro 2014 and we know it will be very hard in a group with Germany and Montenegro.

"The second goal is the rejuvenation of the team and a larger involvement of players from the home league, where we have a few promising talents,” says Vladimír Haber, who starts his third spell on the bench of the Czech national team.

He had already been the Czech head coach between 1992 and 1997 and between 1999 and 2002.

The first test for his team will be the EHF EURO 2014 qualification match next Wednesday, 31 October, against Israel.

“The time will be too short to try something brand new before our match against Israel, but I hope we'll will be tuned to a winning frequency and show the famous Czech fans a successful premiere.”

A harder test then awaits against Montenegro on 4 November, a team which qualified for the 2013 World Championships in Spain.

The biggest star of the team remains Filip Jícha, IHF World Handball Player of the Year in 2010, and one of the leading players from current VELUX EHF Champions League winners THW Kiel.

Five more players preparing for the first two qualification matches play for German Bundesliga clubs. They are joined by four from the French league as well as four from the Czech extraliga, a large increase from last season, when only Jiří Motl represented the Czech league.

For more EHF EURO 2014 news go to www.ehf-euro.com

Also join us on www.facebook.com/EHFEUROMen

Nomination CZE for the matches against Israel and Montenegro

Goalkeepers: Štochl Petr (Füchse Berlin, GER), Mrkva Tomáš (Göppingen, GER), Petržala Tomáš (Dukla Praha, CZE)

Players: Číp Tomáš (Tatran Prešov, SVK), Jurka Miroslav (Zubří, CZE), Motl Jiří (Lovosice, CZE), Hrstka Jakub (Tatran Prešov, SVK), Vraný Václav (Hamm, GER), Juříček David (St. Raphael, FRA), Prachař Martin (Bern Muri, SUI), Jícha Filip (Kiel, GER), Horák Pavel (Göppingen, GER), Stehlík Jan (St. Raphael, FRA), Bečvář Roman (Plzeň, CZE), Sklenák Tomáš (Eisenach, GER), Řezníček Tomáš (Istres, FRA), Šulc Ondřej (Ivry, FRA), Mráz Alois (Wetzlar, GER), Kubeš Daniel (Melsungen, GER).

Reserves: Galia Martin (Grosswallstadt, GER), Krupa Jakub (Tatran Prešov, SVK), Sobol Jan (Tatran Prešov, SVK), Babák Tomáš (Jičín, CZE), Kotrč Milan (Dukla Praha, CZE), Piskač Kamil (Dukla Praha, CZE), Horák Radek (Nancy, FRA), Říha Tomáš (Coburg, GER), Stržínek Martin (Hranice), Zdráhala Ondřej (Považská Bystrica, SVK), Szymanski Jakub (St. Gallen, SUI)