Dalby joins recent opponents

Danish national team player Camilla Dalby is leaving Danish champions Randers HK after this season to join Randers´ opponents in their two latest EHF Champions League matches, ŽRK Budućnost.

As late as on Saturday, Dalby and her current team-mates from Randers drew 20:20 with Budućnost in Group 1 of the Women´s EHF Champions League Main Round.

The 24-year-old right back (pictured right with the Budućnost president Predrag Bošković) has signed a two year contract with the Montenegrin champions and ruling winners of the continental top flight. Their way of playing has appealed to her in particular, she reveals in this interview with ehfCL.com.

ehfCL.com: Several clubs have been interested in your signature. Why did you choose Budućnost?

Camilla Dalby: Because I see a great opportunity to develop further there. They want to work a lot with my defensive qualities as well as with the attacking parts of my game. Furthermore, it gives me the chance to go on playing in the Champions League which I want very much. I also like the fact that they have a relatively young team that can develop a lot in the future.

ehfCL.com: As you just said, Budućnost have a fairly young team, and actually they are rebuilding the team after having won the EHF Champions League last year. Has this also appealed to you?

Camilla Dalby: Yes, absolutely, and I am impressed that in spite of having lost so many players, as they have, they still manage to be in top eight in Europe. Furthermore, I like to be part of building up something new.

ehfCL.com: You have just played twice against exactly Budućnost. Was it those two CL matches that gave you the appetite on joining them?

Camilla Dalby: I certainly got a positive impression of the team during those two matches. They play very physically, and I really like that. I also got a very fine impression of the club and the country and of their home ground in particular. I am really looking forward to playing in Morača hall.

ehfCL.com: Do you have the impression that Buducnost´s interest in you got spurred on by your performance in those matches?

Camilla Dalby: I really do not know when they became interested in me, but anyway things have gone pretty fast during the last few days. It did not take long from I had spoken to Bojana (Popović, sports director in Budućnost and player in the Danish league for many years, ed.) until we had reached an agreement.

I am happy to have my future settled, though, as now I can really focus on playing my best with Randers for the last of this season and hopefully finish the season by winning the championship gold for the second year in succession.

Popović: Camilla is brave and ready for the challenge

Dalby´s next club Budućnost Podgorica released a statement on the recent signing. The club´s sports director Bojana Popović introduced the first ever Scandinavian player coming to South East Europe as a part of a long term building strategy.
 
"I have been following Camilla virtually from her beginning, I think her arrival in Randers was a great choice, because she has progressed and matured greatly as a player, although she is still young and there is a room for improvement. Before she signed a contract with our club, she had said that her desire is to build a game on defence, which is definitely a positive thing, and it means she has the ambition to progress in our club.

"Interestingly, she is the first Scandinavian to come to a club from this region, but she showed that she is brave and ready for the challenge. It's evident that she has a great desire, great ambitions, and I believe that Camilla will show it all in Budućnost and she will spend two nice years in Podgorica.

"Our plan is to build the team for years to come, to bring together players of similar age, and I mean the players who are up to 24-25 years. These players have similar ambition, a desire to move forward and create a team who will have the quality to achieve good results in the Champions League in the next years."