Vojvodina eager to make history

Very few pundits gave Vojvodina Novi Sad any chance of wrestling the Serbian league title from Partizan Belgrade last season, but they did exactly that in the most dramatic fashion.

Having previously claimed only one national championship, in 2005, Vojvodina defied the odds to finish ahead of nine-time winners Partizan on a better head-to-head record, as the two teams finished level on points.

The surprise package from Serbia’s north will now aim to qualify for the lucrative and elusive Group Phase of the VELUX EHF Champions League, after failing at the first time of asking when they were eliminated by unheralded Austrian champions Bregenz.

Austrian opposition again stands in the way as Vojvodina, who will host one of the preliminary qualifying tournaments, have been pitted against HC Alpla Hard while Bosnia’s Borac Banja Luka will lock horns with Ukraine’s HC Motor Zaporizhya in the other semi-final.

The winners will meet in the final in Novi Sad and advance to the Group Phase and Vojvodina’s managing director Darko Jevtić acknowledged that hosting the tournament should play into the team’s hands.

“It gives us a great chance of making a huge step forward and qualify for the Group Phase for the first time in the club’s history,” Jevtić told Belgrade daily Sportski Žurnal.

“However, it will be a tall order because every team in the competition deserves respect and none more so than HC Motor, who have the biggest budget in our group and a wealth of experience. But we are overjoyed to be hosting what should be a spectacular tournament,” he added.

The loss to Bregenz will not be the solitary warning sign Vojvodina might take into account when they clash with Alpla Hard, as the Serbian national team’s more recent failure against Austria will also be a timely reminder that no rivals can be underestimated at the top level.

Having collected only one point from two games against the Austrians in EHF EURO 2014 qualifying, the Serbians secured their passage to next January’s 16-nation tournament in Denmark thanks to late wins against Russia and Bosnia-Herzegovina.

“The outcome of the national team’s doubleheader against Austria tells us that Austrian teams are no pushovers at club or international level, hence we have to take it one step at a time,” Vojvodina coach Momir Rnić said.

“Should we reach the final, we will need our fans to get behind us in full force because either Borac or HC Motor would by all means be formidable opposition,” added the 1984 Olympic gold medal winner with the former Yugoslavia.

“Playing in the Champions League sounded like science fiction only a few months ago and now we have a fantastic opportunity to stage another sensation and break into Europe’s premier club competition,” concluded Rnić.