Gorbok returns to Löwen

German VELUX EHF Champions League participants Rhein Neckar Löwen have signed another former player.

After Nikola Manojlović returned to the Mannheim club last week and now the defending EHF Cup champions announced the transfer of Sergei Gorbok.

The Russian international was part of the Löwen squad between 2007 and 2010, before he transferred to Chekhovskie Medvedi. Now the left back returns to Germany on a one-year contract.

“I really like to be back, as I really enjoyed it at Löwen – and I still have a score to settle here,” Gorbok was quoted on the Löwen website.

”We had the chance to sign Sergej for one season. He knows the club, he knows the German league and it was the clear wish of our coach to sign him,” said Löwen manager Thorsten Storm.

“Since he left us, he developed in the right direction. Today Sergej is not only the shooter he was before, but he also has become a playmaker.

“With three of our back court players, Zarko Sesum, Alexander Petterson and Marius Steinhauser, suffering from long-term injuries, it is great to have an option like Sergej, especially for our matches in the Champions League,” said Storm.

Mass exodus from Chekhov

Gorbok, who changed citizenship from Belarusian to Russian after arriving in Chekhov, started his career in his home town Minsk before he transferred to Zaporozhye (Ukraine).

He arrived at RK Celje in 2005 and after two seasons he moved to Mannheim to be part of the Löwen squad for the first time, before moving to Medvedi in 2010, where he won the Russian championship three times.

The departure of Gorbok adds to the long list of players leaving the Russian club, after the quartet of Mikhail Chipurin, Daniil Shishkarev, Alexey Rastvortsev and Timur Dibirov left for Macedonian champions Vardar Skopje.

Another Russian is also set to leave for FYR Macedonia. Pavel Atman, former player of Dinamo Minsk, was supposed to play for Chekhovskie Medvedi this season, but will move to Vardar’s arch rival HC Metalurg, a team who were given a place in the VELUX EHF Champions League wild card tournament.

Rhein Neckar Löwen will start their European campaign in Group A, alongside MKB Veszprém KC, HC Croatia Osiguranje Zagreb, St. Petersburg, Gorbok's former side Celje Pivovarna Lasko and a team from qualification group 3.