Exile ends for St. Petersburg

History repeated in the past three seasons for St. Petersburg HC. First they always became runners-up of the Russian league below champions Chekhovskie Medvedi, then they tried their best but failed to reach the knock-out stage of the VELUX EHF Champions League.

Now the team of coach Dmitry Torgovanov is aiming to break this double spell in the new season, though they have lost one of their key players, Eldar Nasyrov, to Dinamo Minsk.

And after an “away season”, as they had to play their home matches in the VELUX EHF Champions League in Chekhov, they are back on the banks of the Neva river again.

The home matches will be played in the newly built arena of basketball club Spartak with a capacity of 7,000 spectators, which has been opened right for the start of the international season.

St. Petersburg’s opponents in the Group Phase are Veszprém, Zagreb, Velenje, Rhein Neckar Löwen and qualifier Zaporozhye.

Club director Sergey Zhizha is optimistic, especially due to their new arena: “This year we will play our Champions League matches at home – in St. Petersburg, and I hope we will be one of those 16 teams to proceed from the Group Phase. But it will be a very difficult goal for us.

"Our team is young, two very important players left the club, newcomers need the time to be a real part of our game play. The quality of our opponents is very high, but I can say the same words about each group in the Champions League. So it will be very difficult to be one of four best teams in our group, but we will try to do our best.”

Player Alexander Pyshkin shares those hopes: “The previous season was very hard for us – both in Russian championships and in Champions League. But as on domestic ground we played strong, Champions League was not successful for us. Now we want to be better this year. All our opponents are good teams, which have a long experience in European competitions and of course they want to go to the Last 16. We will try to do the same and give pleasure to our supporters.”

Three questions to coach Dmitriy Torgovanov:

What are your expectations for the upcoming season of the VELUX EHF Champions League -  concerning your objectives and your group opponents?

Dmitriy Torgovanov: We will play for our supporters and try to enter the Last 16 this year – for the first time in the history of our club. But for this we have to show better quality of handball than in the previous Champions League season. We hope that we can achieve it.
 
What does the participation in the VELUX EHF Champions League mean to you and your club?

Dmitriy Torgovanov: The answer is very simple. The Champions League gives us experience of matches on European level, which we can not gain by playing only in the national championship.

What teams are your personal favourites to reach the VELUX EHF FINAL4 and for winning the title this season – and why?

Dmitriy Torgovanov: In my opinion, Barcelona and Kiel have the biggest chances to reach the VELUX EHF FINAL4, but this is only one variant of this season’s scenarios. Many teams have big goals and the possibilities to realize it. This is why it is very interesting to watch the battle for Cologne.

St. Petersburg HC (RUS)

Coach: Dmitriy Torgovanov (since 2009)
Newcomers (including former club): Gleb Kalarash, Ruslan Djunisbekov (both RGUFK-Chekhovskie Medvedi), Pavel Kungurov (Zarya Kaspiya)
Left the club (including new club): Eldar Nasyrov (Dinamo Minsk), Artem Vishnevsky (destination unknown)

Qualification for the 2013/14 VELUX EHF Champions League season: Russian runners-up

VELUX EHF Champions League records:
Participations (including 2013/14 season): 4
Group Phase (3): 2010/2011, 2011/2012, 2012/2013

Russian league: 1 title (1993), 4x runners-up (2010, 2011, 2012, 2013)