Podgorica Airport hosts a celebration

The atmosphere at Podgorica Airport when Buducnost arrived was similar to the one in August and December three years ago, when the Montenegro women's team came home after winning the Olympic silver medal in London and as EHF EURO 2012 champions at the end of that year.

Around midnight on Monday, when Buducnost returned from Budapest, all attention was focused on the team that had just lifted the Women’s EHF Champions League trophy for the second time in history. 

The first time was in 2012, when the win was celebrated in Moraca Hall.

Several hundred fans, friends and relatives enthusiastically welcomed their heroines home. The team’s most ardent supporters had already been celebrating with fireworks – but singing with the players upon their return was the highlight. 

In the line of waiting cars were not only Podgorica registration plates – supporters came from other Montenegrin cities such as Bar, Kotor, Niksic and Danilovgrad.

“We have shown that we are the best. From the start of the season we played great, and from game to game we got better. We had a fantastic MVM EHF FINAL4 – I am not yet aware of what we have done. We did not expect such convincing result, but we have a system that no one can defeat,” Buducnost's right wing Radmila Petrovic said.

Right back Katarina Bulatovic scored just one goal in the semi-final against Vardar (27:17), but was the team's top scorer with seven goals in the final against Larvik (26:22).

“I do not think I played poorly against Vardar – I was more in the service of the team. But in the final Neagu immediately twisted her ankle, so I had to take responsibility. The team did everything to get me to the shooting position, and I did what I had to do. 

“I'm glad we have shown that we are not a typical Balkan team, as they called us, that we are not running back. In the final we were the ones who played counter attacks,” Katarina Bulatovic said.

Three years ago, when Buducnost won their first Women’s EHF Champions League trophy, Dragana Cvijic scored one goal in the final game against Györi AUDI ETO KC. 

In the final game against Larvik, the Serbian line player scored four goals with a total of seven at the MVM EHF FINAL4. 

“All year we have trained well, and we showed that at the MVM EHF FINAL4 when we played at the top level. We were a little relaxed in the second half against Larvik – they started to close the gap. But even if we had to play for three days, they could not take our trophy,” Cvijic said.

Bojana Popovic won six Women’s EHF Champions League trophies as a player. Now, 31 days after giving birth to her second child, son Krsto, she raised her first trophy as sports director of Buducnost.

“These girls have shown that they have matured, that they have real quality. So it was during the whole season, but in two games at the MVM EHF FINAL4 in Budapest they raised the level of play so that it was enough to beat Vardar by 10. 

“Larvik was on the way to having the same destiny, but in the last part of the game our players watched the scoreboard and were just thinking of when the game would end. 

“They had a fantastic two days and in the end the trophy has come back to our home,” Popovic said.